Photo by Amber Pfaff

Talking ‘Just Jake’ (and a few other things)

John Showalter
Contributing Writer

North Dakota has small number of calls to fame: a movie by the Coen Brothers, being the homeland of homerun hitter Roger Maris, and the hunting grounds of macho man President Theodore Roosevelt, but can we add being the home of a best-selling novelist to the list? Fargo resident Erik Block can only hope so, as he has recently published his first novel, Just Jake. At the very least he offers a rebuttal to the stereotype of a writer as a bohemian individual living in a flat on the East or West coast, nursing a glass of whiskey and some existential angst.

Explaining exactly what the story is about isn’t easy, as Block couldn’t think of a satisfactory but not too revealing answer himself. “One of the book’s big ‘twists’ takes place in the first 20 pages or so,” he said, going on to tell me that my best bet would be reading the synopsis on the back. Cue the narrator’s voice of your choosing: “Jake’s life is less than perfect. His father drinks, his mother is borderline insane, and his disabled brother, Kyle, can’t so much as feed himself or tie his own shoes. But when he suddenly falls simultaneously into love and tragedy, Jake’s life spirals into a chaos that he couldn’t even imagine, and only he can put the pieces back together. Jake’s story of identity and confusion, of love lost and love found, will resonate with any reader who has struggled with what it means to belong.”

While this is his first achievement in the field of novels, Block has still published several poems and short stories in a number of journals.  He was even a proud member of the writing staff of this paper years ago.  Even when he was young, Block knew that he wanted to be a writer, and he pursued that dream through a BA in English/mass communications and an MFA in creative writing at MSUM.  His first novel was a labor of love that took him three years to complete.

Admittedly, a lot of that period was “off and on,” Block said.  “I probably wrote the majority of it in about four months of actually sitting down and really concentrating on it.  Otherwise, the rest of the time was spent scribbling on napkins and just tinkering with it once in a while.”  After all, he does have a day job, working full-time administrative at Minnesota School of Business in Moorhead and teaching online for Rasmussen. Once it came time to try to get published Block considered it a non-issue, “One could say my publisher was my mother, as she put up the money to have it done.” I’m sure many a stressed-out writer has wished they could dodge the publishing bullet like that!

Speaking of others involved with Block’s writing, I had to wonder who and what were his greatest inspirations as a writer.  “I’m never sure who to cite as inspirations,” Block said.  While growing up he was a die-hard Stephen King fan and currently he is a fan of Wally Lamb, saying he would be honored to be compared to him. His biggest inspiration, however?  “…definitely the people that I’ve grown up with and spent time with,” he said. The memorable friends and colorful history of his adolescence are his most influential muses. As far as how much the novel draws from his life, Block says that the events of the plot and Jake’s circumstances are by and large invented, though there are bits of him in Jake, with the character acting in ways that Block said he thinks he would act in similar situations.

Like any good writer, Block has other literary projects on the horizon. You can never stop a writer from writing. His next novel will be a sort of pseudo-sequel to Just Jake, not necessarily carrying on the story of his debut novel but taking place in the same town and referencing some of the same places, people, and events.  “…with any luck, I’ll finish it before technology has made reading of any kind obsolete,” he joked. In a way it could be considered a creation of Block’s own, like Faulkner’s fictional Mississippi county or the woefully unlucky characters in Vonnegut’s dark comedies. Perhaps Block’s creations will achieve that much fame. One can only wait and see.  He already has local schools expressing interest in using his book as course material.

In answer to the question that has been burning in everyone’s minds while reading this article, you are able to purchase the book at Amazon or Barnes & Noble’s website, where it runs for about twenty dollars.  If any of you have a desire for some new reading material or want to see Fargo burst into the literary scene, give Just Jake a try. Reading isn’t obsolete yet.

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