Q&A: Ezra Claytan Daniels, Author of ‘Mama Came Callin’

We chat with author Ezra Claytan Daniels about Mama Came Callin’, which is a gripping graphic horror novel set in the Florida bayou, following a young biracial woman as she uncovers her estranged father’s role in a grisly hate crime. 

Hi, Ezra! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

Sure! In high school I was a district champion high hurdler. After dropping out of art school, I somehow wound up working with the Department of Justice doing trial graphics for the case against former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. My first published book, Upgrade Soul, took me 15 years to finish and was released when I was 39 years old. I still introduce myself as a graphic novelist even though I’ve spent most of the past several years writing TV.

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

I’ve been writing and drawing stories as far back as I can remember. I became obsessed with movies at a young age and dreamed of being a filmmaker. But I always struggled with anxiety, and the idea of managing a film crew and actors absolutely terrified me. Luckily I had this ability to draw, so I turned to comics, where I could lock myself away in my room and come out 6 months later with a fully formed story that I could share with people.

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

• The first book you ever remember reading: Non-picture book? Almost certainly a Choose Your Own Adventure book. I have no idea which one, but I was obsessed when I was a kid.
• The one that made you want to become an author: I would say “Very Special People”. It’s a collection of biographies of sideshow performers from the heyday of traveling circuses. Everyone from Joseph Merrick the “Elephant Man”, to Prince Randian the “Human Torso”, to Robert Wadlow the tallest man on earth, whom my grandfather actually met! There was something really inspiring not only about their stories and perseverance but it was also the thrill of being exposed to such specific and often very extreme experiences of life that were so different from my own. It was just a really powerful reminder that there were so many more perspectives to be explored than what we’re typically exposed to, and that no perspective is beyond relatability on some level.
• The one that you can’t stop thinking about: The book that broke my brain was Last and First Men, by Olaf Stapledon. It’s an incredibly dry, history book-style account of the future history of the human race, going billions of years into the future. It was written in 1930 and the breadth of imagination is so overwhelming it almost seems impossible that it was written by a mortal human being. In the book’s 300 or so pages, Stapledon creates countless new sci-fi concepts, sometimes with just a throwaway line, and a lot of these concepts would go on to spawn whole genres. This is the book I always turn to when I feel like I need to push my imagination further. It’s just a mind-blowing testament to human inventiveness.

Your graphic novel, Mama Came Callin’, is out February 3rd! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

“You can’t run from yourself.”

What can readers expect?

Hopefully some thrills, some laughs, and a lingering sense of dread that’ll take at least a few days to shake.

Where did the inspiration for Mama Came Callin’ come from?

I was spending a lot of time in Florida about 15 years ago. In Gainesville and around Jupiter, and I was really intrigued by the super specific identity and feel of these places. Mama Came Callin’ started out as just me trying to write a gonzo pulp thriller set there, but it evolved into something much, much more personal the deeper I allowed myself to dig. It ended up being probably the hardest thing I’ve ever written just because it required becoming so vulnerable to go to the places I knew the story needed to go.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

With a lot of the stories I write, it’s some obscure side character that I put a lot of my own perspective and wish fulfillment into, but honestly this book was the first time I really just embraced the main character Kirah as a proxy. So writing her was really therapeutic and enlightening and in some ways aspirational.

Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?

The story went through many, many drafts, and some really drastic changes over the years. The first draft I wrote in like 2012 was strangely similar to that movie Barbarian. There were drafts that leaned more into the racial violence and drafts that went more absurd. But none of them felt right until I stripped it back and zeroed in on the really grounded, personal, character story at the heart of it. And that’s a lesson that has stayed with me for sure.

What’s next for you?

I’m writing on the new season of Severance right now. And I’m deep into my next graphic novel, which will be my first time drawing a book since my debut Upgrade Soul.

Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up this year?

My buddy Justin Key’s book the Hospital at the End of the World!

Will you be picking up Mama Came Callin’? Tell us in the comments below!