Hello, dear readers! Today I am featuring Mark Rollins and his book, The Labyrinth House on PB. In this story, the characters are trapped in a house and they have to find a wall to get out -that sounds sinister and fun. And oooh, look at that creepy cover. Scroll down to read an interview with the author himself, or enter a giveaway!
a b o u t t h e b o o k
(clicking on the cover will take you to Goodreads!) | Title: The Labyrinth House Author: Mark Rollins Published on: October 11 2014 Publisher: Luthando Coeur Part of a series?: No Get a copy: Amazon I Barnes & Noble What would you do if you entered a house that you couldn’t leave? Bradley Jensen, a young architect on his honeymoon, finds himself facing this very question when he finds a door embedded in a tree on a nature hike with his new wife. On the other side of the door is a mansion, and in the mansion are other people: a man from the 70’s, a former slave, and a young woman from the time of the Salem Witch Trials. They, like Bradley, can’t escape. They can’t open the door that leads to the exit; they can’t break down the walls. There’s one other person in the mansion, a man none of the others like to talk about. He’s like them, plucked out of the world and placed here in a mansion beyond time. Except he’s dangerous. Deadly. In order to figure out the mystery of his current situation and—hopefully—make it back to his wife, Bradley is going to have to confront this man, as well as something far more dangerous: The Labyrinth House itself. |
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LC: What are your favorite genres in which to write?
MR: When I was in high school, I took a creative writing class. My teacher wrote on my collection: “Do all your works deal with the supernatural?” I suppose this came from reading way too many comic books, which usually deal with speculative as well as superhero elements.
It was during that time that I created my own super-team, probably because I was a big fan of books like X-men and the Teen Titans. Most of the plots that I came up with were very unoriginal. In college, I rebooted this team but eventually dropped it. After college, I wrote a speculative fiction work, and never really could get my mind off of it.
This is not to say that I don’t have experience writing other genres of fiction. After college, I wrote skits for a college-age crowd, and they were usually comedy ones, sort of like Saturday Night Live. I actually attempted to write a romance novel from the guy’s POV, and I might develop that one.
It was during that time that I created my own super-team, probably because I was a big fan of books like X-men and the Teen Titans. Most of the plots that I came up with were very unoriginal. In college, I rebooted this team but eventually dropped it. After college, I wrote a speculative fiction work, and never really could get my mind off of it.
This is not to say that I don’t have experience writing other genres of fiction. After college, I wrote skits for a college-age crowd, and they were usually comedy ones, sort of like Saturday Night Live. I actually attempted to write a romance novel from the guy’s POV, and I might develop that one.
LC: In The Labyrinth House, your main character is an architect. Do you have a background in architecture, or did you research the topic using other sources?
MR: I live in a college town of Pullman, Washington, and Washington State University is well-known for its college in Architecture. I know a lot of architects, and they really burn the candle at both ends when it comes to their major.
Architects think differently when they enter a room. They know what walls are load-bearing, and what is holding up the ceiling. They can detect weaknesses in the floor, and can do a free-hand sketch of their area with a very holistic knowledge of what makes the room tick.
In order to solve the puzzle that is The Labyrinth House, Bradley uses his aforementioned skills as an architect. By the way, Bradley went to Washington State University.
Architects think differently when they enter a room. They know what walls are load-bearing, and what is holding up the ceiling. They can detect weaknesses in the floor, and can do a free-hand sketch of their area with a very holistic knowledge of what makes the room tick.
In order to solve the puzzle that is The Labyrinth House, Bradley uses his aforementioned skills as an architect. By the way, Bradley went to Washington State University.
LC: When your characters find themselves trapped in a house with no way to escape, they use their heads to “solve the puzzle,” if you will. Did you have a particular inspiration for the challenges they undergo and the subsequent solutions? Did you find it challenging to come up with and solve the puzzles yourself?
MR: I had this idea of a TV series about a group of people who are trapped in a house, which is like Lost, but indoors. I went ahead and combined that idea with CD-rom games like Myst, where the player had to point-and-click in order to solve puzzles to win the game. I felt that the setting of a mansion would create a timeless setting for a place to house all kinds of interesting puzzles. The Labyrinth House is not supposed to be your typical decrepit haunted house or gothic mansion, but a pleasant place to be. This is what makes it so terrible to be trapped in, because there is no feeling of threat or timed-trial.
