John Twelve Hawks
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John Twelve Hawks is the author of the 2005 dystopian novel The Traveler and the 2007 novel, The Dark River, the first two novels in the Fourth Realm Trilogy. His identity is unknown.
Biography
Both John Twelve Hawks and his American publisher state that he has never met his editor and that he communicates using the Internet and an untraceable satellite phone, usually employing a voice scrambler. No photograph of Twelve Hawks has ever appeared and all biographical information about his background is based on four sources:
- a 2005 article in USA Today
- a 2005 interview by Rob Bedford in SFF World
- a 2006 interview published in Germany in Der Spiegel
- a portion of a 2007 London Telegraph article about popular writers
Twelve Hawks' initial biography on the Random House website was only one line: "John Twelve Hawks lives off the grid." At some point in 2007, that line disappeared and was replaced with "John Twelve Hawks is the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Traveler.
Information
The following information comes from the few published sources.
John Twelve Hawks is his "adopted" name, but in the Spiegel interview he states he is not an American Indian. In the Spiegel interview he talks about visiting East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the USA Today article, his response to a question about religion began with, "When I was in my twenties..." and when an editor asked him whether the "realm of hell" could be compared to current conditions in Iraq, Hawks replied "it's more like Beirut in the '70s".In the Spiegel interview and in the London Telegraph article, Hawks states that he drives a 15-year-old car and that he does not own a television. [1]
The SFF World interview indicates that Twelve Hawks lived in a commune and learned about literature by stealing books from a restricted university library and then returning the books the next day. In the same interview, he states he wrote The Traveler after passing through some sort of personal crisis. In the interview in SFF World Twelve Hawks claims that he has "no plans to go public" regarding his identity. [2]
In the audiobook version of "The Traveler", there is an interview with John Twelve Hawks where he mentions that he has done martial arts for years.
According to Twelve Hawks' agent, Joe Regal, "He lives in New York, Los Angeles and London," and The Traveler sets its story in all three of these locations. [3]
Theories
A posting on Nightshade Books forum "from a girlfriend who knows someone who knows someone at Random House" postulates that Twelve Hawks has some kind of serious physical disability, which inclines him to remain out of the public eye.[4]
Rumours have circulated on Usenet and internet conspiracy forums that John Twelve Hawks is in fact a pseudonym for some other published author. Candidates proposed include the following:
- Stephen Hawking (a guess from science fiction author Vera Nazarian)
- Dan Brown Note: In a statement given on the johntwelvehawks.com website, JTH stated that he was not Dan Brown.
- Peter Gutteridge: A recent theory is that the author is the British crime-writer, Peter Gutteridge. [5] [6]
- Robert Mark Kamen, the screenwriter and vineyard owner. This theory is proposed by blogger Steven Huff. Although Huff states that he had never read any of the novels when he first originated his theory, he bases his deduction on personal similarities plus Wikipedia activity. [7][8]
- F. Paul Wilson, the American author. This is the theory of techno composer and performer Moby. [9]
- Thomas Pynchon, the American author.
In an online Q&A session (30 Mar. 2008) J12H stated that "not a single theory" was true about his identity. [10]
Quotes
Fear encourages intolerance, racism and xenophobia. Fear creates the need for a constant series of symbolic actions manufactured by the authorities to show that - yes, they are protecting us from all possible dangers.
from page 602
Awareness of the past seems ever less important as history is superseded by the present crisis. Most people can still recall the so-called Weapons of Mass Destruction used to justify the war in Iraq, but the fact that the WMD never existed seems to have disappeared from the day-to-day public discourse. We simply moved on - to a new threat.
p. 602, 603
References
- ^ David Thomas (2007-04-01). "Like Dan Brown, but better". Retrieved 2007-04-01.
- ^ Rob Bedford (2005-12-04). "Interview With John Twelve Hawks". SFFWORLD.COM. Retrieved 2006-08-12.
- ^ Carol Memmot (2005-06-27). "Cryptic 'Traveler' has book world buzzing". USA Today. Retrieved 2006-08-12.
- ^ Night Shade Message Board
- ^ Deadly Pleasures News
- ^ Getting away with Murder by Tom Ripley. Shots eZine.
- ^ Steven Huff blog
- ^ Steven Huff blog
- ^ Moby blog
- ^ 30 Mar. 2008 Q&A