Interview with Graham E. Hancock, author of LEGO Heroes
Posted by Huw,
Following the publication of LEGO Heroes this week, author Graham E Hancock has kindly answered a few questions about why he wrote it, where the stories came from, and why he's started using his middle initial:
Brickset: What inspired you to write the book?
Graham: Chronicle Books, the publisher of LEGO Heroes, focuses on LEGO books that are not only for AFOLs; the books are also for a more general reader. I thought that these inspirational stories, showing how LEGO bricks can be used in the ‘real world’ to have an impact, would really fit the bill for that.
I am sure AFOLs, who have seen hundreds – or even thousands – of incredible builds, will love reading about how their hobby is finding it way into different disciplines. But what’s nice about this book is that perhaps it’s also something an AFOL’s spouse, parent or friend will enjoy reading – it might even give the hobby that extra bit of legitimacy for them, as they see how it goes beyond being ‘just a toy’.
How did you find out about the stories the book features?
As Brickset readers may be aware, I am the Editor of Blocks magazine, so I am always coming across interesting, unique LEGO stories and I always do a bit of digging and file away what I find. It’s actually at the point now where as soon as anything shows up in the news, someone messages me about it – so I don’t have to look very hard for them!
I have a huge document saved with all different projects like those found in LEGO Heroes, so once the book was commissioned, I worked with the publisher to choose a nice range of stories.
Then it was a case of setting up interviews with the people involved in the different projects; some people were easier to get hold of than others – I have been looking to interview Jan Vormann about his amazing Dispatchwork art project (that sees him filling in gaps in old city walls using bricks) for years, and we finally made it happen for the book.
How does writing a LEGO-endorsed publication differ from writing for one that isn't?
It is surprisingly similar! On LEGO Heroes, the writing part was very much the same process as I go through on Blocks magazine; conducting interviews, researching the topic, bringing it all together and then turning it into something nice to read.
The bit that differed was the vetting process – everything has to be reviewed by the editors at Chronicle Books, then of course the LEGO Group takes a look at everything and asks for the odd change. There was very little to change though and everyone was very supportive of what I wanted to include.
Were there other stories you would have liked to have included but didn't have room?
There weren’t any that had to be cut for space. I did have a longer list of possible stories, but it was more about picking and choosing which would give the broadest range of topics. Some of them are science based, some are more artsy, some are focused on doing great things in the community – getting that balance was really important.
As you can imagine, I have that longer list saved and if LEGO Heroes Volume 2 is required, then I have plenty more weird and wonderful uses of LEGO bricks to draw on!
Were you particularly surprised by any of the stories covered?
What I love about these sorts of stories is that they always surprise me. Even having spent the best part of a decade working on LEGO projects, I constantly see new uses of LEGO bricks that surprises me. As long as people think outside the box and have determination to see a project through, we’ll keep seeing LEGO bricks used in unexpected ways.
Tolgahan Çogulu’s really surprised me in the sense that he made an actual adjustable guitar based on the LEGO System and is using it to share music that might otherwise be overlooked or forgotten, because it is from a different culture and tradition. I suppose that’s what has surprised me about a lot of the stories – the way that a simple LEGO brick can be used to communicate a bigger, grander idea.
Do you have any advice for anyone that wants to change the world, one brick at a time?
This will sound like a plug for the book… but read LEGO Heroes! While every story is very different, there are some common ways of thinking that the people behind these projects have.
They achieved their goals in part thanks to their determination and willingness to fail. Perhaps most important though is thinking outside the box and looking at the LEGO brick with fresh eyes, thinking about it beyond its intended use.
What can we expect from you in the future? Any more books planned?
I am still very busy with Blocks magazine and very proud that we reached our 100th issue earlier this year. We have a redesign on the way that’s going to really refresh the magazine and in Issue 104 we have a really cool feature on Adventurers – if you love that theme, you’ll need that next issue of Blocks.
As for books, I would love to write another one. It was incredibly hard work, but so rewarding to write something in long form.
Why have you started using your middle initial in your name?
There is another Graham Hancock out there, and he has some very interesting ideas about how civilisations developed around the world, with many academics questioning how well evidenced his theories are.
I remember when I was at school he became quite prominent through a BBC documentary and one of my teachers had fun teasing me about it… and now I’ve got a book out, he’s become quite prominent again through a Netflix documentary. Given that the LEGO world has very little to do with the other Graham Hancock’s theories, I figured the safest thing to do is make sure the two us can be easily distinguished!
Thanks Graham!
The book is available in digital and physical formats at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
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8 comments on this article
Well done Graham! He is such a wonderful guy!
When I read the headline, I thought " Wow! Graham Hancock is taking his writing career in a very different direction" lol!. Love that the other Graham was addressed in the last question. This looks like an interesting read - definitely tempted.
One of the producers of Futurama goes by the name David X. Cohen. Union rules ban you from being credited under the same name that someone else is using, and there was already a David Cohen. His middle initial is actually S, but there was already a David S. Cohen as well. So he changed it to X for professional purposes, which is ironically appropriate when you consider the episode where they got into how the word "ask" evolved into "axe" in the 1000 year gap.
I doubt there are regulations in the print publishing industry that restrict what you can and can't call yourself, but you could certainly write a whole book about the names authors use, and why they might change them. An author I used to read originally went by J. Gregory Keyes, but eventually changed to writing as just Greg Keyes, which conveys a different feeling. One of the two novels I've read by Stephen King was published as being written by Richard Bachman because his primary pen name is too firmly linked with his horror writing (his horror fans won't read anything by him that's not horror, and anyone else won't read Stephen King novels in general because it's invariably horror stories).
@PurpleDave: I'm reminded of Bender's line. "'Blackmail' is such an ugly word. I prefer 'extortion.' The 'X' makes it sound cool."
Although it's not available through regular sources, I'm curious if the set containing the braille bricks is in the Brickset database.
@PDelahanty said:
"Although it's not available through regular sources, I'm curious if the set containing the braille bricks is in the Brickset database."
There are 37 Braille bricks listed on Bricklink. There's one promo polybag set that includes 11 of them. There's also a much larger set in a storage tub, but it hasn't been inventoried, nor is that a piece count listed.
Anyways, my interest in ever acquiring some of these bricks has dropped. It appears they only made basic single letter bricks. I'd need the Ch (16) and Er (12456) characters, which don't exist in this set of bricks.
@PDelahanty said:
"Although it's not available through regular sources, I'm curious if the set containing the braille bricks is in the Brickset database."
4000503-1
@Huw:
Oh, hey, that image is good enough that you can see that it includes 304pcs. But until someone inventories a copy for Bricklink, they can't show the count in their listing. And you don't have it listed either, so I'm guessing that means TLG hasn't uploaded an inventory to their system either?