Without further adieu, I present my interview with author Jason Foster . . .
Jason Foster classifies his book 42 Unanswered Points as a hybrid novel, combining “a Football for Dummies type book” with a “human element.” I found 42 Unanswered Points to be so much more. The story tells a poignant tale of youth, hopes, dreams and coming of age. Initially set in the fictional St. Galen, NY and the very real Albany, NY, the protagonist (“the main character in a drama, novel or story, around whom the action centers” Webster’s New World College Dictionary 4th Ed. 2007) is Brandon Evans, a small town teenage boy, who enjoys much of the same things most boys that age do: football, other sports, and girls. In this way Brandon seems very realistic and easily identifiable, and for those from Herkimer and Mohawk who may remember the author from grade, middle or high school, there are insights into Brandon that are recognizable as Foster himself as a boy.
Jason Foster classifies his book 42 Unanswered Points as a hybrid novel, combining “a Football for Dummies type book” with a “human element.” I found 42 Unanswered Points to be so much more. The story tells a poignant tale of youth, hopes, dreams and coming of age. Initially set in the fictional St. Galen, NY and the very real Albany, NY, the protagonist (“the main character in a drama, novel or story, around whom the action centers” Webster’s New World College Dictionary 4th Ed. 2007) is Brandon Evans, a small town teenage boy, who enjoys much of the same things most boys that age do: football, other sports, and girls. In this way Brandon seems very realistic and easily identifiable, and for those from Herkimer and Mohawk who may remember the author from grade, middle or high school, there are insights into Brandon that are recognizable as Foster himself as a boy.
However, there are many other attributes
to Brandon that appear larger than life. Since I have not spoken to Jason
outside of cyberspace since the eighth grade, I cannot say if the fictional
Brandon Evans continues to mirror the adult Foster, but since the protagonist displays
qualities that seem straight out of a fairy tale, I was curious to how Foster
developed the character. I also
recognized some very familiar name combinations and realized how similar they
were to people that I knew, which sparked my curiosity even further.
When
I asked Jason how he developed his characters, he replied “some
of the characters indeed represent a mixture of people both from real life and
from the literary world. . . the character of Brandon Evans is something like
50% William Braveheart, 25% Archie Goodwin of the Nero Wolfe mystery series,
20% Brett Favre and 5% me. At first I
felt a little funny about interjecting part of myself within the main
character. Then I heard somewhere that in his first book A Time to Kill, John Grisham mentioned that the main character,
Jake Brigance, was something like 90% himself. I don't know if he was imagining
movie scenes with Ashley Judd during his writing.”
Okay, girls. If a main character whom is a fierce warrior,
and whom is also witty, athletic and smart, who also happens to be keenly aware
of others feelings and attentive to the needs of others appeals to you, then go
to Frank J. Basloe Library and check out Jason Foster’s 42 Unanswered Points. It
should be located back in the Fictional Section under Foster, right before Lisa
Foster’s novels.
Stay
tuned for the next portion of the interview where we will travel to the fictional
St. Galen, NY which you will recognize as none other than Mohawk, NY. And don't forget to enter to win a signed copy of 42 Unanswered Points on Frank J. Basloe Library's Facebook page.
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