Psychological Thriller
Date Published: 03/25/2024
Publisher: Great Whale Books
The wedding was weeks away for two young lovers, who had counted themselves lucky to have found one another. Then, it was over, as one of them abruptly disappeared. Audrey was not abducted. Not exactly. She was not taken against her will. Rather, her will itself had been taken. Coerced and controlled. Deceived and derailed. Matthias cannot walk away from the catastrophe, though he has nothing to go on, and is in the dark beyond all personal darkness he has ever known . . .
The Contraption is a novel that deals with the challenges faced by a woman who has been recruited into a dangerous, coercive religious cult. Her fiancé is left not knowing even where she is. Her name has been changed and she has been relocated to another state. The cult, Church of the Mountain of Radiance, is an all-controlling psychological prison.
Interview with Barton Allen Stewart
Have you read anything that made you think differently about fiction?
Yes. I started out writing fantasy short stories as a young person. That was my world at the time, and my first book, Tales of Real and Dream Worlds, is a collection of stories with a Twilight Zone feel. Then I discovered Tennessee Williams, and I decided the real world of human nature was what I wanted to write about.
How do you select the names of your characters?
What a great question! As it turns out I do have something of a tactic on that. I like names that you may have heard before, but are not very common. So, I have people with names like Matthias Pleasant, DeWitt Lindsey, and Penny Sturdevant. The main character of The Contraption has the most conventional name of any of my characters, Audrey Crane. But that name just came to me for her, and it stuck.
Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?
Another great question. I have a few. I sometimes tie my unrelated novels together with quick mentions of towns and places that appear in them. I am originally from North Carolina, and I have this little trademark of setting my stories somewhere in the state. If possible.
What was your hardest scene to write?
In The Contraption, Audrey Crane has been subjected to extreme brainwashing techniques. Her original personality is subsumed beneath a pile of propaganda and programming. A phony “cult self” is in control, but the original self is there somewhere and wants out. I have studied these things, but bringing them to life was challenging.
Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
My books stand alone. I may write a sequel to The Contraption someday.
What were your goals and intentions in this book, and how well do you feel you achieved them?
I wanted excellent character-driven literary fiction that delivers the realities of an abusive, manipulative organization (of which there are many.) I think the mission has been accomplished. Now comes the challenge of getting people to take a look!
What inspired you to write The Contraption?
I started out in my youth writing fantasy stories in the style of Rod Serling. Later I discovered Tennessee Williams, and also Davis Grubb’s Night of the Hunter. Those writers tilted me into focusing on the real world of human nature. Elizabeth Strout is my favorite living author.
Can you tell us a little bit about the next books or what you have planned for the future?
There may be a sequel to The Contraption! Not sure yet. I have a novel titled The Year of Cannonhills which I am holding back until I have a better handle on the whole marketing and promotions thing. It is literary fiction.
Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in The Contraption?
The Contraption deals with Audrey Crane, an intellectual, idealistic woman in her late twenties. She is a futurist, in that she wants a better future and sees the new generation as being the embodiment of that. She is writing her own theory on humane child psychology. She is weeks away from her wedding day when she is ensnared in the recruitment machinery of Church of the Mountain of Radiance, a monstrous religious cult. Her fiancé, Matthias Pleasant, has no idea where she is. (She made one statement to her mother and walked out.) He assumes she has been abducted. As he comes to realize it is far more complex than that, he resolves to try to find her, and hopefully bring her back to the life they had before this horrifically abrupt separation.
What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
The Contraption was a labor of love. I am so happy to have been able to put it all together and present this look into another world. It is one that is sadly happening in the here and now, not far from where you are.
About the Author
The author, Barton A. Stewart, is a long time student of the cult phenomenon, and literary fiction. The Contraption marries together his two long time interests. Stewart has lived all over the United States, is presently single, and currently calls Metro Boston home. His book will be among the most realistic fictional depictions of the kinds of things that can happen in cases like this. Avoiding the sensationalism of so many novels on this subject, Stewart offers a look into another world, which unfortunately exists in the here and now.
Contact Links
Twitter: @BartStewart1
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