Fantasy novel evolved from a bedtime story, need for Black representation
Drew John Ladd of East Haddam — podcaster, humorist, social commentator, short story writer, racial justice public speaker — can now add fantasy novelist to his resume. “Wolfsong Beloved,” a story about a kidnapped Black youth, his crotchety captor and a wolf that follows them everywhere, is on sale now.
“I have been a fantasy nerd my entire life but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I’d write a fantasy novel,” Ladd said. So “Wolfsong” came as a surprise even to him. But he ran with it. Now a sequel is in the works, possibly more than one.
Ladd also is working on a retelling of the story of “Peter Pan,” while preparing season two of his dryly humorous podcast “Negroes in the Wild,” which comments on the habits of white people.
In “Wolfsong,” Ladd’s writing is lyrical and descriptive: ““The words came growling, a muddy haggard affair just short of animal sounds. It was the voice of a man long given to great shouts, old pipes, and cheap whiskey, a voice thick with scars and mucous and salt ridges, a worn and weary roar aggravated by bitter smoke and salty winds. It was the voice of a man well acquainted with strife and lies, keen to behoove or betray.”
All his life, Ladd has gobbled up books by N.K. Jemisin, Octavia Butler, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Stephen King and J.R.R. Tolkein. He loved them, but like Jemisin and Butler, who are Black, Ladd noticed that almost all fantasy novel characters were white. This is not the case in “Wolfsong Beloved.”
Ladd sat down to tell how “Wolfsong” came to be and talk about other projects.
Q: How did it feel to read fantasy novels with no Black characters?
A: It felt really weird. You have created this whole world with all this fantastic stuff, where anything can exist, but there were no Black people. It was confusing at first, as if I was left out of the party. I said, this is not my story. I didn’t see it personally. I tried to find new fantasy but they were not reflections of Black experience. They were a reflection of white experience.
Q: How did the story of “Wolfsong Beloved” come to you?
A: I somehow got roped into babysitting my five nephews one night. I still don’t know why I did it. I told them an inappropriate and horrifying bedtime story. Later, they called me at work and asked me, what
happened next? They kept doing that for a couple of months. The story consumed me so much it got me fired from that job. I got so into coming up with what happened next so that whenever they called I would have a more intensive story.
Q: There will be a sequel?
A: It looks that way. I started to outline a sequel to “Wolfsong” and the outlines are big enough for about five books. I am already in middle of book two. I made the first one good and short so it can be reread. If you read it again you will see that I buried some nuggets in there.
Q: How is “Wolfsong” a reflection of Black experience?
A: I wanted the effect, the feeling, that the main character was lost and confused by things. I watched my nephews grow up from kids to young men. Their interactions with police mirrored my own. “Wolfsong” changed to a different kind of story. It was still a story for my nephews but it dived into a way of telling of their world experiences through allegory. It had the feel of a medieval sword and sorcery fantasy, but it revolved around a Black boy in a cage and a Black man singing a Blues song.
Q: The boy and the wolf, Shadrach, have a mystical bond. Where did that come from?
A: I have almost always had a dog. I am always fascinated about how man relates to dogs. Another thing is the bond between animals and humans in a world where they can just talk, animals to animals or humans to humans or humans to animals.
Q: Were you thinking of certain people when you created the characters?
A: Arthur [the captor] was inspired by a lot of good men I met in my life, men I admired. I took everything that I thought made them strong and kind and inverted it into a weak perverted version of itself but who still believes he is strong. Shadrach is based on number of my good friends. The boy is based on my nephews 1000% — the question-asking, the smartassiness.
Q: Why do you want to retell the story of “Peter Pan”?
A: I was always horrified by the story of Peter Pan. He was kidnapping kids. It was obvious that that’s what he was doing. He was keeping them as kids against their will. I tried to fall in love with Peter Pan and I never got there. I wanted the perspective of a Lost Boy and his plans to escape. Instead of this happy, excited, colorful experience, it’s more this story of all of that underlying fear.
Q: When will season two of “Negroes in the Wild” come out?
A: Not for a couple of months. I did not expect that anyone would like “Negroes in the Wild.” I was just doing it to do it, trying to express myself, how it was like to live as one of the only Black people in my town, something to laugh about later. But a bunch of my negro friends and family asked if they could do their own version of stories. I thought that was a perfect theme for season two, talking about being Black when you’re out.
“Wolfsong Beloved” can be bought at amazon.com and at barnesandnoble. com. To read more about and by Drew John Ladd, visit patreon.com/drewwritesstuff or facebook. com/djohnladd.