Local Kanata author Zack Duncan released his first novel, Earworms, in July of 2022; a sci-fi meets thriller novel centered around the idea of “what if we could see inside of people’s minds?” Enter the MemCom, a device that allows its user to see inside of someone’s mind via their memories.
The idea for the MemCom came to Zack while binge watching true crime documentaries. Zack had thought “No one is ever going to know what really happened here unless they could see inside of that guy’s mind.”
“I’ve always been kind of obsessed with the idea of holding onto our memories,” Zack told Stittsville Central. He mentioned how if you’ve ever seen a loved one suffer from Alzheimer’s or Dementia, how much value your memories become to you. With this, he dreamed up this device thinking about how valuable it could be to be able to see inside of people’s minds and memories, especially for law enforcement.
The MemCom is what the whodunit plot of Earworms is centred around. “Over time it became a really interesting driving force for the plot and for the lives of the characters in Earworms,” said Zack. Because of the MemCom, certain characters make decisions that cause what Zack described as having become a victim of their own actions. It’s up to the reader to decide whether or not it is morally correct to use the MemCom, what the boundaries should be, and whether or not they would use it themselves if they could.
The main plot of the story takes place in Ruston, a small town where local girl Tiffany Thomas has gone missing. Ruston is based on Russell, Ontario and Eden, Alberta – two small towns in which Zack spent a lot of time, much of it during winter months. “I find small towns like this to be very isolating places when the daylight hours are short. It felt like the perfect place for the crime at the center of Earworms.”
There is one main suspect for Tiffany’s disappearance, a suspect who refuses to talk. Our main character Max Barker is not a police officer, yet he’s thrown into the role by childhood best friend Oren West and Oren’s special device. Oren’s a big hotshot private investigator since his amazing work with infamous serial killer Leonard Lang. How he solved that case? With a device that lets you enter other people’s memories. With the temptation of one final interaction with his late father, Max steps into the role of investigator alongside Oren and his secret device. How else do you figure out if someone’s guilty besides getting inside their head?
Zack said that his biggest influences while writing were Stephen King and Neil Gaiman. “Both have spoken at length about the craft of writing and they’ve given me the knowledge I felt I needed to actually publish something. Plus their stories inspire dreams (and nightmares) that have kept me creatively sharp,” he shared.
Earworms was published in July of 2022 but Zack had been working on the novel for over three years. Juggling a young daughter, his family and a day job, Zack said that finding time to write proved to be quite challenging.
Even with all of these obstacles, Earworms is available for purchase on Zack Duncan’s website zackduncan.ca. You can also check Zack out on Instagram at his handle @storiesbyzack. Make Earworms your next big read for the upcoming winter season.
You can also buy Zacks book at Re-Read Used Books at 1626 Stittsville Main St. 🙂