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Jonathan’s 2025 Year in Books

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Jonathan Maas

Goodreads Author

Born

in New Haven, Connecticut, The United States

August 14

Website

http://www.jonmaas.com

Twitter

jonmaas78

Genre

Fantasy, Science Fiction, Young Adult

Influences

Bernard Malamud, John Updike, Sherman Alexie, Ridley Scott, Neil Gaima ...more

Member Since

January 2011

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/jmaas

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Jon Maas was born in New Haven, Connecticut and grew up in San Antonio, Texas. After graduating from Stanford University with degrees in Biology and History, he's earned a living as a Musician, Peace Corps Volunteer, Standup Comedian, TV Producer and Web Designer.

He has published ten books, and has more on the way.

He has also directed the movie 'Spanners' starring Shawn Christian and Eric Roberts, and wrote its sequel book - 'Spanners: The Fountain of Youth.'

He writes on his bus commute to and from work, and has a soft spot in his heart for all types of Public Transportation. ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Jonathan Maas 1) Just do it

2) Don't listen to anyone else, just do it

3) Start a project with a definitive end date in mind. One novel, one short story, get it done,…more1) Just do it

2) Don't listen to anyone else, just do it

3) Start a project with a definitive end date in mind. One novel, one short story, get it done, and put it somewhere, either self-published or in a blog.

Don't be the guy or girl who 'isn't ever quite done with their novel.' Be the person who 'has [some completed project] up [somewhere], and is currently working on their next thing.'

The most important step here is 'to get one thing up.' Want to be a novelist? Get that first one up. Even if it isn't your best work, just get it up so you 'at least have one.' Lionel Shriver wrote 7 books before she hit it big with 'We Need to Talk About Kevin':

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8...

You don't need to write 7. You do however need to write one, be it a novel, short story, graphic novel, screenplay or anything else. You need to write your first thing, have it 100% done and readable somewhere, and that will free you to start writing the next one.

4) For your first book (or any book thereafter), pick the most fertile/easy premise you can imagine. Look at JK Rowling. She made it easy on herself by incorporating monsters we already know (unicorns and werewolves), being able to add monsters she made up (dementors), having a school were there is always a 'hidden room' to give the plot a kick in the butt ... and a hundred other things.

Make is as easy as possible at first. Writing something fertile and easy is more important for your first project than 'writing what you know.'

5) All you really need in this business is time. Find a way to schedule quality time to write (i.e. non-tired, repeatably scheduled time). As a working parent, I write on the bus to and from work. That's my time.

If you don't have time, you need to make it!

For more ideas on how to make time:

http://jonmaas.com/home/2014/08/27/ei...

6) One more powerful quote from Ira Glass:

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/3094...

In short, plow through your bad writing. You're writing, and that means you probably have good taste in writing. You'll get frustrated because your writing can't compare your heroes John Updike, Chinua Achebe or JK Rowling.

The successful writers ignore the impulse to quit, and keep plowing ahead. Get through that initial 'suckiness,' for lack of a better word, and keep writing.

If you do so, you'll eventually 'get it acceptable,' and then you'll 'get it right.' Finally, you'll get to the point where you'll express some ideas that Updike, Achebe and Rowling never did, and that will make the journey worthwhile.(less)

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When choosing characters for your book, do you look at specific people to model that character after or do you just randomly come up with a type of person? Do you use people that you have met in your past?

Jonathan Maas Great question! The answer is varied:

1) Often it is good to just pick a character and just stick with it through the story, and let the story develop …moreGreat question! The answer is varied:

1) Often it is good to just pick a character and just stick with it through the story, and let the story develop the character. You sit down with these stories for a long time, every day, so you just stick with the plot and then tweak the character according to what feels 'true.'

Sometimes you need to sit down and say 'What makes this character unique? What am I bringing to the table of literature that has not quite been seen before?' If you don't have an answer, stick with the plot and just keep thinking about it until you have one. It doesn't have to be a big answer, just something that makes the character unique.

For example in Paula Hawkins' 'The Girl on the Train,' her protagonist is an alcoholic, and thus an unreliable narrator. It makes it interesting.

In Uzodinma Iweala's 'Beasts of no Nation' the narrator is a child soldier with limited education, and his English is not perfect. It just gives it that unique twist.

Not every character has to have such an epic twist to their persona, but it doesn't hurt!

2) Sometimes for villains (or antagonists) I have a little trick I do in which I think of people in my life that I really like, and then try to conceptualize the complete opposite of that person. It often yields interesting results.

3) Another trick I have is called 'Neil Strauss through a wormhole.' The non-fiction author Neil Strauss is excellent at encapsulating real-life characters. He'll interview you and write a non-fiction book that absolutely captures your essence.

I am not Neil Strauss (though at times I wish I was - he is brilliant!) - but I do have a little trick that softens that. I can't capture someone's real life essence like Strauss, but I can take their essence, put it through a wormhole and into a bizarre alien landscape, and see what that person would do there!

