The Daily Monocle

Hello all my children of literature!

I just started school back, hence the lack of updates. BUT, to make it up to you all, I've just posted a video interview with Max Barry. Max Barry is the author of four quirky novels, including Machine Man (which we recently reviewed), and Syrup, which is currently being adapted into a movie.

You all must watch the video below. It's awesome.

Steve Hockensmith, author of Dreadfully Ever After, sequel to the much-lauded Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was kind enough to stop by The Daily Monocle for an interview. We'll be posting his interview in two parts, due to length.

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Well, to start things off, I was wondering if you could tell the readers of The Daily Monocle a little bit about yourself?

Oh wow. Okay well, my name is Steve, and I write books, among other things and golly, the books that people might be the most familiar with are the prequel and sequel I did to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls and Dreadfully Ever After. And I’m a Leo, and I have brown eyes, and I like spicy food.

Okay, and about how long have you been writing?

Well, Let me think here. I mean, I have been writing I guess, you know, I’ve been writing since I was about four [years old], which is the same for everybody I guess. Except for you perhaps, I expect that you might’ve been a prodigy.

Laughing: No, no, I wasn’t a prodigy.

Okay. But, for me, I got started around preschool/kindergarten. But when I got serious about it... it wasn’t until I’d been out of college for a few years. I was a journalism major so I knew that I wanted to write for a living, but I tried to be practical about it, and I thought (genius that I was), “Oh, journalism! That’ll be around forever. They’ll always need people to do that kind of stuff.” So that’s the field that I went into.

But in terms of fiction, I didn’t really start--I didn’t really give it a shot--’til I was probably, oh, 23 or 24, or something like that. And I spent some time kind of wondering in the wilderness, trying to figure out what kind of writing I wanted to do. And it wasn’t until, oh gosh, I was around the age of--it was a little bit before I was 30, somewhere in my late 20’s--that I figured out... I sort of stumbled into writing mysteries, and that seemed to do real well for me. And through that door, stumbled into writing RomZomComs: Romantic Zombie Comedies.

So, but, kind of a long answer to your question, I guess I’ve been writing pretty much all my life. You know I was one of those people--and I’m betting you were the same way--that when you got an assignment in schoo, in like fifth grade you know, like “write a sentence with each of your vocabulary words”, I wouldn’t just write a sentence with each of the vocabulary words (‘cause that’s boring), I would write a story with all of the vocabulary words, which would be quite challenging if, you know, “circumnavigate” and “boulder” or whatever, you know a very odd mixture of words. I guess “circumnavigate” and “boulder” wouldn’t be *that* hard, but you might have some very interesting words from which to choose. And it was fun to see how you could put them together, and the teacher would be like, “Uh, Steve, you didn’t have to do that.” and I’d be like “I know!” But, you know, I always had the urge to have fun with words.

Let’s see... what made you want to write “altered classics”, you know with these zombies and such?

Well that would... I wanted to do it because it was an opportunity. I wanted to do it because they *needed* somebody to do it, and I wanted to give it a try. I mean, the story is that there’s this brilliant editor--I believe his title is “associate publisher” now--at Quirk Books and his name is Jason Rekulak. And he’s the guy who actually came up with the idea for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. This would’ve been about three, four years ago. He had this brainstorm and thought: wouldn’t it be fun to take a public domain classic, you know something that’s no longer under copyright--you can have as much fun as you want with [it] and no one will sue you for it--and combine that with some sort of classic element of geek culture. So as I understand, he got a legal pad and drew a line down the middle and on the left hand side he wrote down classic novels, you know “Moby Dick”, and “Vanity Fair” and what have you. And on the *other* side he wrote “Robots”, “Ninjas”, “Vampries”, “Werewolves”, “Pirates” (if I didn’t say pirates already... maybe he wrote it twice, I don’t know.).

