Hugo Award Winner Thomas: The "witch" of childhood followed me for years

There is a storyteller in every child's childhood, because because of this person's narration, the "world" has color and contour in the child's eyes for the first time. Some stories even "trail" children for many years.

Hugo Award-winning Dutch fantasy writer Thomas Old Hewirt has been "entangled" with the witches in his childhood stories until now. His novel "Welcome to Black Springs", featuring a Dutch medieval witch, is about to be adapted into an American drama. The novel has been introduced to China for publication this year.

Born in 1983, Thomas published his first novel at the age of 16 and won the Paul Haaland Prize, the most prestigious fantasy prize in the Netherlands, at the age of 26, and was described by the BBC as "one of the rare genius writers in the field of European fantasy literature".

In 2015, Thomas's "That Day, Heaven and Earth Turned Upside Down" won the 73rd Hugo Award for Best Short Novella. This is the second time in the history of the Hugo Award that a translated work has won the award, the first of which is Liu Cixin's "Three-Body Problem".

How much influence can childhood stories have on a fantasy writer? At a recent book sharing session in Beijing on "The Ink Reader in the Village of Leshage," Thomas said that the source of all people's imagination from childhood to adulthood may come from the storyteller of childhood. It was the storyteller's uncle who occupied every weekend of Thomas's childhood and determined the context of his writing for years to come.

When Thomas was young, his uncle, who lived in Amsterdam, told him many "very frightening stories", such as vampires, Frankenstein, and witches. "The story of a witch comes from a British writer who accidentally bumps into a witch in a hotel and is having a group meeting, and these witches are very scary and dressed up, and they get together to discuss how to destroy children all over the world."

Thomas said that his uncle was "damaged" and would stop when he was wandering around the town, pointing to a lady and saying, "That man is so short, walking like that, could he be a witch?" So much so that when I grew up with any lady dressed in the same way, I would have a shiver inside. In addition, the uncle also took Thomas to the countryside for hiking, in the lush mountains, if you see mushrooms growing in the ground, the uncle will say to him: "You have to walk around with your eyes closed, otherwise you will step on the witch, and you will encounter a lot of bad luck in the next 7 years." ”

The witch who terrified Thomas in his childhood story "settled" in his heart for a long time, and later receded to the pen, becoming "Catherine" in "Welcome to Black Springs".

Thomas portrays the witch "Catherine", who has a pair of evil eyes that can curse people and spread spells. So the villagers sewed the witch's eyes and mouth. But "Catherine" did not leave the village, she would walk around the street and appear at someone else's bedside.

Thomas pointed out that in european medieval cultures, witches were a very special image. "Women who didn't participate in everyday affairs or didn't go to church at that time were considered eccentrics. If convicted of being a witch, he would be executed by the people of the village. In fact, we know that this is a completely superstitious view, but in the Middle Ages, hundreds of women in Europe were judged witches and then buried or executed. ”

"My uncle planted in my heart the seed of a love of horror and thrillers. When I become a writer, I also think about how to make my readers laugh or be scared through the power of words, and want to impress them with my words. Because he was "frightened" by the solid story told by his uncle, Thomas was very concerned about the emotional reaction of unknown readers after starting to write. He hopes to add strange elements and supernatural phenomena to the novel to create a very magical reading effect.

After reading Welcome to Black Spring Town, Chinese science fiction writer Han Song thought that "this is a pure fantasy novel, like George Martin, but the more I read it, the more I look at it, the more I look at it, the more I look like Stephen King's horror novel", which has a deep critical significance.

Stephen King, author of "The Shining" and "Under the Dome", and George Martin, author of "Game of Thrones", two top IP creators who have driven fans around the world crazy, have also had a profound spiritual impact on Thomas, and even had an unexpected intersection in life.

"When I was a teenager, I was standing outside a bookstore in the Netherlands and seeing Stephen King's work through the window and was completely mesmerized. But at that time, my mother didn't want me to read these books, thinking that these books were a little too early for a child. And the words on the cover and back cover alone have made Thomas secretly determined that he wants to be that kind of writer when he grows up.

Thomas, who published his first book in high school, said: "There was a small conference in my hometown, more than 100 people came, I saw this scene and thought it was so cool, I thought I must continue to do this in the future." 」 Later, I went to another city to do a promotion, and there were only 3 people at that event, and I fell into reality in an instant. Later, Thomas immersed himself in improving his writing skills, mainly writing short stories—because writing short stories is like writing poetry, every word is very critical.

"There are a lot of famous writers who write long novels, but their short stories are also very good, Stephen King is like this, in my opinion, short stories can really reflect a person's level." 」

Thomas's efforts have paid off, and the distance between "little fans" and "big idols" is no longer just a silent admiration through the window.

When Thomas's "Welcome to Black Springs" was published in the United States, he never expected that Stephen King sent a promotional tweet and immediately caught fire, bringing Thomas a lot of new readers; George Martin also mentioned the book on his blog, and Thomas was invited to his private museum to play the giant laser harp until he forgot himself.

"I really enjoy my profession, and as a writer, it's sometimes hard to imagine what kind of experiences I'm going to have, and these experiences are very unique."

Thomas's new book, The Ink Reader in the Village of Restack, includes his many Hugo Award-winning and World Fantasy Award-winning works. Thomas felt that there were things in common between Eastern and Western cultures. "No matter how the world changes, the things that humans are afraid of have many similarities in themselves, such as fear of the dark, the unknown, the fear that strangers will one day come into your home, or the fear that one day you will collapse." 」

Thomas also used this psychological characteristic to create fantasy novels. After the publication of Welcome to Black Springs, readers from different countries wrote to him expressing their fear of the witches in the book. "They were all very frightened, and after reading the book, there was a witch lurking in the bedroom, lurking at the head of their bed, staring straight at them."

Trainee reporter Shen Jiequn

Original title: Hugo Award Winner Thomas: The "witch" of childhood followed me for many years