Superfan or groupie? John van de Ruit on passion, humour and the phenomenon of Spud

When someone writes like a groupie, fixates like a groupie and even rocks up at your launch and hovers at the back of the hall with a stack of books, is he a groupie?

We are in Pan Macmillan’s Joburg boardroom, where the creator of the phenomenally successful Spud series of books, John van de Ruit, is telling me about this obsessive guy who came to the first launch of the brand-new Spud: The Reunion.

The launch — “a bit church-like without being spiritual and religious” — on Saturday 8 November was, appropriately, held at his alma mater, Michaelhouse, the day after the seriously anticipated book was published. 

Michaelhouse is the elite boarding school in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands where the series — Spud (2005), The Madness Continues … (2007), Learning to Fly (2009), Exit, Pursued by a Bear (2012) and Spud: The Reunion — is set.

This fan, who is an English high school teacher in Durban, bought the book on the very afternoon of its release. “He’s obsessed with Spud, right?” Van de Ruit tells me. “And he got the book at 3 o’clock and read it till three in the morning.

“He put it down, had three hours sleep … Got up, read it through to the end — finished at lunchtime on Saturday, got in his car and drove to Michaelhouse for my first launch.

“He stayed for the whole launch and then waited until everyone had gone so he could pull out all his books to get them signed.”

The Spudophile then “took himself on a tour around Michaelhouse taking photographs of all the Spud kind of things … and then drove back to Hillcrest”.

Van de Ruit says that the next morning he was on social media, writing: “I’m reading it again. This is my favourite scene …”

Even in the build-up to the release of Spud: The Reunion, the teacher was doing write-ups to remind people of the characters — “he did like a thesis almost on each character”.

Van de Ruit’s editor was worried that he might be a stalker. “But he’s not, he’s a lovely guy.”

The author smiles.

“I don’t know if there’s anything in the world I’m that passionate about. I mean, I love the Springboks and all that, but would I do all that to watch the Springboks? I don’t know …”

“Now, that’s a groupie,” I suggest. The eloquent and effervescent Van de Ruit is unusually quiet for a moment.

“I suppose compared to most people I do, you know, I have to say, you know …” he pauses.

And then, like the good actor and comedian that he is, Van de Ruit is back on track: “I call them ‘superfans’ and those people are the guys who spread the word.”

For real groupies’ context he recounts the Beatles-like craziness he encountered back in 2014 in Johannesburg’s Sandton Square when the Spud series was turned into films. The third movie, Spud 3: Learning to Fly had just been released and Troye Sivan (who played the role of John “Spud” Milton), was already hugely popular.

“We appeared on the square … having the first official screening and a sort of meet and greet in the square. Which would turn out to be with about two and a half thousand teenage girls.

“And they all came to see Troye and these girls, like all of them, aged 11 to 14, just charged at us, 2 000 of them, screaming!”

Van de Ruit chuckles.

“But they’re not charging at me. We just turned and high-tailed from this … it was like a mob chasing us and security was stopping them.

“I’ve seen what Troye’s life must be like — I had a taste of that, and those teenage girls are scary. They all just scream at once and you just got to cover your ears. They are scarier than anybody else.”

The Spud franchise has been a South African publishing phenomenon and The Reunion is expected to set the festive book market alight.

Other local fiction at the top of the chart will be Deon Meyer’s Leo. 

“He’s probably the guy I’m competing with as best-selling fiction author at the moment,” says Van de Ruit.

But their real competition is at people’s fingertips — literally. People get their entertainment through their mobile devices, says Van de Ruit.

He hopes his latest book will resonate, though, because it speaks to something many people can relate to, namely school reunions. 

The story is set 10 years after Spud’s class of 93 has matriculated and the boys have gone their separate ways. Despite their seemingly unbreakable bond, the Crazy Eight — Rambo, Mad Dog, Vern, Fatty, Garth Garlic, Boggo, Simon and Spud —have not kept in touch.

When he receives an invitation from the school to attend the 10-year reunion weekend, Spud is determined to avoid the event at all costs. Also, at 28, Spud is stuck in a one-third life crisis.

