fuonlyknew

Book Excerpt  

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Why Godzilla?

What images come to mind when you think of your favorite childhood movies? Some of you might recall specific moments and characters from the films you grew up with, but is your love of those movies so deeply entrenched that even the opening vanity logo is enough to elicit a rush of pure, nostalgic joy? Many adults my age might picture the simple white castle against the blue background and hear the comforting tune for “When You Wish Upon a Star” swell up before the words “Walt Disney Pictures” are revealed. While I do seem like a contrarian from time to time, I must admit that it is hard not to get swept up in the magic of seeing that classic vanity card. Disney’s logo began many childhood journeys of wonder, comedy, and fantasy for me. However, there is another cinematic logo I place above it. This logo holds a special place in my heart that not even the Walt Disney Company could ever occupy. 

東宝: Imagine those characters surrounded by a bold white circle illuminated by a bright spectrum of colorful rays of light against a predominantly blue backdrop. It was the emblem of Toho Company, Ltd., and seeing that logo prepared me for what I was going to witness: bizarre, larger-than-life creatures; giant irradiated dinosaurs rising from the ocean depths; alien cyborgs coming to invade the Earth; multiheaded flying dragons raining down lightning bolts from the skies; and powerful gods and goddesses of ancient myth carrying out their age-old rivalries in a world unprepared to handle them. I was about to see monsters! Best of all, there was a great chance I was about to see another adventure starring the greatest of them all, Godzilla, the King of the Monsters.  

Before continuing, I should point out that Toho isn’t limited to producing monster movies. Over the years, the studio made comedies, romances, and historical dramas, including some from famed director Akira Kurosawa. However, I can’t help but think of Godzilla as the icon of the studio, like Mickey Mouse is for Disney. My love for the Godzilla character, series, and franchise transformed into a near-lifelong hobby. Some of the most cherished moments of my childhood revolved around discovering, watching, and rewatching the King’s classic movies. 

It was not always easy having Godzilla as a passion. Being an American fan before the age of the internet meant that finding all those movies was hard to accomplish. Whether scouring through TV Guides or going through the shelves of old local video stores, my self-imposed scavenger hunt was exhausting at times. However, the search yielded its rewards more often than not.

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Interview with Author Patrick Kelly:

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When did you come up with the idea to write your book?

As a lifelong Godzilla fan, the idea of a win/loss record for the King of the Monsters is something I thought about for decades. As mentioned in Volume I, I came across documented fight records from various sources, but I never fully agreed with the results. However, I never documented my own record until the COVID lockdowns of 2020. At the time, I was single, living alone, and unable to go anywhere. Fortunately, I was able to telework during this time, so at least I had my job. However, as the weeks continued on, I became more and more bored and frustrated with the situation. I have been an introvert for as long as I can remember, but even I was feeling cooped up and anxious about it after a while. I guess it is true what they say: You can have too much of a good thing.

One way I tried to pass all my newfound free time was by rewatching the old Godzilla films. As I watched the films again, the idea of documenting my own win-loss record came to mind. I thought about going beyond what was shown in past records and thought about developing a full methodology for recording wins and losses for Godzilla and the many monsters that inhabit his series of films. After a while, it got so big that I thought “Maybe I should publish this” and so I did.

Who is your publisher and how did you find them or did you self-publish?

I self-published. Good old Amazon made the process mostly simple.

Do you believe a book cover plays an important role in the selling process?

Absolutely. It is important to catch the eyes of potential readers and a cover helps with that. I can’t tell you how many times I was in a bookstore or a store looking to buy a video game, and it was the cover that got me to at least give it a look.

How hard was it to write a book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make the journey easier for other writers?

As a first time author, I was woefully unprepared for the entire process. Every time I felt like I made progress, there was some other aspect to getting to publication that demanded my attention. For example, it never dawned on me to have a foreword for the book. Because I was handling this whole project myself, every new development came as a surprise. Once I decided I needed a foreword, I thought “How do I even ask someone to write a foreword?” I made a list of candidates, narrowed it down, and sent out three requests to three different people hoping that at least one of them would reply. Well, imagine my surprise when all three of them replied and were enthusiastic about writing the foreword! I ended up using all three of them. I greatly appreciate Barry Goldberg, John Lemay, and James Rolfe all contributing to this project.

Because my books are closely tied to a lifelong hobby of mine, I found it difficult to maintain a balance between making the book enjoyable for fans without alienating the uninitiated. To keep that balance, I had to break some habits. For example, one of the monsters is named Moguera, and the 90s version of that monster is a robot whose name is an acronym, so its written out as MOGUERA. Because I’m a fan, I’ve used both Moguera and MOGUERA almost interchangeably without even really thinking about it. However, the question of how to write Moguera/MOGUERA’s name came up during the editing process because I used both. To fans, they would think nothing of it, but readers unfamiliar with the series were bound to be confused by it. This type of issue also came up due to a problem with my covers. Volume I is listed as covering 1954-1975 and Volume II covers 1984-2021. Most fans would look at that and not question anything because all Godzilla fans know there were no films between 1975 and 1984. However, I’ve been asked already on three separate occasions by non-fans why Volume II begins with 1984, and this is before they even cracked open the book. Ideally, I would have liked to go back and fix the covers to address this issue, but unfortunately, I was too far along to change it. I did not want to simplify things too much because I did want fans to enjoy my books and making it too comfortable for non-fans would have frustrated them. It was a balancing act that I strived to achieve.

My best advice to any aspiring writers is to be willing to accept criticism and always proofread! Editing is probably the single most important part of the process and I found that there is no such thing as proofreading too much. Also, do as much research as possible instead of jumping into it head first like I did.

What other books are you working on and when will they be published?

Right now, I am focusing on my family and my full-time job. I do have ideas for future books, including: continuations of the Monster Fight Record to include the rest of the King Kong films and Gamera films; a book comparing the original Japanese versions of the Godzilla films to their American edits; and a fan’s perspective on the history of WrestleMania!

I think any one of those books would be fun to tackle, but nothing is set into motion at the moment.

What’s one fact about your book that would surprise people?

The first draft of the manuscript was one volume and over a 1000 pages long! Thankfully, I was able to trim it down and split it into two books to make the information more digestible.

Finally, what message are you trying to get across with your book?

My biggest message is that Godzilla is fun. My books only cover one aspect of his everlasting appeal.

Thank you again for this interview!  Do you have any final words?

SKREEONK!!! (look it up)

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