So he then started to draw lines, back and forth, connecting them. You know “Moby Dick” and “Pirates”--which, actually, there might be a link but just didn’t have the magic. Or “The Scarlet Letter” and “Mummies”--which would be like “no”. But then there was that magic moment with “Pride and Prejudice” and “Zombies” and a franchise was born. And he hired a guy--Seth Grahame-Smith--who had worked for Quirk before to take that idea and run with it (which he did beautifully). He did it so beautifully though--a massive sensation--and Seth got bucketloads of money from it and could go off and do other things. So, what does one do when one has a hit property?: One extends the branch. So he needed someone to do a prequel and my agent heard they were looking for somebody, so we threw our hat in the ring, and got the gig.

But to take it back to why did I want to do it... From the first time I heard about that magical combination of words: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I thought it sounded hilarious. I thought it was a stroke of genius. And then when I read the book I thought, they [had] pulled it off, it’s a lot of fun. But the thing I would not have wanted to do it--and this is not a knock on anybody who did the mashups--but I would not have wanted to do the mashup. I wouldn’t have wanted to take another writer’s work and stick my little jokes into it. And I’m not denigrating that, I’m just--it was not something I wanted to do. And what appealed to me was that I would be able to take this completely wacky world that had been established and tell new stories in it, and try to kind of make sense of that wacky world, because in the original it’s part of the humor, you just kind of have to go with it. [There are] very incongruous elements: ninjas and zombies that are stuck together and the juxtaposition of those things is funny, but once you try to create a *story* you have to take that world more seriously; you have to make it make sense. And I really liked the idea of that challenge.

Alright.

I’m probably talking way too fast, considering you’re going to have to transcribe this... So my apologies to you for that.

You’re fine. You’re completely fine; I type fast, it’s no problem.

*laughs* Alright cool.

Okay, so were you ever concerned about alienated fans of the Austen work? Or were you pretty much tied in to the mashup already and you weren’t worried about that?

Well it was nice to know that the section of the audience that was going to be offended had been pre-offended. They were already up in arms because they made their feelings known about the first book--the one that Seth did. And there were definitely some haters--there are many out there, in fact. And there you go! They are offended. So what do I have to worry about? The people that are going to hate this concept and get their hackles up about it.. they’re hackled. So I initially didn’t really let it worry me. When I went into it. And yeah, I think that was the way to do it. You can’t write with that kind of fear. It’s an interesting mix because you’re trying to please two very, very different audiences. So that, for me, [was] more of a challenge. Not so much in trying to to offend everybody, but trying to please everybody. Or--not please everybody, because you can’t do that--but you have Austenites, Janeites, Austen fans on the one hand, and the romance fans who would be receptive to this material. And you’ve got horror fans, and zombie fans and those are two very, very different groups of readers. And you had to give them both what they wanted. And that was a challenge, to try and hit that balance. But I wasn’t worried about--I wasn’t worry about anyone coming to my home brandishing pitchforks and torches.

Well that’s good... we wouldn’t want any pitchforks in the way of the writing!

No! That can be very distracting.

Yes. Well, I noticed in addition to all of the blood, guts, gore and Victorian lace, there was a lot of sociopolitical commentary in Dreadfully Ever After. And I was wondering if this was intentional or just a natural byproduct of the setting and the circumstances of the characters?

Well thank you for noticing! Oh, it was 100% intentional that I really felt like with the last book, with Dreadfully Ever After, I did pump up the volume on the social criticism and satire. And that would be because, why do this if you’re not going to have fun with it in that way? Why go to the trouble if you’re not to lend some kind of unique perspective to it? And, I suspect what a lot of Janeites would not like--because what they want is a piece of writing that captures Jane Austen’s view of things and her style of approaching that in prose. And that from the beginning was not what I wanted to do. I’m looking at many of the same things she [Jane] looked at, but I’m looking at them from an American guy’s perspective. Which doesn’t mean it’s a raunchy fart-fest, or anything like that, it just means I just thought “why do this if you can’t bring your own, unique perspective to it?” So I do a lot of poking of fun at the British--or the English, I should probably say. But it’s good humored poking of fun. It’s poking of fun with love. Because I’ve always been an Anglophile. I’ve always loved English culture. But, you know, I think we can all admit--plenty of English who admit this today--there’s things that one could probably point at that are less than admirable in any society, and that would include English society. There were just so many opportunities that the whole “zombie” element provided, to open that up, and have some fun.

