Alan Heathcock’s Cautionary Tale Idaho Writer Talks 40

BOOK COVER BY RODRIGO CORRAL

BY CHARLES PINEDA

Where the world is headed has always been subject to debate, but rarely is a creator—in this case Boise author Alan Heathcock—so eager to say, “I absolutely do not want my story to become true.” The writer’s new novel, 40, is a study in both the hubris of humanity as well as that old adage we all want to be true—that hope truly does spring eternal. Set in a devastated future world where climate change is literally—and plausibly— changing the landscape of the world itself, politics and favoritism are just as much themes in Heathcock’s dystopian-leaning work.

We begin with a lone soldier surviving a bomb blast, a young woman who wakes after with true and full wings sprouting from her back. While the novel treats us to a colorful but succinct backstory, including a shocking moment of violence brilliantly rendered without being vulgar or distasteful, Heathcock also manages to rocket the story forward as young Mazzy Goodwin quickly goes from unknown face to the face of, quite potentially, the divine. “Some would see her as an angel, and possibly exploit her because of that,” Heathcock said.

While the novel explores this theme, it also leans back at times from Mazzy, who the reader can’t help but empathize with—at times, she is more confused than we are as readers. Often writers are told to make characters entirely proactive, but Heathcock delivers a delightful subversive treat: so often we see that what Mazzy does, whatever the choice, can only be a reaction, so controlled by others is the world in which she exists. There is the government, and the militaristic Novae Terrae cult/ group which would very much like Mazzy on their side, but equally on the page is nature itself, which at times seems to appeal directly to Mazzy.

PHOTO BY FINCH111

“I started writing this novel back in 2013. Even back then I’d started to notice a fraying in the fabric of America…Add into that our collective inaction toward climate change. It scared me. I had to rewrite the novel five times because the trajectory I was predicting in our future kept becoming more and more dire,” Heathcock said. “I’m not really a science-fiction guy.”

Heathcock’s fast-paced—and often mesmerizing—work shows an almost operatic sense of scale that makes the action of the story not only work, but also offers true moments to read for, each event leaving us hungry for the next. Heathcock’s ending leaves plenty of room for consideration, which he hopes—desperately—you’ll do.

“We’re still here. This future is not yet real. We must change our trajectory and find a better future than the one depicted in my novel,” Heathcock said.