The Exopotamia Manuscript — Maxim Jakubowski

The expression 'you are what you eat' has been attributed to Bob Dylan, and like any writer I am the sum of my experiences, on the page, the screen and in real life. I was brought up in France and as a result that wonderful, doomed author Boris Vian became a strong influence. His lost characters, sometimes surrealist settings and the way he subverted the tenets of the traditional fantasy genre had a subterranean effect which has resurfaced decades later in my books, particularly so as I began moving away from the crime genre.Polish 18th century nobleman, politician and fabulist Count Jan Potocki's The Manuscript Found in Saragossa has also lingered in my mind since I read it when in my 20s, a subterranean influence; a gem of a book that combines the picaresque, the occult, eroticism and so much more, which fascinatingly demonstrates that the fantastic can flower without quests, wizards and dragons. And then there is the music of Serge Gainsbourg! But when I began writing this novella, I had no idea I would draw on these elements: I had a blank canvas, but knew that I wanted to write about mourning, the beauty of women and the sadness of watching the years go by.And then I walked into a diner in St John's in Newfoundland and the waitress who served my clam chowder unwittingly pulled the trigger on this perverse love story, full of horror and lost souls. Not that the real-life Lily will ever be aware of the fact! -Maxim Jakubowski