Featured Novel: 'Almost Night II: The Wicked Witch Of The Unspeakable Dimension' by Jacob Wallace

Jacob Wallace's Almost Night II: Wicked Witch Of The Unspeakable Truth is a humorous science fantasy that parodies Wizard of Oz, with characters from the first book that parodied Stephenie Meyer's Twilight. It has the half vampire, Ed'Bocaj and her werewolf fiance, Bocaj forcefully transported to a hellish dimension by a witch with an extremely powerful spell book. Monsters with octopus heads try to attack and time dilation occurs all over the place. The only safe place is a road of golden bricks that leads to the witch's tower. Along the way, they meet a political strawman, a ruthless robot, and a cowardly lion man.

Wallace said that after completing the first book, he thought of ways to combine Wizard of Oz with Lovecraftian monsters. If you love the humor in Terry Pratchett's novels, you'd probably enjoy what Wallace's series has to offer. Check out this cool book trailer:

I love the music and the ethereal visuals of this trailer. That Strawman character looks intriguing, and I'm curious how Wallace puts his own twists on Oz's classic characters. 

Interview with Jacob Wallace

What are the most prominent themes of your novel? 

Love is a major theme in the book. There is Ed'Bocaj's singular love for her fiance and the desire to be with him and only him. There is also Stella's love, which is less healthy and more obsessive over Ed. Stella mourns Ed for six months after his death and then goes on a quest to bring him back to life. Stella also takes a more liberal stance, almost to the point of polyamory since she sleeps with women to please Ed's ghost and is still bitter about Ed'Bocaj, her daughter, stealing her other boyfriend.

Tell us about the world of your novel. How did you develop this setting?

I initially thought of this setting by thinking up a fantasy world not in medieval stasis. How would it grow and develop?  Then I let it grow to the space age and beyond. Many of the fantasy races, such as satyrs, minotaurs, and mermaids are actually aliens. 

You mentioned that a lot of the futuristic tech is based on magic. What other fascinating juxtaposition of both worlds should we expect to see in your work? 

 One of the main characters is a robot. When he is opened up, it is very clear that he isn't run on circuit boards but on steam punk style magic.

Also while the flying cars were not used much in this one, in the story before it and in the story I'm planning after it, there are magical AI within the vehicle. The AI have desires and preferences just like people. For example the AI in Stella's truck is evil and wants to run people over.

Tell us about an interesting character or group of characters in your novel

Ed'Bocaj is a dhampyr; a half vampire. Strictly speaking, they aren't supposed to exist since vampires normally can't breed. However, sometimes destiny has a plan, and as she discovers in this story, she has a prophecy to fulfill. 

She has aged to adulthood in days and is named after the two guys her mother slept with during the threesome that conceived her.  Her mother hates her for stealing one of her boyfriends. She has some of the abilities a vampire, though not as strong. She enjoys merciless killing like a vampire would, and can feed off blood and regular food.

How do you balance humor and plot in your novel? Did you have to cut some comedy or plot lines to make way for the other? 

Sometimes yes. There were a couple jokes that I wanted to put in, but couldn't fit because they messed with pacing or characterization. There were also other directions the story could've gone but didn't because it wouldn't be funny.

Blending the elements of Wizard of Oz and Lovecraft's stories sound exciting. How do you make these images meaningful to the readers? 

 I took the trope of being transported to a magical land and imagined making the land a happy place, it is a horrible nightmarish hell land.

What other fantastical creatures shall your readers expect from this book? 

I have satyrs, minotaurs, elves and dwarves. I also have monsters that are basically Cthulhi. The planet they're on is the home planet of the mermaids, though they have almost been completely wiped out. I also have reptillian aliens known as velikaps, one of whom is a clown. Finally there is also a man who got magically fused to a lion.

Almost Night II: The Wicked Witch Of The Unspeakable Dimension by Jacob Wallace is now available on Amazon.