Jon Armstrong, author of revolutionary "fashionpunk" sci-fi novels, Grey, and Yarn, has been kind enough to stop by The Daily Monocle and answer a few questions for us. :)

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How long have you been writing?

I started writing in Mrs. Lentz's class in my senior year of high school back in Maryland. We had to buy one of those marble composition books and write something each week. If it was okay, you got a check. If she liked it you got a check plus. If it wasn't to her liking, you got the rare but dreaded check minus. I started the year writing one page spoofs a la Saturday Night Live, but by the end of the year, I was cranking out twenty-five pages a week about myself, my friends, philosophy, and I don't even remember what else. I doubt Mrs. Lentz is still teaching, but if she is, here's what I learned: mention urination or any bodily function and it was always a check minus. You've been warned!

When did you get the idea to work fashion into science-fiction?

I developed an interest in fashion while an exchange student in Japan. Needing a coat, I found a store whose inventory was black and white clothing as contrasted with much of the garish, neon, costume-like clothing that dominates the press coverage of Japanese fashion. Through discussions with the owner or the store, I became aware of how much technology and engineering is behind the scenes. When in New York City after college I followed up this interest by taking courses in fashion history, technology, and design at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
When it came to writing scifi, I suppose the old adage applied: Write what you know.

How did you choose the settings for your novels?

The world views that I create can be thought of as multiplying the excesses of Japanese culture by the influences of consumerism and applying the result to existing locales, some of which are places where I have lived.

Who was your favorite character to write?

That might be impossible to say. It's the characters who were cut, I disliked.


I am amazed by the vivid descriptions and offbeat names of things in your novels. Did these just flow naturally from the story, or were you consciously thinking about them?

Yes and no. I actually cut back (in some cases dramatically) on the descriptions during the editing process of Yarn, but I'm glad you enjoyed them. I have done a lot of work in visual media, so perhaps I tend to think that way. The language flows from the impulse of the story. Then, after they occur, I review them consciously.

As for the names… Naming characters, places, things, restaurants, etc. can take hours and hours. It may seem odd, but it can really be one of the most difficult parts of writing. Often I'll come up with a name and love it for forty pages, only to, inevitably, hate it and change it again. I'll fiddle around in another files with versions of words, click through the dictionary, Wikipedia, and doodle and doodle. For example, there was a relatively minor tailoring shop where the protagonist of Yarn, Tane Cedar, worked for a chapter or two that I called YeOld#1CostumeShoppee. Below is a list of some of the ideas I went through for that one minor name:

SuperNumberOneLuxMart

Super#1LuxuryMart

Fantastic#1Luxury Mart

YeOlde#1CostumeMärt

SeattlehamasYeOlde#1CostumeMärt

YeOld#1CostumeShoppee

SkyHiSeattlehama#1 Epic Shoppee

sKY-hi Seattlehama IchiBan Epic Thread Shoppee



On average, how long does it take you to write a book?

It's probably too early in my career to take a meaningful average. Grey took decades; Yarn took a couple of years. I'm writing faster now, but we'll see what emerges when.

Do you have any writing rituals?

My writing doesn't need any special food, drink, drugs, clothing, postures, artifacts, sounds, smells, or sights. It's best when I am writing on an electronic device not otherwise connected to the world-at-large so that interruptions are minimized. Otherwise, it can be about anywhere, at my basement writing desk, while waiting in a car, in a bank lobby etc. etc.
I tend to listen to rhythmic music. It seems to keep the fingers moving and some part(s) of my brain occupied. I employ everything Bach to electronic.

What is it that you find so interesting about the world of fashion?

I grew up like a lot of guys, wearing whatever my mom bought for me and never giving clothes much thought beyond wondering: I don't look like a dork, do I? or Are my jeans highwaters? Later on, when I began to learn what went into the designing, engineering, and manufacturing of clothes, I got very curious.

