Everything You Wanted to Know About "Knickknack", But Were Afraid To Ask

Knickknack is a horror/fantasy novel about an African-American family battling a shapeshifting demon masquerading as a deceased rap superstar. It is being presented in installments at http://www.jukepopserials.com/home/read/120 and was inspired by my youngest sister's childhood trepidation towards the nursery rhyme "This Old Man". She firmly believed that the "Knickknack" in the poem was not a benign sound effect, but part of a legion of shadowy monstrosities that lived under her bed and had formed an unholy alliance with Yog-Sothoth and a demonic Barney doll. My brotherly tact prevented me from writing a novel featuring a Knickknack until she was a teenager, which in my opinion was an excellent notion because it allowed me plenty of time to have numerous discussions with her about the supernatural.

One topic we frequently explored was the possibility of Tupac Shakur faking his own demise and these conversations eventually spawned the character of Uncle Playa, the undead rapper who haunts his niece's bedroom. Once I combined the ideas generated from the Tupac conversations with the Knickknack, I had the vital ingredients for a book that would guarantee a lengthy and stimulating vacation from writer's block and an engrossing read for the discriminating horror fan. If Knickknack were optioned by a major studio, I would hope that Will Smith would play Darryl. Jennifer Hudson would be featured as Denise, Kelly would be played by Dee Dee Davis, and Snoop Dawg would be cast as Uncle Playa.

It took me about a year to write the initial draft of the manuscript, which I constantly revised as I wrote the novel, so when the draft was complete, all I had to do before submitting it to Juke Pop was to proofread. Knickknack is similar to, but not glaringly derivative of The Amityville Horror and the works of H.P. Lovecraft and will definitely appeal to fans of these authors and their writings as well as aficionados of horror that doesn't simply exist for gore's sake.

I was invited to participate in the blog chain that led to this post by Jedi Brae http://orbotruth.blogspot.com and have been graciously tagged by Uvi Poznansky http://uviart.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-next-big-thing.html