(The following is a conversation with author Barry Lyga.)
Wait, what?
Yeah, I know.
So…it’s two books, but the same story? What?
Kind of. It’s a little more complicated than that.
I guess it would almost have to be, right?
Pity poor Dan Ehrenhaft.
Who is…?
The unlucky sap I tricked into publishing this nonsense.
Got it. What’s the deal: blackmail photos?
That question is not asked frequently, so I decline to answer.
OK. So, can we get back to the two books/same story deal?
Sure. It’s not really the same story. Let me explain: I wrote a long, crazy book called UNEDITED. My agent sent it around and editors said things like, “Wow, this is good. But it’s long. And crazy. I will happily publish it if you make it shorter and less crazy. Or maybe just cut it into two books.”
Being a dick, I said, “Nope. It’s one long (and crazy) book, and I will not budge on that.”
So we showed the book to Dan and he said, “This book is both long and crazy, and I think it should be longer and crazier.”
And I said, “Marry me.”
And he said, “Here’s my idea — I’ll publish UNEDITED exactly as it is. Won’t touch a word of your prose. But at the same time, I want to publish an edited version of the book, whittled down to a human scale.”
And I said, “Oh, hell no. That’s a dumb idea and I hate it and I hate you.”
(Plus, it would be a lot of work. Because if I could have told the story of UNEDITED in fewer words, I would have done that!)
But then I thought about it. And thought about it. And thought about it. And the idea of it sort of tickled me. I’m a tremendously stupid author, people — I almost NEVER do things that would help my career or sell more books or raise my profile. I just like writing crazy shit and showing it to people. I am useless at selling books and I’m terrible at promoting myself or even at doing basic, competent things like, say, editing a book down to a size that people would actually read.
Then Dan said that he would go through UNEDITED and take the first crack at whittling it down.
Well, that sounded pretty good to me. And pretty bad for Dan, if we’re being honest, but you’re not on Dan’s website, you’re on mine, so who cares?
Dan took a fucking machete to the book, then concocted some new stuff to stitch together the bleeding remains of UNEDITED into something a little more presentable. I went through it and resisted the urge to restore EVERY. FUCKING. WORD. I patched things that needed patching, tweaked what needed tweaking, and the result…
The result…
Don’t leave me hanging!!! What? The result WHAT?
Sorry. I just felt like it had been a while since we’d heard from you.
Anyway, the result was pretty good! It didn’t really make the same points as UNEDITED and it didn’t function the same way. Whole characters and plot lines were just GONE.
But, again — pretty good! Especially when you consider its origins. I had been expecting a sort of Reader’s Digest1 version of UNEDITED. What I got instead was almost its own thing entirely.
So, UNEDITED is like the Director’s Cut of EDITED?
Absolutely not. I thought we were getting along so well and then you go and say something like that.
…sorry…?
There’s a question mark there, so I can respond. Your formulation implies that EDITED is the text and UNEDITED is some sort of super-set of that text. Nothing could be further from the truth. UNEDITED is the original story. It’s the definitive text. EDITED is, as best I can describe it, an alternate reality version of that story. It’s not really just an “edited version” of UNEDITED. It’s its own story, which leans heavily on the tropes and characters from UNEDITED.
Remember above when I said “if I could have told the story of UNEDITED in fewer words, I would have done that!” It wasn’t that long ago, but hell, I just pasted it in there for you. Anyway, I was serious. The story of UNEDITED is the story of UNEDITED. When you read it, you’ll see — there’s no way to make it shorter or less crazy. So EDITED is its own story entirely, but it crosses over with UNEDITED in weird ways. It hijacks characters and plot threads, then uses them in different ways because it’s a different story.
It’s what the Barry Lyga of Earth-2 might have written. If, I guess, his DNA was spliced with Dan Ehrenhaft’s.
How much of EDITED is you and how much is Dan?
I don’t really know. There’s a lot of Dan in there, honestly. He would claim that it’s immaterial because everything he did was inspired by what I did, but I dunno. Other than deliberate collaborations, this is the first time I’ve ever published a book that has someone’s words other than my own in it.
That must be weird.
…
…
…
I meant to say: is that weird?
Beyond weird.
How are you coping with it? Meds? Talk therapy?
Wow. You get me. Man, it’s just so nice to be talking to someone who cares, you know? My friends are all like, “You have books coming out — stop complaining.” And my wife’s all like, “Did you take the trash out?” And my priest is all like, “You haven’t been to Mass in thirty-two years and I’m dead now anyway.”
That must be tough on you.
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…
…
I mean… That must be tough on you?
I’ll allow it.
So, which one should people read?
If you’d asked me a year ago, when we were doing all of this, I would have said that you should not even bother with EDITED. Just read UNEDITED, go get surgery for the ensuing hernia, and then go on with your life.
But as we get closer to publication, I keep looking at these two books and I really think for maximum enjoyment and maximum enlightenment, you should read both. Get ‘em both.
But make sure you read UNEDITED first, OK? There are things in EDITED that will spoil some of the nicer surprises in UNEDITED and I’d hate for that to happen to you. Because I care.
And this way, you get paid twice. Isn’t that your real goal?
See above where I talk about being a horrible promoter and seller. I mean, sure, if people buy both books, that’s better for my bottom line. But do you really think the way to riches is to publish two versions of the same story and ask people to buy both of them?
Am I allowed to answer that question?
Sure, why not?
Anything else you want to say?
Nope. Thanks for asking these questions, Barry.
Oh, wait! I almost forgot — what’s the book about?
I’m tired of answering questions.
Preorder UNEDITED:
Amazon | BN.com | Indiebound
Preorder EDITED:
Amazon | Apple Books | BN.com | Indiebound | Kobo