Take blue jeans—it was originally a specifically engineered product built for a specific task. (Yes, I've used the word engineering twice talking about fashion!) Levis Straus devised a pair of pants made with a twill fabric and riveted seams to create the most popular fashion of the last century. We're probably all familiar with the rivets, but what blew my mind a few years ago was that the reason they're blue and lighter on the inside was to produce a fabric with a tough exterior, using indo dyes on the top yarns and softer on the inside with undyed yarns there. It wasn't just whim, or accident. That to me is what's so interesting about fashion: that something we use daily, take for granted, we know almost nothing about.

Are you an author who outlines before he writes, or do you just wing it?

Yes.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

House repairs and golf. I prefer the house repairs; they're much more satisfying.


Since making your debut with Grey in 2007, you’ve been nominated for numerous science-fiction awards, including the Philip K. Dick award. Has this changed your outlook on writing, or the way you write, at all?

I have been surprised and pleased at the critical attention, but I am not aware that it has had any affect on my writing.

Who would you say is your greatest writing influence?

Kobo Abe. J. G Ballard. Annie Dillard. Witold Gombrowicz. Vladimir Nabokov. William Gibson.


Do you have any plans to continue writing in the world of Seattlehama, or are you looking towards new projects?

I have several more projects, including at least one short story and maybe two more novels.

Thank you so much for stopping by The Daily Monocle!


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Be sure to check out the author's official website, and his works on Amazon!

Today we have special guest Lauren DeStefano doing an interview at The Daily Monocle! DeStefano's debut young adult dystopian, Wither, hit shelves just a week or so ago. Enjoy!

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First, we’d like to thank you for stopping by The Daily Monocle today!

So what made you want to write Wither?

I started writing it with the intention of it being a short story, which I was mostly writing for fun and to relieve some writer's block. But as I kept going with it, the world and characters expanded into much more than I realized was there.

About how long did it take you to write it?
The first draft took roughly 24 days.

You deal with some touchy subjects in Wither, including polygamy and forced/arranged marriages. What do you think readers’ reactions to these things will be?

I'm not sure what the reaction will be. It could go any number of ways; but I strongly believe there's no such thing as a wrong reaction to a book.

One of the most striking features of your book is the stunning imagery. Did you use storyboards, or other visual aides to help you establish this connection?

I avoid any type of outline and mostly just see where the story and its characters take me.

Wither is full of, well, creepiness and ominous foreboding. Was this a natural byproduct of the subject matter, or did you have to consciously try to make it creepy?

I can't say I consciously tried to make the story any certain way. I just started writing it one day and let it guide me.

The YA market is almost saturated with dystopian novels now. What do you think makes yours stand out from the masses?

I can't say that it will or it won't. When I was writing Wither, I wasn't thinking "This will be a breakout dystopian" or even "This will be for this specific type of audience." My focus was just on writing a story, and hopefully it will entertain readers. That's what's most important to me.

Do you think society could ever become anything like the world you’ve presented in your novel?

Anything is possible.



Can you tell us anything about the second book in the Chemical Garden Trilogy?

Not just yet.

If they made a movie out of Wither, who would you cast to play the main characters? Who would you want to direct it?

I actually get these questions a lot, but if my book were to become a movie, while I'd enjoy seeing my story come to life, I wouldn't want a say in any of those things. My focus is on the writing. That's my job, and that's what I owe to my characters, my readers, and this entire process.

Did you listen to any music while writing your novel? If so, could you tell us part of your playlist? Sometimes I prefer silence, but other times I play music. My playlist is completely random--anything from Italian soft rock to uptempo dance mixes.

Would you want to live in the Ashby mansion?

I probably wouldn't get along with the sister wives.

What author do you consider to be your greatest influence?

T.S. Eliot.

Thanks so much for stopping by The Daily Monocle!

Be sure to check out Wither at your local bookstore!

Author's Website

Kelly Eskridge, author of one of the most unique sci-fi books I've read in a while, Solitaire, decided to stop by The Daily Monocle for a quick interview. Enjoy!

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Firstly, I'd like to welcome you to The Daily Monocle, Kelley. Thank you so much for joining us today.

It's my pleasure! Thanks very much for inviting me.


Alright to start things off, how about a fun question? Can you describe yourself in three words or less?

Resistant to limitations.

