We’re doing things a little differently, this time. Shaun Hamill, of Cosmology of Monsters fame, has another book coming out. Like his debut, this one walks the line between fantasy and horror. With a bent toward dark academia, it follows childhood friends as they discover the Dissonance–and twenty years after their magical studies ended. If you’re enticed, and you should be, you can pick this up when Pantheon Books releases it on July 23rd.
Now, for why things are a little different: I had the opportunity to talk with Shaun Hamill about The Dissonance a few weeks back. We ended up talking about a lot more than that. Rather than a typical question/answer style transcript (you’d be here a while), or my usual review style, I’ve condensed the most compelling parts of the conversation for you here.
Rules/Genre
As mentioned above, The Dissonance blends fantasy and horror. Cosmology of Monsters also felt like a genre blend, but in a way that’s just how cosmic horror feels. I was curious how he handled a more fantasy leaning novel. He confirmed that he does find it difficult to “stay in his lane” when it comes to genre. The stories he likes telling just don’t fit so cleanly in those boxes. I, for one, think it works. For spoiler reasons, I don’t want to reveal a plot point, but there was one aspect of the magic system that took a lot of work. This not being a pure fantasy novel did allow some leeway with those rules.
And speaking of not being a fantasy novel—this does not feel like the first book of a fantasy series. This was intentional. As a fantasy fan, Hamill did not want to fall into that trap. He also didn’t want to leave the book feeling unfinished.
Inspirations
Now, I just said Hamill is a fantasy fan. And he is, absolutely. Books, movies, video games, he’s there. In fact, there’s a really funny Tolkein joke in here. When it comes to inspiration, he says Tolkein is like every fantasy writer’s grandpa. Much like how in horror, King is everyone’s dad. Speaking of Uncle Stevie, I had to ask how getting Cosmology blurbed by the man himself felt. He was working, and he told me luckily his office at the time had a door, so he could have a moment just to experience that by himself. Of all the fantasy epics out there, though, as far as The Dissonance goes, one stood out: Star Wars.
Character
I can’t get into Star Wars without talking about characters. One of the driving sparks to this novel was the concept of mentors. Ever since he was little, Hamill was fascinated by the dynamic between the masters and padawans of the force. Particularly with Anakin. How he was used by the people who were supposed to be investing in him. How he was lied to, manipulated. The dark side of teaching, if you’ll allow me the pun. Wanting to explore that dynamic means creating students.
I could talk about these characters for this entire article. Each one is compelling, each one has their flaws and pains. This is a novel about friendship, but it is also a novel about loneliness. These are kids who need people. They become adults who need people. As Hamill pointed out, a lot of this novel began in lockdown—when he was missing his friends. That loneliness also feeds into that mentor relationship he so wanted to explore. Teachers like that? They work best when they can isolate you, after all.
“This is how I can tell this story.”
It’s traits like that which contribute to this being a character driven novel. That is how Shaun Hamill writes his books: through his characters. Like Cosmology, this book has multiple timelines that skip around. It’s not a clean back and forth. Hamill credits this to his experience as a screenwriter. He writes it how he sees it, and knows what scenes are needed to move a plot forward. He knows how to get in and out of a scene, too. It’s what keeps the pages turning.
I use the above quote because I loved it so much as soon as he said it. That’s all we can ask for, right? We’re here to read a story the way the author tells it. That’s how you get books with unique voices, books with unique atmospheres. It’s what he did here, with The Dissonance. It’s what he did before, with Cosmology of Monsters. And it’s what I hope he continues to do for as long as he wants to tell stories.
As you can probably tell, I loved this book. I am truly hoping there will be more stories to come connected to these characters and their world. I had a lot of questions and observations I couldn’t talk about here. I wouldn’t want to take away from the experience for any of you. But I will say the conversation we had, the answers I received and especially the answers I didn’t, made this book even more special than I already thought it was. I truly hope you read and love it, too.
Images courtesy of publisher.
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