I think I wanted to create puzzles that would feel challenging, but you would not even consider a puzzle unless you knew there was a solution. It’s sort of like the FedEx logo, which has an arrow in it. Seriously, it is there. Once you see the arrow in the FedEx logo, you can’t unsee it. It seems so simple. A lot of the puzzles in the Labyrinth House are difficult, but they are always easy after you solved them.
As for what kind of puzzles are in the Labyrinth House, I just wanted types that I would see a point-and-click adventure. It would be nothing that you would have to think too far out of the box in order to solve; in fact, the problem is you are in a box. In point-and-click video games, there was always limits to what the player could do. This was always the frustrating part, because you always felt like you ran out of things to do and would never solve the puzzle.
So I didn’t really have any specific puzzles in mind, and might have been able to work in any puzzles, really. In the book, there is a puzzle with moving tiles that felt right, and that never changed. I like the idea that the user has to step on certain tiles to cross it, and it is sort of a combination of the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark with Alice and Wonderland. It has a certain surreal quality that I wanted to be its own unique style.
I think I wanted to create puzzles that would feel challenging, but you would not even consider a puzzle unless you knew there was a solution. It’s sort of like the FedEx logo, which has an arrow in it. Seriously, it is there. Once you see the arrow in the FedEx logo, you can’t unsee it. It seems so simple. A lot of the puzzles in the Labyrinth House are difficult, but they are always easy after you solved them.
As for what kind of puzzles are in the Labyrinth House, I just wanted types that I would see a point-and-click adventure. It would be nothing that you would have to think too far out of the box in order to solve; in fact, the problem is you are in a box. In point-and-click video games, there was always limits to what the player could do. This was always the frustrating part, because you always felt like you ran out of things to do and would never solve the puzzle.
So I didn’t really have any specific puzzles in mind, and might have been able to work in any puzzles, really. In the book, there is a puzzle with moving tiles that felt right, and that never changed. I like the idea that the user has to step on certain tiles to cross it, and it is sort of a combination of the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark with Alice and Wonderland. It has a certain surreal quality that I wanted to be its own unique style.
LC: Do you believe the Labyrinth house could be a metaphor for anything?
MR: It’s funny that you ask this, because while I was putting the final edits on the book, I realized what the metaphor is. I thought about adding a lot of narration at the end to kind of explain this, but then I realized that I didn’t want to explain it all to the reader like that.
I used to believe that writers should have a theme and then write a plot that fits it. Now I honestly believe that the best stories are those that have a situation, and the moral, if any, has to be found by the reader.
For this reason, I’m not going to completely answer this question, but I will say this. Everyone has been in a situation where they feel trapped. Perhaps it is a situation where you have a terrible job, and don’t see any way out but completely changing the status quo to something potentially even worse. In the case of The Labyrinth House, it is a situation where you are trapped and may never escape. This leads to the question of how you deal with it if you are in this scenario.
I used to believe that writers should have a theme and then write a plot that fits it. Now I honestly believe that the best stories are those that have a situation, and the moral, if any, has to be found by the reader.
For this reason, I’m not going to completely answer this question, but I will say this. Everyone has been in a situation where they feel trapped. Perhaps it is a situation where you have a terrible job, and don’t see any way out but completely changing the status quo to something potentially even worse. In the case of The Labyrinth House, it is a situation where you are trapped and may never escape. This leads to the question of how you deal with it if you are in this scenario.
LC: We see personal growth in many of the characters as they fight to get free of the house, and the house is compared many times to purgatory. Do you feel that the house has “rehabilitative” powers?
MR: I have noticed that when people go into trials, it is really impossible for them not to take it personally because they simply cannot be anyone else. There is a reason why bargaining is one of the five stages of grief, because there is this idea of “maybe if I can do this, then that will happen.” The idea that if we can change ourselves, then our external situations will change, only goes so far.
Considering that the characters find themselves trapped in a supernatural place, it is only natural to assume that The Labyrinth House kind of “has it out for them”. Of course they are going to look for reasons why they have been forcibly incarcerated, because most bad things happen for a reason. Sometimes, people are forced to look at themselves during a tragedy, and they often change, just so they won’t have to face more tragedy. So people might better themselves for the wrong reasons, but it is still the right thing.
