Book interview - Me and The Monkey: Chronicles of the Monkey God by Andy Darby

Please tell us a little about the book

Me and The Monkey: Chronicles of the Monkey God began as an exercise in writing discipline. I had been writing for a few years, on and off, and could never seem to find the time or commitment to sit down and give it the energy and space it needed. Working in the live events industry I always found myself either in transit to or from a venue, either in the UK or abroad, working with clients on site or in their offices, or when home, trying to have a ‘home life’ with my young daughter. But I still wanted to write, and this kept nagging at me while I was spending all that dead time travelling. So… I decided that I would make myself write something every day, even if only a few lines, and to give myself the necessary sense of urgency I would post each day’s writing onto a Facebook page as a blog so that if I got any followers, they could give me a hard time if I failed to write. What followed was approximately twelve months of writing blog posts on my phone or iPad or laptop while sitting on trains, in airports and on planes, in motorway service stations, in hotel rooms, backstage at events, and even sometimes while sat at home with a glass of Jack Daniels. I enjoyed the episodic nature of it, almost like writing for a TV series, and I managed to get a few followers who enjoyed what I was writing, they kept me motivated and even made suggestions for what should happen at times. And so was born Me and The Monkey.

The book is a series of blog posts over the course of approximately 12 months. It is the sweary, drunken story of the natator and The Monkey who wins him (yes that is the right way round) in a no holds barred Othello game in a coffee house in Amsterdam. They return to the narrator’s home in Cornwall and over the course of the story The Monkey becomes more educated, teaching himself magic amongst other things, and becomes aware that he has a previous life as an Airborne Ranger who served in Vietnam. Through a series of experiments in magic he creates a black hole in the spare bedroom attracting the attention of outside elements including a shadowy international cabal bent on world domination. Adventure ensues which sees them, with the help of a motley collection of collaborators, go to the jungles of Cambodia, the deserts of Nevada, the frozen wastes of Iceland, and several other places in between! All this mixed in with copious drink, drugs, violence, bad TV, video games, rock music, sexy partially dead girls, crazy humour, and The Monkey's slowly dawning realisation that he is actually an incarnated God...   

Where did the inspiration come from for your book?

Why Me and The Monkey you ask? Well, I had always been fascinated by the way, as humans, we have different aspects of ourselves that come to the fore depending upon the circumstances. The monkey brain is that part of us which takes over when we feel threatened or insulted and is always that part of us which causes those bad decisions. The monkey brain seeks instant gratification, regardless of what that might be, and is often on show late at night when the pubs close and shirtless men square up to each other in the street over some imagined insult, or women (not usually shirtless) shout abuse and pull hair over the attention or lack of, of a prospective mate. So, The Monkey is that part of all of us that we would rather deny, I just made him a physical entity with all the uncontrolled madness that entails, but I didn’t want The Monkey to remain just crazy as that can get boring very quickly, I wanted The Monkey to evolve. And so, The Monkey becomes self-aware as the story progresses and he discovers more about himself, his past, and the world in which he finds himself. This applies equally to the long-suffering narrator, the ‘Me’ of Me and The Monkey who finds himself, not totally unwillingly, along for the ride.  

How did you find the experience of writing this book?

At first the posts were of a random comedic nature that fitted in with whatever popped into my mind or was happening in the world, so when it was Christmas they did Christmas type things, but after a while I realised that a sort of narrative was beginning to form beyond that and that I would have to give that narrative some consideration if I was going to be able to find something interesting to write about (yes, I really did begin this with no plan!). As the weeks progressed, I began to develop a plot and supporting characters along with a back story for or heroes, and then I would find myself mentioning something in the story that required research to pad it out and the plot really began to thicken and get more bizarre, along with the Google searches (must remember to leave instructions in my will for my search history to be deleted!). I also wove in world mythology, the occult, global conspiracy, good and bad TV and movies, music, games, drink, drugs, guns, and Cornwall where I live. Into this mix I then introduced an alternative world history that begins to leak out as the story progresses.

Did you draw any inspiration from any real life people with any of your characters?

I drew more and more upon situations I have been in and people I have known and their experiences (that might seem kind of worrying when you read the blogs but the Vietnam section particularly I owe in large part to a friend and martial arts master who served in the war in Vietnam), along with the vast amount of reading material I have in my library, that sounds very grand but there is at least one full bookcase in every room of the house.

If you could say anything to readers of this  book then what would it be?

Life is a journey not a destination, so hold on tight as it sometimes takes you in directions that you never expected and can present you with challenges and opportunities that you never thought of! Life IS change, don't fight it, learn how to not get swept away by it.

Are there plans for more from these characters, or is it a stand alone piece?

I have written a short story prequal called 'The Paddington Incident' which is set in a steam punk, alternative Victorian London and introduces previous incarnations of some of the main characters and fills in the history of others. I have recently finished writing Volume 2 of Me and The Monkey and that is with the publisher for edits etc. There will be a Volume 3, which is fermenting in the back of my mind at the moment, and there will also be some more short stories from The Monkey's universe - some of these will be in a different, far less comedic, style.

Where can we purchase your book?

You can get the glorious, full colour hardback and the shiny eBook version from Amazon: http://getbook.at/MeandTheMonkey or Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57926256-me-and-the-monkey

The hardback can be purchased from Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/me-and-the-monkey/andy-darby/9781916084599 and Blackwells: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9781916084599 

Please tell us where readers can connect with you and find out about any new book releases too.

You can connect with me here:

email: monkey@meandthemonkey.co.uk

website: www.meandthemonkey.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/WhatWouldTheMonkeyDo

https://twitter.com/MeandTheMonkey0

https://www.instagram.com/me_and_the_monkey/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCebCyWBbTgO2UoAS2lYWcjA

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/Me_and_The_Monkey/