L Emmett Timmons

The Old Habits of Quincy Mason L Emmett Timmons

The Old Habits of Quincy Mason is a Noir Horror/Thriller set in a surreal version of 1930's Boston. The main character awakens in the wreckage of a train, to find that the entire world has been refashioned into his own personal hell. I put a significant amount of research into making the environments, the accents, and the references as historically accurate as possible, but the inspiration for this story was a particularly harrowing nightmare, and fittingly, things get a little surreal. This is a book that I wrote when Donald Trump was elected as president of the United States. It has to do with bigotry and judgement, and it was intended to be something of a cautionary tale for anyone dipping their toes in the waters of intolerance. It's not a very long book, but it does get a little preachy, so here's the TL; DR-Don't be awful. The main character, Quincy, is meant to be as unlikable as possible, to really drive the point home. Since this was the first book I ever wrote, and it was written in only thirty days, there are some interesting concessions that I made to pacing and narrative in favor of brevity. At the time, I was disappointed by the final product and didn't put much effort towards fixing it. And I'm glad that I didn't. Upon revisiting the story, I've come to appreciate the way that this book wears its symbolism plainly - the way that it is casual in its vagary. On second glance, I've decided that I stand by the delivery, because the obvious face value hides something worth taking another look at. Which is appropriate. I wrote this book as a last ditch effort to get through to my father, who is deeply stuck in his ways, (and to whom I am greatly indebted). In order to break through a lifetime of biases, I had to do my absolute best to put myself in his shoes. And what I found wasn't pretty. I didn't like having Quincy Mason in my head, and neither should you.