The Adversary Cycle
by morgan on Feb.08, 2010, under F. Paul Wilson
Paul, I was very pleased to see volumes of your Adversary Cycle return to print after several years out-of-print. The 2nd Adversary novel doubles as the 1st Repairman Jack novel, but Jack isn’t a prominent figure in this cycle.
Many fans may be less familiar with the Adversary Cycle. It was finished back in the early ’90’s. Can you speak to how it feels to 
have these books back in print or the process to get them back on the shelves again?
How did your experiences with the Adversary Cycle affect your creative approach to the Repairman Jack series?
Related posts:
- Welcome our next guest… Our next guest is F. Paul Wilson, author of the Repairman Jack novels. His latest, especially for young adult readers, is a Young Repairman Jack novel called Secret Circles. His latest book in the adult cycle is Ground Zero. Please join me in welcoming him to Babel Clash and please...
- Thank you! Paul, thank you for joining us on Babel Clash. With your last post or two, please take this opportunity to tell us anything else that you’d like us to know about Jack Secret Circles, your next “adult” Repairman Jack novel or any other project that you have in the works....
- Ground Zero Paul, in your latest “adult” Repairman Jack novel, you tackle a topic that couldn’t have been easy. Jack is tangled up in a mystery involving 9/11 conspiracies, an alternative history regarding the collapse of the Twin Towers and Osama bin Laden. Was tackling these topics a difficult choice? What was...
- Blurring the lines between fantasy and horror Borders in one of the few stores that maintains a distinct Horror section. At Waldenbooks, horror titles find a home in fantasy or general fiction. B&N shelves their King, Koontz and Straub books with general fiction. Horror fans seem to appreciate our commitment to their genre. On the flip side,...
2 Comments for this entry
Leave a Reply
Featured Book
Scree has been wiped from the face of the land in a brutal demonstration of force. While those responsible scatter to work on the next step in their plan, the stakes are raised--all the way to the heavens--as the gods themselves enter the fray.
February 9th, 2010 on 7:19 pm
The Adversary Cycle wasn’t supposed to be a cycle. THE KEEP was my way of taking horror out of small towns and putting it on a big, international stage — a Robert Ludlum thriller plotted by Stoker and Lovecraft, if you will.
Then I wrote THE TOMB, which I prattled on about here last week, and it was so different that the publisher of THE KEEP turned it down.
Then I got personal with THE TOUCH, about a doctor who, at certain times, can heal with a touch, but who pays a price for each healing.
Three unrelated novels. No way to connect them.
A few years later I began work on a novel with a theme a bit reminiscent of “The Omen.” But I didn’t want that tired old Antichrist, so I searched around for an alternative and realized that I’d created a rather nasty evil entity for THE KEEP - why not bring him back? I wanted a NYC suburb for the setting and realized I’d already created the Village of Monroe on Long Island for THE TOUCH.
One from column A, one from column B… interesting… and kind of fun. The story began to grow. Rasalom from THE KEEP had found a way back and was going to fulfill his destiny unless a motley, ragtag group of unlikely warriors culled from those three novels could find a way to stop the Otherness Apocalypse.
The story grew and grew until the novel projected out to more than 1,000 pages. Since my initials weren’t SK, I knew my publisher wouldn’t go for that, so I broke it up into three books: REBORN, REPRISAL, and NIGHTWORLD.
Looking back, I remain amazed at how well the 6 books hang together - almost as if I’d planned them that way. But I hadn’t. At least not consciously. But maybe my subconscious had been working toward a 6-book cycle all along.
March 1st, 2010 on 9:12 am
Having been a fan since The Keep was published, I am now going back and re-reading books from the Adversary Cycle. It is amazing what the mind forgets and retains after 25 years or so. After just reading The Touch and Reborn, it really was like reading a new book. The new editions are great. I only wish Reprisal and Nightworld would come out sooner - I’m on a roll. Time for me to dig our the LaNague series and Black Wind! Thanks for keeping it all going so strong.