Debut Spotlight: Michael Grothaus

Today it's my turn on the Epiphany Jones blog tour so it's my pleasure to shine the debut spotlight on author Michael Grothaus, one of a growing number of exciting authors who have been signed by Karen Sullivan to Orenda Books.  

Michael Grothaus is a novelist and journalist who spent years researching sex trafficking, using his experiences as a springboard for his debut novel Epiphany Jones. Born in Saint Louis, Missouri in 1977, he spent his twenties in Chicago where he earned his degree in filmmaking and worked for institutions including The Art Institute of Chicago, Twentieth Century Fox, and Apple. As a journalist he regularly writes about creativity, tech, subcultures, sex and pornography, the effects of mass media on our psyches, and just plain mysterious stuff for publications including Fast Company, VICE, Guardian, Engadget, and more. He’s also done immersion journalism at geopolitical events including the Hong Kong protests against Beijing in 2014. His writing is read by millions of people each month. Michael lives in London.

Can you tell us a little bit about your debut novel Epiphany Jones?
EPIPHANY JONES is the story of a man named Jerry who suffers from a number of addictions and psychological afflictions. The biggest affliction is that he sees people who don’t really exist as easily as you or I see people who do exist. As if Jerry’s life weren’t bad enough already, things take a major turn for the worse when he’s accused of stealing a million dollar painting from a museum he works for and then gets framed for the murder of a colleague by a woman who says she talks to God. Jerry is then blackmailed by this woman into helping her on her crusade against a sex trafficking ring that caters to the Hollywood elite.

What inspired you to write a book with sex trafficking as its main theme?
I actually started out wanting to write a satire about our society’s addiction to sex and celebrity. This is mainly because I used to work in the film industry and grew sick and tired of the inherent shallowness of it and the self-importance of those in the industry. I’ve always been fascinated with this tabloid society we live in where we voyeuristically follow the latest celebrity breakups and spats and gossip, while ignoring news that actually does make an impact on our life; a world where a leaked sex tape could make a wannabe actress into a household name and global brand, but one where most people couldn’t tell you who the Leader of the Opposition was.

But while working in the industry and seeing some questionable things at some of the after parties that are held during the Cannes Film Festival I started researching sex trafficking and was shocked to discover how widespread this modern slavery is—especially in some elite circles. That’s when I decided to still go forwards with the satire on Hollywood culture, but combine it with the much darker story of sex trafficking among the Hollywood elite.