And now I must take more words to explain, or risk being labeled snarky and uncooperative (which certainly describe me in moments, but not, I hope, in general). I have spent so much time trying to expand – in my life, in my work – that I find it hard to be reductive, even in jest. In my house, I am known as the Option Queen.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

Not that long after I started reading: I fell in love with story as soon as I could read Clifford, the Big Red Dog to myself, and I've never looked back. I wrote poems as a child, and a few stories along the way. I got serious about writing when I was in my mid-twenties. I attended the Clarion Writers Workshop in 1988, and made my first professional sale a couple of years later.

About how long did it take you to finish Solitaire?

A long time. I was working full-time, and found it hard to switch my brain from corporate mode to fiction mode. That's a challenge for a lot of writers, and I never found an easy way to meet it. It just takes some of us longer, and that can be hard. But it takes as long as it takes.

It's also hard to put a number of years on the completion, because I started thinking about the ideas in Solitaire long before I ever wrote a word of it. That thinking, that accretion of story, is an essential part of the writing process. All told, I'd say about eight years.

Are you an author who outlines, or one who just wings it?

Solitaire is definitely a product of the "just wing it" school of writing. I worked it out a little bit at a time, and was always pretty much on my own bow wave in terms of knowing where the story was going.

I do not recommend this as an approach. I ended up having to discard an 11,000 word section of the story – a year's work – because I had taken a wrong turn and wasn't willing to admit it to myself for a while. If I'd done more story work up front (even on a section-by-section basis), I would have saved myself one Very Bad Night and a lot of re-work.

These days, I try to be a little more of a planner. I will probably never be a major fan of detailed outlining for fiction, but I certainly do much more conscious structure/story work now, and more importantly, I am constantly assessing the story as I explore/write it. I very rarely fool myself these days: if something isn't working, I recognize it pretty quickly, and I stop and do the work to get the story back on track.

I write screenplays as well as fiction, and I'm definitely falling more into the "get the story right before I write it" approach. It's a different kind of writing, more rigorous in some regards, and even easier (for me) to wander down a false trail.

Although, having said all this, there's no way to nail the story the first time in either fiction or screenplay. There are always surprises, and things always change. The perfect first draft is a fantasy.

Who was your favorite character to write?

Hah. Do you know, no one's ever asked me this?

I love all my characters, every single one, even the creepy and unpleasant ones. I lived in Jackal's head and heart for all those years, and that makes her special. But pound for pound, Crichton was the most fun.

Were there any scenes for you that were particularly hard to put on paper?

Yes. The videophone conversation between Jackal and Snow before Jackal goes into virtual confinement was brutal to write.

I also had a hard time with the opening of the last section, when Jackal is released from confinement (those 11,000 words…). That wasn't because it was emotionally difficult to write, but because it took a while to find the truth of what it would be like for Jackal.

Did you do any sort of research before writing Solitaire?

I did some research on the operational principles and philosophy of the penal system, and on people's experience of both solitary confinement and voluntary solitude. I also did enough scientific research to find the basis for the Garbo technology.

What was your reaction when Small Beer Press wanted to re-issue Solitaire?

I was thrilled. Small Beer is a great publisher with an enormous presence in the literary and fantastic fiction landscape. They get a lot of choice about what to publish, and I'm honored they think so highly of Solitaire.


Other than the new cover art (which is fantastic, by the way), were there any changes made to the new edition?

I love the new cover. Frances Lassor is the designer, and did a brilliant job.

There are no content changes to the book. Unfortunately, there was a text flow issue and there are some rogue italics in this first printing that will be corrected in the next. Those aren't editorial or authorial changes, just vagaries of technology.

I hear Solitaire is being made into a film! What are your thoughts on this? Any news to share?

I am delighted! Although I should clarify that the screen story bears very little resemblance to the book story in terms of the particulars. Virtual confinement is a part of the movie, as are other features of the technology, and the protagonist is called Ren. Apart from that…. well, there's very little similarity in story terms, although a great deal of thematic similarity.

I'm completely fine with this. Better than fine, since I'm now the lead screenwriter on the project and am stone in love with these characters and their story. But if the movie is made, I'll have a lot of explaining to do to reset reader's expectations!

