World War Z author’s new book Minecraft: The Mountain will be out March 2.
“Sean and I went to high school together,” says Brooks.
“Sean was always really cool.
The cover of ‘Minecraft: The Mountain’ by Max Brooks.Del Rey
He was a couple of years above me.
I was intimidated oh my god, there’s Sean, he’s the guy fromThe Goonies!”
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Why did you start writingMinecraftbooks?
Max Brooks.Michelle Kholos Brooks
MAX BROOKS:For me, this is a burning passion, to write these books.
The education system that you and I had, it is the Prussian model of education, right?
It is standardization, rote memorization, regurgitation, under a ticking clock.
That was the perfect education model for the industrial revolution.
But that doesn’t work anymore.
And I thought, oh my god, do I!
There are some very tense moments.
When I playMinecraft, I imagine, what if this was real?
What if I was really in it?
Because there are some pretty scary moments.
I had to dig a hole and hide.
So, yeah, the game is not without tension and the book should mirror the game.
What kind of feedback did you get from readers ofMinecraft: The Island?
Oh, the best feedback I could have ever gotten.
What more could I ask for?
And these are kids who picked up the book because they playedMinecraft?
And that’s how reading should be taught.
Most of the English teachers I had were natural readers.
They cannot understand why some kids don’t naturally take to books.
That’s not literature.
Stephen King’s not real writing.
You’re not allowed to read Stephen King."
Well, congratulations, buddy, you’ve just annihilated a child’s interest in reading.
Young people come to theMinecraftbooks because they loveMinecraftand they want aMinecraftadventure, which I saw as an in.
Does it feel different writing for younger readers?
You know what it is?
I have to be mindful always of the game.
The game is my boss and, as with all my books, I’m meticulous about my research.
As far as a younger audience?
The writing process is no different.
When it comes to the marketing, sometimes I’ve got to be careful.
I said, “The creative process takes a lot of work, there’s draft after draft.”
Minecraft: The Mountainis published March 2.