Considering that the characters find themselves trapped in a supernatural place, it is only natural to assume that The Labyrinth House kind of “has it out for them”. Of course they are going to look for reasons why they have been forcibly incarcerated, because most bad things happen for a reason. Sometimes, people are forced to look at themselves during a tragedy, and they often change, just so they won’t have to face more tragedy. So people might better themselves for the wrong reasons, but it is still the right thing.
LC: What character do you think you would get along with best?
MR: That’s easy. Joshua. I think once I realized that I wanted to have a former southern slave in the book, I modeled the character, unconsciously or consciously, after my best friend, Ike Egwautu. Sadly, Ike passed away about 4 years ago, which is why the book is dedicated to him.
Ike was a person who I felt really understood me, and I could talk to him about anything. He was really good at listening, and this is one of Joshua’s good traits. He also never held a grudge, which is also incredibly admirable.
Ike was a person who I felt really understood me, and I could talk to him about anything. He was really good at listening, and this is one of Joshua’s good traits. He also never held a grudge, which is also incredibly admirable.
LC: What is your writing schedule like?
MR: I try to be a writer for more than 40 hours a week. However, it really is feast or famine for me. I spend an hour or so a day updating my own personal tech and gadget blog, www.TheGeekChurch.com. I also write for another tech blog called smartwatchreviews.com. On some days, I go up to WSU and work as a tutor at the Writing Center.
All that keeps me busy, but not quite busy enough. Unless I have other writing work, I am always looking for a way to make more with my writing, or whatever job that I can get.
All that keeps me busy, but not quite busy enough. Unless I have other writing work, I am always looking for a way to make more with my writing, or whatever job that I can get.
LC: Do you edit as you go, or do you go over the entire manuscript after a draft?
MR: As I mentioned before, I originally envisioned The Labyrinth House as a TV series. I had the pilot written, so all I needed to do was essentially adapt it. I don’t really remember the editing process back then. I had written this screenplay in 2003, and when I adapted it, I saw some changes that I wanted to make.
Some authors begin a work without knowing how it will end. Fortunately, I knew how the story was going to end, and I was completely satisfied. The only thing that was left to do was go through the plot one step at a time. I was able to spot points in the screenplay that I could make better, and made certain that one event did realistically lead to the other.
There is, of course, little changes that were made in the copy-edit review, but they really were quite minor. For the most part, I was pretty satisfied with it.
Some authors begin a work without knowing how it will end. Fortunately, I knew how the story was going to end, and I was completely satisfied. The only thing that was left to do was go through the plot one step at a time. I was able to spot points in the screenplay that I could make better, and made certain that one event did realistically lead to the other.
There is, of course, little changes that were made in the copy-edit review, but they really were quite minor. For the most part, I was pretty satisfied with it.
LC: Are you working on anything new?
MR: I have several ideas for other works of fiction, and one of them is an epic speculative fiction masterpiece that will be in four books. I have some other ideas that I am working on as well, but none of them is a sequel to The Labyrinth House.
a b o u t t h e a u t h o r
Mark Rollins was born in Seattle in 1971. He attended Washington State University in Pullman, Washington and graduated in 1994 with a degree in English. After college, he began to write skits for college-age groups. He was always interested in fiction and non-fiction writing, and decided to pursue a full-time writing career in 2005. Since then, he has written for many tech, gadget, and video game blogs.
In 2009, Mark decided to create his own tech and gadget blog known as www.TheGeekChurch.com. The purpose of the blog was to report on the latest in technology, as well as inform the church-going crowd (who are often not very technically adept) on the benefits of using more technology in the ministry. Since 2012, Mark has completely devoted his time to this blog, and considers it his ministry and mission. Recently, Mark has become a tech consultant, offering his years of experience in technology to consumer electronics companies. Mark currently resides in Pullman, Washington, with his wife and three children.
In 2009, Mark decided to create his own tech and gadget blog known as www.TheGeekChurch.com. The purpose of the blog was to report on the latest in technology, as well as inform the church-going crowd (who are often not very technically adept) on the benefits of using more technology in the ministry. Since 2012, Mark has completely devoted his time to this blog, and considers it his ministry and mission. Recently, Mark has become a tech consultant, offering his years of experience in technology to consumer electronics companies. Mark currently resides in Pullman, Washington, with his wife and three children.
You can see Mark Rollins’ latest work on www.TheGeekChurch.com!