For South Florida writer and musician Jonathan L. Glassman, growing up in Boca Raton and the Florida Keys brought all kinds of inspiration. “I was lucky to have lived on the edge of a large forest and as a child I spent a ridiculous amount of time running those woods, building forts, digging huge trenches, and just exploring and getting lost,” Glassman tells PureHoney.
For his new novel, A Thousand Full Moons, Glassman channels his youthful memories and imagination into a more distant wooded environs: the Pacific Northwest. The 281-page book, available on October 11, follows the adventures of six-year-old Silas, a survivor of family tragedy and bullying whose alter ego, Wolf Boy, carries on a seemingly fantastical other life in the forest.
“I wanted to tell a story of a child who almost didn’t survive as an infant,” Glassman says, “and his wild attachment to nature. I wanted to see that child mature and go through life as if he were living in a painting, a cartoon, or a music video and have it all come to life.”
The question of what is real and what is imagined looms large in a book that was written largely at the West Palm Beach library branch. “I would listen to music with headphones and close my eyes and daydream about the characters for awhile before I would write,” Glassman says.
For the former front man of rock band Luna Rex, music also has a part. Glassman is releasing two indie folk EPs as Pulukee The Whale, Bookends vol.1 and Bookends vol.2, on either side of the publication date as a kind of companion to the novel. “The characters and environments made it into several songs,” Glassman says.
Glassman is hopeful that A Thousand Full Moons will inspire a childlike sense of wonder and possibility in readers. “I want it to feel like a present day fairy tale with just a touch of fantasy,” he says. “Enough to make you think something so ‘out there’ could maybe actually happen.”
A Thousand Full Moons is available on October 11. Bookends vol. 1 and vol. 2 are available on October 4 and 18, respectively. jonathanleeglassman.com and pulukeethewhale.bandcamp.com ~ David Rolland
