Brad Abraham

Brad Abraham is the author of Magicians Impossible, creator of the Mixtape comic book series, screenwriter of the films Fresh Meat and Stonehenge Apocalypse, writer on the television series The Canada Crew, Now You Know, I Love Mummy, and RoboCop Prime Directives, and a journalist whose work has appeared in Rue Morgue, Dreamwatch, Starburst, and Fangoria.

Recently I asked the author about what he was reading. Abraham's reply:

When I was writing Magicians Impossible I was very conscious about not reading any books about, or indeed any media involving magic. It’s why I only saw Marvel’s Doctor Strange when it arrived on Netflix this summer, safely after delivering my book to the publisher. But all through the writing of it, I was building a list of titles with a mind to reading them once my book was sitting on bookstore shelves. Right now I’m about three-quarters of the way through Lisa Maxwell’s The Last Magician and have been enjoying the dive into another writer’s take on magic, mystery, secret societies, and my adopted home of New York City. What’s been really fascinating about Maxwell’s book is how she drew from a lot of the same mythologies I did when plotting my book; magical barriers, powerful objects, warring magical clans, heists, and so many wheels within wheels. I like the books I read to be surprising and so far The Last Magician has more than fit that bill.

Another I just finished is a non-fiction art book, and part of Taschen’s All-American Ads series. This one was the volume looking at the advertising of the 1930s and, while hefty (they all are) is one I got through in relatively short order. I’ve been mulling a project set in that decade, and one of the reasons I glommed onto the Taschen books is, for me anyway, the research aspect. So much of writing is visual, but when you’re writing out of your own time-frame there are questions. What did people wear? What did they drive? What did they eat and drink, how did they travel, what toys did they own and cherish? The Taschen Ads series is a great resource for any writer, and you’ll be surprised what ideas will be sparked just by looking at an ad for Bromo-Seltzer from 1934.

Third, I just saw It in theaters on the weekend and have begun re-reading, well, It – a book I first read way back in 1989 (the year the movie version takes place in). Back then, I was the age of the kids of the Loser’s Club. 27 years later I’m the age they’d be as adults now. This will be my first time reading it as an adult and I can’t wait to see how that goes. Books are timeless; we’re the ones who change. The ones who grow up and grow old, while those characters remain forever in amber. There’s something almost beautiful about that; even in a tale as dark and unsettling as this one.

Visit Brad Abraham's website.

The Page 69 Test: Magicians Impossible.

--Marshal Zeringue