“It’s a satire on reunions and the idea of what we all go through with these reunions and we either have to go or we don’t go,” Van de Ruit explains. “What Spud does is it opens the doors for people to import or imprint their own lives into Spud.”

He didn’t go to his own 10-year-anniversary at Michaelhouse but, laughs the 42-year-old Van de Ruit, he was invited as the speaker at his 20-year reunion.

The idea for the new book came during Covid. He pitched it to Alison Lowry, the respected editor, and her immediate response was: “This is a brilliant idea.”

That meant lots of pressure to deliver after the massive success of the other books.

“Few people in the literary industry have greater nous than Alison. She’s seen it all, she’s done it all and she’s just a master of knowing what works and what doesn’t.”

But there was even bigger pressure.

“It was actually the time pressure because we had to get this thing out by Christmas,” he says. 

“Now, you imagine if you release a Spud in March or February … particularly with the booksellers going nuts in December.”

It took Van de Ruit 14 months, in between working as a comedian and playwright — and life’s challenges —to deliver 100 000 words to a happy publisher.

He channels himself into his characters. “I work like an actor; I don’t work like an author. I feel a physicality when I’m writing Spud.”

Unlike other local authors, his writing toolbox is theatrical, Van de Ruit explains. Keeping people entertained is foremost in his writer’s mind.

“I’ll write like I’ve got an audience. I grew up as an actor and a playwright and I bring all those things to the game. 

“It’s like getting into a character.”

How much of you, John, is in the characters?

“Quite a bit. Particularly Spud. I mean, look, what I do with Spud is I take these big chunks of my life … like me going to Michaelhouse for five years — I mean, that’s quite a big important part of my life — and I give that to Spud.”

Is the Spud in the new book still based on a true story — your life?

“We both have a satirical look at the world. 

“We both find the world and people inherently absurd because they take the world seriously and don’t recognise that absurdity.”

But there’s a but.

“Spud is smarter than me but has fewer street smarts than me. 

“He takes his world and himself more seriously than I do — as a result he’s funnier.”

And another but.

“My sister read an earlier draft and said, now that we” — Van de Ruit and Spud — “have become adults, she sees a very sharp line between us.”

When people assume that you are Spud, what do you say to them?

“It depends on the people. If it’s a 14-year-old kid, I let them just believe that I am Spud because it’s like telling them Father Christmas doesn’t exist …”

Spud: The Reunion is cackle-aloud amusing. But Van de Ruit says, as the writer, after around 20 times of reading and rewriting, “it stops being funny”.

He had a panic attack perusing the final edits.

“I’ve sort of indulged too much of Spud’s angst,” he sniggers, “and my editor and publisher said, ‘Calm down, it’s very, very funny.’ And I’m, like, ‘Well, I’m not seeing that very, very funny,’ and, obviously, because I’m just so close to that material.”

So, Spud: The Reunion is out there on the shelves and, with Pan Macmillan’s impressive campaign — and of course the book’s quality — it will most likely be wrestling with Leo for the number one spot come Christmas. So what is next?

Van de Ruit has a hint. At the launches so far, a prominent question has been, will this Spud also become a movie?

“About 40% of the questions were about that, and if John Cleese and Troye Sivan will be in such a movie,” says Van de Ruit, beaming like a proud parent. “The rest was about the new book.”

And another Spud novel?

“Continuing from this point, it’s like almost the beginning of a second series as it were,” and Van de Ruit kicks for touch: “But we’ll see: that’s no guarantee — it’s really up to the readers and, ultimately, my publishers if we do that.”

There is a 10-year gap between the 18-year-old Spud character in Exit, Pursued by a Bear and Spud: The Reunion at 28. I ask the author if Spud aged 38 can work as a book?

“I think there’s more likely going to be age 29, 30, 31 than jumping to 38.

“But I don’t want to say never again because I said never again once … I said I’m not coming back to Spud and look, I’m back.

“So, I don’t think I know what I’m feeling … but it’s time for the Crazy Eight to say goodbye to school and see where the journey takes them beyond this.”

Van de Ruit gets a mischievous smile and I wonder if this is a hint of what’s actually next.

“Imagine the Crazy Eight going backpacking together through Southeast Asia — and getting hit by the tsunami …”