12.21.12

I remember sitting in my living room with one of my best friends, Karen. She was in town from Oakland and she came over to have a glass of wine and catch up on each others lives in an intimate setting before we headed out. When we were younger (sometime in high school) we made up a list of things we wanted to do before we were 30. That night she was over we started to think of other things to add to our list.

"Do you believe in 12.21.12?", Karen asked me. I paused then asked her to elaborate.
"Oh you know. The date when the world is supposed to end according to the Mayan calendar." My eyes widen. "Wait...that's after my birthday...and I'm not even going to be 30 yet! What about our list!" All joking aside, Karen started to tell me about the date and how she'd been reading about it. She told me about floods, how California would be an island or not even exist at all.

Her apocalyptic standpoint is different from other's point of view. For example, sometime last year I interviewed a former co-worker who is an avid believer in the Mayan calendar. Remember Matthew and his Cosmic Birthday? He told me about the accuracy of the Mayan calendar in relation to everything around us, to music scales, art, energy, seals and symbols.

Recently I had the privilege to interview William Gladstone, author of The Twelve. With the help of my friend, Matthew, a handful of questions were posed to the author. He was nice enough to partake in my little Q&A.

1. What book are you currently reading right now?

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

2. What is the book about?

The human condition as seen in a fanciful Latin American context. This is the second time I am reading this book after twenty years and I’m enjoying it even more as the language itself is beautiful beyond the story which is ironic, amusing and wistful.

3. Did you have any favourite books growing up?

The Wizard of OZ and all the Baum books in that series. I also enjoyed The Hardy Boys, baseball books, and The Black Stallion. I loved the magic of the OZ books and the emotion of The Black Stallion. I loved baseball as a kid and enjoyed the sports descriptions in the baseball books

4. Is there a book you like to recommend to people?

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

4b. Has there been a book recommended by a friend of review that you absolutely loved?

Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb and a Biography of Orson Wells.

5. Is there a book you've read multiple times?

I have read One Hundred Years of Solitude at least five times.

6. Can you please tell me a bit about TWELVE? How did you come about writing it?

I had a concept for a film 30 years ago in which I saw the final scene. I wrote the film treatment at that time and then revised the treatment again around the year 2000. I was about to engage a guild credited screenwriter to turn the treatment into screenplay in October 2008 when I was stopped by the screenwriter’s strike. I decided to write the back story of the main character Max Doff, and before I knew it, had a completed novel.

7. Are you a big believer in the Mayan calendar?

Yes. It is perhaps the most accurate calendar ever created. Of course there are many different Mayan calendars but I assume you are referring to the long count calendar. It is inconceivable how a calendar covering 26,000 years could have been created several thousand years ago. "Why" and "how" are fascinating questions which intrigue me and many reader.

8. What are your thoughts of humanity moving away from the Gregorian Calendar to a calendar that measures natural time cycles like the Tzolkin?

I think this is unlikely to happen in our lifetimes.

9. Do you feel your novel sends a more positive message about the 2012 date than the negative messages being blasted through mainstream media?

Yes, very much so.

10. The Mayans viewed the number 13 as a very powerful number and measured cycles in multiplications of 13. Your book is called THE TWELVE, which according to the Mayans is the Tone of Understanding knowledge, Teaching, and the continuity of wisdom. Are you familiar with the Mayan Tones of creation?

Yes and I believe that they are accurate and insightful.

How do you feel about the number 13 and the cycles of creation being measured in multiples of 13?

13 is an important number in THE TWELVE. In music there are 12 notes to a scale. When you introduce the 13th note you move to the next scale. Metaphorically 13 is the number of transformation. It is believed in many cultures that when twelve are gathered in complete harmony the 13th will appear.

11. What are your personal hopes for the 2012 date?

December 21, 2012 should be a day of rejoicing and celebration initiating the transformation of consciousness on a massive scale with hundreds of millions of people participating.

12. Are you familiar with the works of Jose Arguelles, Carl Calleman and Ian Xel Lunghold ?

Yes, though with varying levels of familiarity.

What are you thoughts of the Dreamspell Calendar vs. The Classic Mayan version?

I feel that the Classic Mayan calendar is the most useful at this time

13. Do you have any special, random, interesting quirks or habits when reading or handling a book?

I like to treat each book with tenderness as the special gift books are. I like physical books and hope they will still be important as physical entities many years from now when Kindle versions may be outselling physical books.

14. In Anne Fadiman's "Ex-Libris" she refers to an "odd shelf". It's a collection of books you own that are of a particular genre...but just really random collection of books whose subject matter is totally unrelated to the rest of your collection. Her Odd Shelf holds 64 books about polar exploration: naval manuals, journals, narratives, collections of photographs, etc. Do you have an "odd shelf"? And if so, what subject matter would I find? If you do not currently have an "odd shelf" per se, what would your ideal "odd shelf" contain?

I do not have an "odd shelf" however if I had an “odd shelf” it most likely would be a collection of books containing odd facts about people, places, and the universe. Books of unexpected information fascinate me especially when there is no seeming purpose for collecting the information other than the passion and curiosity of the author.

To find out more about William Gladstone and his novel feel free to check out his site: www.12thebook.com