Fox
Fox
Fox
Fox
Melissa Byers
Fill 1
Fill 1
March 23, 2018
Online Originals

A Fable for Our Time

Dirk Blocker takes a break from his Brooklyn Nine-Nine doughnut-scarfing cop to pen a sweet fable "for youngsters of all ages."

Melissa Byers

Regular viewers of Fox's Brooklyn Nine-Nine wouldn't necessarily expect a sweet, charming fable from Dirk Blocker's Hitchcock.

But that is exactly what Blocker has just released with his new book Master and the Little Monk.

The book, written by Blocker and illustrated by Eric Skotnes, is, in Blocker's words, "a fable for youngsters of all ages. Meaning, it's appropriate for children, but not inappropriate for adults either."

According to the synopsis on the freshly launched web site for the book, "True friendship knows no limits ... It comes in all shapes and sizes and can cross all boundaries of conventional wisdom.

"Master and the Little Monk is a fable for all ages. It tells the the story of a lonely boy whose friendship with a unique character helps the boy to endure difficult circumstances, to open doors of learning, and to revealing his life's purpose."

The story has been on Blocker's mind for a while now. He says, "I was in a writer's workshop a couple of years back and we were just working on this, and that, and the other on a regular basis. Someone challenged everybody in the workshop, 'Why don't we write something about dharma, as it relates to purpose and life?'

"I love a challenge, so I went about the way I usually go about when I'm kind of looking for something to write about or kind of feeling it out, which is usually I take a hike up into the hills where I live and just see what happens. See if I'm not struck by something. I was.

"I was struck mostly by an ancient poem. It really doesn't relate to this story that much, but there were elements of it that I've always loved. I thought, 'Well, that's an interesting idea. What If I did this and what if I do this?'

"Well, one thing led to the other, and when things go well for me it usually, I don't really have to think about it so much. I just kind of sit down and when I reread it the next day I go, "Wow. I don't remember writing half of that." It wrote itself.

"Which was the case with this. And then, mostly what happens was when it was finished it was mostly just another story that I had put together. This was a very short story, but just something I had, like a fable. But, my wife just was crazy about it. She just loved it. She just absolutely adored it and she made me promise that if I ever had the opportunity to do something with it that I would do something with it.

"I said, 'Sure. Of course.' And then, here I find myself on a TV series. I said, 'You know, we're self publishing these days. I don't see why I couldn't.'

I looked into it and I talked to an agent who was interested in trying to help me find a publisher. But when I read a little bit more and talked to authors about their experiences with publishers, basically the feedback I was getting is If you want to have total control over it and want to do it the way you want to do it, you should just do it yourself.

"That's what I did. I just hired Eric Skotnes to be the illustrator. He's a fellow who I met on the set of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. He's a muralist. He does art for different television shows, portraiture and he does everything from graffiti to the portrait of Captain Holt to hang in his office [on Brooklyn Nine-Nine]. He's a very gifted fellow, but I just mostly connected with him on a personal level. We just hit it off and I really liked him.

"I approached him and he said, 'Well, I've never done that before.' I said, 'Well, I've never published a book before. Why don't we see if we can makes something of this?' That's how this all kind of came about."

The process of creating the art that would accompany Blocker's story was a collaborative one. The soft-focus, dream-like quality of the art complements the tone of the story. "That's actually something we strived for. We discussed this to some length and it was a great, collaborative relationship, because he would come with ideas and I would say, 'That's great.' And then, I would say, 'Hey. Well, what if we did that?' He would come back with that and by the time it was all said and done, we were both very pleased with it."

Although Blocker's character in Brooklyn Nine-Nine doesn't seem like the kind of man to write something like Master and the Little Monk, Blocker does think the series itself has a softer side to it.

"If I wasn't on this thing I would watch it. I like it that well. Sometimes you're just so glad to have a job it doesn't matter, but you're not necessarily gonna tell everybody you know to drop everything and watch the thing.

"But, in this case it's a little different. I'm really proud of this show and I'm really proud to be a part of it. I think it's funny, to begin with. But, I think it's also sweet. There's a sweet nature to it too. It's kind of like Parks and Rec, which makes sense as this kind of comes from the same people."

And he does not take being in such a project for granted. "I feel like the luckiest person in the world. I wouldn't have it any other way, it's been a glorious ride. This is kind of the job I knew was out there, but hadn't quite hooked up with something this nice before where the cast got along so well and the writing was so magnificent.

"What a pleasure to go to work and to be with these people; we all get along exceedingly well. There's a lot of respect and camaraderie. Just one of those lucky, lucky things that happen once in a while."


For more information and to order Master and the Little Monk, please click here.



 

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