It yields a lot of fun results as well!(less)

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Jonathan Maas’s books

Average rating: 3.77 · 3,245 ratings · 610 reviews · 31 distinct works • Similar authors

	Flare 3.87 avg rating — 871 ratings — published 2014 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hellenica (City of Gods, #1) 3.77 avg rating — 356 ratings — published 2013 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Time Capsel 4.08 avg rating — 307 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dion: A Tale of the Highway 3.45 avg rating — 190 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Dog That Laid Eggs 3.47 avg rating — 175 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Spanners: The Fountain of Youth 3.79 avg rating — 145 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Woodcutter 3.50 avg rating — 119 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dead Moon by Jonathan Maas (Goodreads Author), Manthos Lappas (Illustrator), Patty Ann Economos (Editor) 3.84 avg rating — 103 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Diggers 3.48 avg rating — 107 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Litter 3.52 avg rating — 97 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Jonathan Maas's Blog

Book Trailer for The Grelnocks

Hello! Philosophical thriller The Grelnocks: A Philosophical Thriller has a book trailer - here it is!

https://youtu.be/q9vPyvH39iE Read more of this blog post »

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Published on December 16, 2025 10:32 • Tags: book-trailer, dark-fantasy, fantasy, horror, thriller

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Series by Jonathan Maas

City of Gods (2 books)
by

Jonathan Maas (Goodreads Author)

3.82 avg rating — 434 ratings

Jonathan is Currently Reading

Jonathan Maas is currently reading

The Best American Essays 2022: An Annual Literary Collection―Selected by Award-Winning Writer Alexander Chee

by Alexander Chee (Goodreads Author)

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Oct 06, 2024 07:50PM

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Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey

by Chuck Palahniuk (Goodreads Author)

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Apr 13, 2024 12:27PM

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True Facts That Sound Like Bull$#*t: 500 Insane-But-True Facts That Will Shock and Impress Your Friends (Mind-Blowing True Facts)

by Shane Carley (Goodreads Author)

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May 02, 2024 07:32PM

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Great tale of two semi related rule breakers that co existed in Prague at the same time. Tales like these must be told in this way, with tongue in cheek art, with a style that suggests anything is possible. I highly recommend it.
Jan 31, 2026 03:16PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Einstein in Kafkaland by Ken Krimstein. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Einstein in Kafkaland by Ken Krimstein <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
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Listened on audio, very good.
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The Best of Jonathan Franzen - highly readable, insightful - and a lot of birds [image] As I have mentioned in many previous reviews - I am quite ambivalent towards the much-venerated genre of Literary Fiction. And yes - that includes ambivalence tow ...more
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Quotes by Jonathan Maas (?)

“I know precisely what honor is, Heracles. Honor is the artifice kings sell the peasants’ sons so that they may fight and die without pay. Honor is what drives a peaceful man to bloody vengeance. Honor is what drove the Celts to behead the children of the Apache Courts.
- The Egyptian God Bes”
― Jonathan Maas, Hellenica

tags: bes, death, egyptian-gods, hercules, honor, revenge

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“Having an attack of self-doubt about your writing ability?

Step #1 - Tell yourself - 'I'm the best damn writer there is, and the world deserves to hear my voice.'

Step #2 - Repeat Step #1 until you believe it.”
― Jonathan Maas

tags: hemingway, inspirational, writing

2 likes

“I know precisely what honor is, Heracles. Honor is the artifice kings sell the peasants’ sons so that they may fight and die without pay. Honor is what drives a peaceful man to bloody vengeance. Honor is what drove the Celts to behead the children of the Apache Courts.
- (The Egyptian God) Bes”
― Jonathan Maas, Hellenica

tags: artifice-of-honor, bes, celts, heracles, hercules, honor, inspirational

1 likes

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Jonathan’s Quotes

“The only thing you really need to be a writer is time. Regular, consistent time, quality time when you're not tired.
I write on the bus to and from work, that's my time, 1 or 2 hours every single day.
Make the time, keep at it, and you'll be a real writer before you know it.”
― Jonathan Maas

tags: inspirational, parenthood, time-management, writers-on-writing, writing, writing-process

1 likes

tags: hemingway, inspirational, writing

2 likes

“Countless times, I remember watching him toss ideas—pretty far-out ideas—into the air, just to see how they played. And if they didn’t play well, he would move on.”
― Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

2 likes

“A man hates the person he has wronged, paradoxically. I think it’s because the victim is a perpetual reminder that he behaved shamefully.”
― Ken Follett, Edge of Eternity

27 likes

“Long hours spent checking off a to-do list and ending the day with a full trash can and a clean desk are not virtuous and have nothing to do with success. Instead of a to-do list, you need a success list—a list that is purposefully created around extraordinary results.

To-do lists tend to be long; success lists are short. One pulls you in all directions; the other aims you in a specific direction. One is a disorganized directory and the other is an organized directive. If a list isn’t built around success, then that’s not where it takes you. If your to-do list contains everything, then it’s probably taking you everywhere but where you really want to go.”
― Gary Keller, The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results

33 likes

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