Melvin Burgess | 'Like a lot of white folks, I’ve been wary of writing Black characters'

This summer Andersen Press will be celebrating acclaimed YA novelist Melvin Burgess by publishing his new novel Three Bullets, a near-future dystopia, as well as a 25th-anniversary edition of his classic book Junk, with a foreword by Malorie Blackman. 

Three Bullets is set in a version of the UK that is in the grip of civil war. The novel’s protagonist, Marti, lives in a society that is controlled by the Brotherhood of the Blood of Jesus, a far-right, white supermacist organisation that sends anyone who doesn’t fit with its ideology to the Evangelical Realignment Centre (ERAC). At the centre, “the Bloods” put a computer chip into their victims’ brains that changes their thoughts to make them compliant. 

Marti has a phone, given to her by her since-disappeared father, which contains a virus to undo the ERAC software. When a bomb lands on Marti’s house, she flees across the country with her little brother Rowan and friend Maude, with only a few possessions, including the phone and a gun containing three bullets—hence the title of the novel. 

It’s never been truer that young people are the hope for the future. They are more militant and more community minded. Perhaps this is the last gasp of the old miserable white bastards?

Burgess created the world of the novel with two other authors, Pete Kalu and Tariq Mehmood, who are also writing books set in the same society. Kalu’s will also be published by Andersen, at a later date, and Mehmood is still working on his manuscript. Burgess says writing his interpretation of that world was “the best fun writing” he has had for years. 

Marti is mixed-race and transgender, and Burgess says working with his friends enabled him to develop characters that are beyond his realm of experience. “When I had the idea that my character would go down to the centre with this virus, Pete said, ‘I can’t have the white cavalry’. Like a lot of white folks, I’ve been wary of writing Black characters; you know you’re getting it wrong,” Burgess says. “But Pete and Tariq have been incredibly generous with their time and showing me when my assumptions were wrong.”

Some transgender readers had a look at the manuscript and the response was very positive, says Burgess. “A couple of people I know read it here in the north west and they were very enthusiastic. One reader said there needs to be more transgender characters like that.”

A new perspective

Marti is transgender in part because Burgess “backed off” from trying to fix on a gender for his lead character, so instead started writing to see what happened. Marti then came onto the page as transgender, and Burgess says he totally “fell in love” with the character. “She is in an environment that is dangerous, so has developed defensive characteristics, like her sense of humour, but through the story realises that people are more important to her than she imagined. She has an unbelievable stubbornness as well, and is not going to compromise on identity.”

The plot was sparked by the war in Syria, and by imagining what would happen if that happened here in the UK, but there also also echoes of America’s right-wing, evangelical Christians. Burgess says he wanted to look at the rise of the right and fascism. “Political selfishness is spreading around the place, and this rise of the right, when is it going to stop?”

But, he adds: “It’s never been truer that young people are the hope for the future. They are more militant and more community minded. Perhaps this is the last gasp of the old miserable white bastards?”

Junk’s success

Three Bullets will be published alongside a 25th-anniversary edition of Junk, often acknowledged as one of the books (alongside Noughts & Crosses series by Malorie Blackman pictured right) that kicked off the YA movement in the UK. The book was considered controversial on publication because it is about two runaway teenagers who become addicted to heroin but Burgess is “very proud” of what it has since achieved. Its sales have exceeded 150,000 copies since Nielsen BookScan began recording UK sales data in 1998, but the 1997 edition sold 100,000 copies post-1998 alone, according to Nielsen. Blackman writes in her foreword that Junk is a “tour de force” that opened her eyes to the possibilities of writing for young adults.
 
“There was all that controversy at the time, but it was great,” says Burgess. “There was a national debate around teenagers. It’s given me a great career.”

YA is now a “proper industry”, with established genres, he added. Burgess laments “disappointing” American imports, and doesn’t seem overly keen on comfort reads (although he doesn’t begrudge them), and says there is still room for experimentation and people who want to “kick over the traces”.
 
There will be a major media and marketing campaign in July, and Paul Black, PR and brand director at Andersen, is hoping for media interest in Burgess’ career. Black is also sending out more than 1,000 proofs to the media and fans of the author. 

Burgess has plans for a couple of new stories, and a retelling of the Norse myths is currently with his agent, Caradoc King. That script is narrated from the point of view of Norse god Loki, often portrayed as a trickster character in interpretations of the original tales. Yet Loki has more “leftist liberal leanings” than he is given credit for, says Burgess, and in his manuscript the god has a voice that is similar to Marti’s. He would also like to write more stories in Marti’s world. “There are three of us writing books in this world,” he says. “Working with Tariq and Pete has opened so many doors for me, which is why this world is so rich.”

Melvin Burgess’ Three Bullets will be published by Andersen Press on 1st July, priced £12.99 (9781839130502). The 25th anniversary edition of Junk will be also released on 1st July, priced £7.99 (9781783448456).