John Twelve Hawks

John Twelve Hawks (also known as J12H or JXIIH to his fans) is the author of the 2005 dystopian novel "The Traveler" and the 2007 novel, "The Dark River", the first two novels in the Fourth Realm Trilogy. His identity is unknown.

Biography

Both John Twelve Hawks and his American publisher state that he has never met his editor and that he communicates using the Internet and an untraceable satellite phone, usually employing a voice scrambler. No photograph of Twelve Hawks has ever appeared and all biographical information about his background is based on four sources:

*a 2005 article in "USA Today"
*a 2005 interview by Rob Bedford in "SFF World"
*a 2006 interview published in Germany in "Der Spiegel"
*a portion of a 2007 "Daily Telegraph" article about popular writers

Twelve Hawks' initial biography on the Random House website was only one line: "John Twelve Hawks lives off the grid." At some point in 2007, that line disappeared and was replaced with "John Twelve Hawks is the author of the "New York Times" bestseller, "The Traveler".

Information

The following information comes from the few published sources.

John Twelve Hawks is his "adopted" name, but in the "Spiegel" interview he states he is not an American Indian. In the "Spiegel" interview he talks about visiting East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the "USA Today" article, his response to a question about religion began with, "When I was in my twenties..." and when an editor asked him whether the "realm of hell" could be compared to current conditions in Iraq, Hawks replied "it's more like Beirut in the '70s".In the "Spiegel" interview and in the "London Telegraph" article, Hawks states that he drives a 15-year-old car and that he does not own a television. [ cite web | url= http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/04/01/svthrill01.xml&page=3 | title = Like Dan Brown, but better | author = David Thomas | date = 2007-04-01 | accessdate= 2007-04-01]

The "SFF World" interview indicates that Twelve Hawks lived in a commune and learned about literature by stealing books from a restricted university library and then returning the books the next day. In the same interview, he states he wrote "The Traveler" after passing through some sort of personal crisis. In the interview in "SFF World" Twelve Hawks claims that he has "no plans to go public" regarding his identity. [ cite web | url= http://www.sffworld.com/mul/146p0.html | title = Interview With John Twelve Hawks | author= Rob Bedford | date= 2005-12-04| accessdate= 2006-08-12 | publisher = SFFWORLD.COM]

In the audiobook version of "The Traveler", there is an interview with John Twelve Hawks where he mentions that he has done martial arts for years.

According to Twelve Hawks' agent, Joe Regal, "He lives in New York, Los Angeles and London," and "The Traveler" sets its story in all three of these locations. [ cite web | url= http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2005-06-27-traveler_x.htm | title = Cryptic 'Traveler' has book world buzzing | author= Carol Memmot | date= 2005-06-27| accessdate= 2006-08-12 | publisher = USA Today]

Theories

A posting on Nightshade Books forum "from a girlfriend who knows someone who knows someone at Random House" postulates that Twelve Hawks has some kind of serious physical disability, which inclines him to remain out of the public eye. [ [http://www.nightshadebooks.com/discus/messages/53/4604.html Night Shade Message Board] ]

Rumours have circulated on Usenet and internet conspiracy forums that John Twelve Hawks is in fact a pseudonym for some other published author. Candidates proposed include the following:

*Stephen Hawking (a guess from science fiction author Vera Nazarian)
*Dan Brown Note: In a statement given on the johntwelvehawks.com website, JTH stated that he was not Dan Brown.
* Peter Gutteridge: A recent theory is that the author is the British crime-writer, Peter Gutteridge. [ [http://www.deadlypleasures.com/news.html Deadly Pleasures News] ] [ [http://www.shotsmag.co.uk/columns/ripley/ripley1007.html Getting away with Murder] by Tom Ripley. Shots eZine.]
*F. Paul Wilson, the American author. This is the theory of electronica composer and performer Moby. [ [http://www.moby.com/journal/2008-02-02/flying_back_france.html Moby blog] ]
*Thomas Pynchon, the American author.

In an online Q&A session (30 Mar. 2008) J12H stated that "not a single theory" was true about his identity. [ [http://www.kiasworld.co.uk/John-Twelve-Hawks-Chat-Log 30 Mar. 2008 Q&A] ]

Quotes

from page 602

p. 602, 603

References

External links

* [http://www.johntwelvehawks.com/ Official Website of John Twelve Hawks]
* [http://www.sffworld.com/interview/146p0.html Interview] at [http://www.sffworld.com SFFWorld.com]
* [http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2005-06-27-traveler_x.htm USA Today: Cryptic 'Traveler' has book world buzzing]