Jason Mott on D.G. Martin's 'North Carolina Book Watch' Sunday

Jason Mott

 Jason Mott, author of the recent novel, "The Wonder of all Things," is a writer's writer. I was lucky enough to moderate a panel last fall on which he served. He was extremely articulate about the writing life and his no-nonsense approach to tackling a novel, and he gave the audience valuable tips on what to do when you're stuck: keep writing.

Mott will be on D.G. Martin's "North Carolina Book Watch" this Sunday at noon and again on Thursday at 5 p.m. (UNC-TV).

I'm hoping Martin will ask him what inspired his first novel, "The Returned," on which the ABC television series, "Resurrection," is based.

His latest, "The Wonder of All Things," concerns a 13-year-old girl who has amazing healing powers. But each time she uses her powers, there's a cost to her.

You don't want to miss this inspiring writer from Bolton, N.C.

 

Miraculous healing subject of Jason Mott's novel 'The Wonder of All Things'

Jason Mott by Michael Becker

"N.C. Bookwatch" will be re-running host D.G. Martin's interview with bestselling N.C. novelist  Jason Mott ("The Returned") at 5 p.m. on Thursday on UNC-TV.

"The Returned" was the inspiration for the popular ABC series, "Resurrection," about the dead returning to life. This week, Mott's second novel, "The Wonder of All Things," will hit bookstores.
If you're hoping for more magic, you're in luck.

"On an ordinary day at an air show like that in any small town across the country," reads the jacket copy, "a plane crashes into a crowd of spectators. After the dust clears, a 13-year-old girl named Ava is found huddled beneath a pocket of rubble with her best friend, Wash. He is injured and bleeding, and when Ava places her hands over him, his wounds disappear."

The Washington Post has called it "compulsively readable" and Publishers Weekly says, "Exceptional.... Riveting."

Mott grew up in and still lives in Bolton, N.C., a town of three-square miles in Columbus County, once the home of the Waccamaw Lumber Company. Population: 700 and holding.

Mott, who is 36, was raised Southern Baptist, and he told a USA Today reporter that the idea of miraculous healing has always interested him.

"In the South there's always a bit of magic, through the stories you hear. Everything here has a back story to it. And in the South there's the phenomenon of churches where healing goes on."

Mott studied fiction and poetry at UNC Wilmington, earning BA and MFA degrees. He's published short stories and two books of poetry, one of which, "This Thing Between Us We Call Love," is from Main Street Rag of Charlotte.

Upcoming Jason Mott Readings and Book Signings

• 7 p.m. Sept. 30: Barnes & Noble, Wilmington, N.C.
• 7:30 p.m., Oct. 1: Quail Ridge Books and Music, Raleigh, N.C.
• 2 p.m., Oct. 9: Wilkes Community College, Wilkesboro, N.C.
• 7 p.m., Oct. 28: The Hanesbrand Auditorium, Winston-Salem, N.C.

North Carolina author's novel inspires ABC's 'Resurrection'

Maybe you’ve seen the promo for ABC’s “Resurrection,” the new drama series starting March 9. Maybe you’ve heard the haunting background lyrics: I’m coming home. I’m coming home. Tell the world I’m coming home.

The show’s intriguing premise: Dead people all over the world are returning to their loved ones – not as zombies, but as exactly the people they were when they died. 

Here’s the story behind that premise: In 2010, Jason Mott, who lives in Bolton, a small town near Wilmington, had a vivid dream about his mom. She’d been dead for nine years, but he discovered her waiting for him at his kitchen table, wanting to hear about his life since she’d passed. The dream gave him an idea for a novel, about dead people returning to live among their loved ones.

Mott, 35, landed a book deal in 2012. “The Returned” (Harlequin MIRA; $24.95) was published in September 2013 to great reviews. USA Today, for instance, called it “a tense and touching treatise on life, death and life  again.” It hit the New York Times bestseller list. By then, it had already been adapted for television as “Resurrection.” 

Sounds like an overnight success. But Mott's instant success only came after years of hard work.

He earned a BFA in fiction and an MFA in poetry, both from UNC Wilmington. He published two poetry collections, “We Call This Thing Between Us Love” and “…hide behind me…,” both with Charlotte’s Main Street Rag. 

He also worked at a Verizon call center, fielding complaints about malfunctioning cell phones. “Whenever your cell phone breaks and you want to yell at someone,” he explains, “you call me.”

In his free time, however, he wrote. He finished several novels. The first five or so, he says, weren’t good enough to publish. But he never stopped writing. 

Mott left his Verizon job in 2012, soon after he landed the book deal. He got a two-book contract, so he’s now at work on his second, to be published late this year. Like “The Returned,” it has elements of magical realism and it’s set in a small town. Mott says his publisher doesn’t want him to reveal much more.

Mott’s life, in some ways, has changed drastically. He went from being, as he says, “a guy who answers phones,” to a guy with a bestselling book and TV series. On the other hand, it has not changed much.

He won’t be flying to Hollywood for the series release party. Instead, he plans to watch the premiere at a friend’s house, sitting on the couch. “I like to be behind the scenes. I don’t like the attention.” Besides, he says, “I’ve got deadlines I need to be working on.”