No news to share. Always in motion, is the movie business. I'm learning a lot and enjoying it immensely. Screenwriting is some of the most challenging, terrifying and exhilarating work I've ever done.

If you could choose, who would cast to play your main character, Jackal?

Since the Ren of the movie is really not the Jackal of the book, it makes it even more tricky to think about. Thank goodness they don't pay me to make casting decisions! The thing about actors is that the good ones can make you believe they are anyone, and the bad ones can look perfect for a role and still be deeply unconvincing. So I will be happy with a good actor and intensely interested to see what she does with the role.

And who would you choose to score the movie?

Trent Reznor, Eddie Vedder, David Bowie or maybe The Crystal Method. The playlist for most of the writing included all these guys plus Duran Duran, Simple Minds, Suzanne Vega, Madrugada, Madreblu, Paul Oakenfold and Gotye.

One of Solitaire's main themes is that of isolation and desperate loneliness. Why did you choose to write about this?

I wrote Solitaire in part to explore the ideas of being alone and being lonely, because I don't think they are the same thing, although our culture tends to equate them. I also wanted to think about the individual and the community, and when they are good or bad for each other.

Isolation is one obvious way to explore these topics – take a person whose identity is all about community, and then isolate her completely from community of any sort. What happens? Who are we when we have only ourselves for community? Is being alone only terrible, or is there also joy to be found there? How do we create a community for ourselves when we are strangers? How do we warp ourselves in order to be part of a community, and what are the benefits of that trade off?

I think that times of desperate loneliness are part of the experience of every human life: at least, I've never met anyone who hasn't felt it at some point. Connection is also an essential experience, and one that most of us seek. But not all connection is good for us, and not all alone-ness is bad.

For those who are interested, I've written in more depth about this aspect of the book as part of The Big Idea series at Whatever.

If you were isolated for a long period of time, do you would handle the seclusion in the same way as your main character? Why or why not?

I don't know what I would do. I spent a great deal of time alone as a child and young adult, until my very late twenties, and I am quite comfortable in my own company. But that's not the same thing as the kind of isolation that Jackal experiences in virtual confinement.

I wouldn't want to spend six years without any human contact. I think it would damage me in ways that would be hard to bear. I also think that it might transform me in ways that I can hardly imagine, some of which might be joyful or even ecstatic. Does Jackal end up damaged, or crazy, or has she found a way to be even more fully herself? Or all of the above? Has she been reduced or expanded by her experience? These are some of the questions of Solitaire.

Are you working on any projects right now? Care to share?

I am working on a couple of new screenplays (at various stages of development) and the early stages of a YA novel.

Thank you so much!

It's been a pleasure! Thanks for the interesting questions and the chance to have this conversation.

Be sure to check out the author's website here, and buy Solitaire for your summer reading lists! :D

Congratulations Livs F.! You are the winner of a signed copy of Fade to Blue by Sean Beaudoin!

And now, after a week of set-backs and difficult stuffs, here's an interview with Sean Beaudoin. Enjoy. :)

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To start things off, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself... in rhyme?

There once was a man from Seattle, who was paid to toss off entertaining prattle
He wrote with aplomb, on his left hand was an extra thumb
All the better with which to hitchhike, plug dikes, and respond as if addled.


When did you first know you wanted to write professionally?

Probably around fifteen. Various teachers were complementing me on my essays and vocabulary and so forth, without ever complimenting me on much else. So, it seemed a natural.


What was it like getting your first novel published?

A colossal relief. Vindication. Permission to drop the whole mantle of embarrassment around saying “I am a writer” out loud. A temporary reprieve from certain economic concerns. Like being indoctrinated into a secret society where everyone wears pointy hats.


You have published three novels--Going Nowhere Faster, Fade to Blue, and You Killed Wesley Payne. How has your writing changed since getting your first book published?

I think you keep getting better, just as if you spent X number of hours a day playing saxophone. You begin to know yourself and your limitations more clearly. Your chops are honed, instincts heightened, bad habits slowly pared to the bone. On the other hand, I’m eight years further away from being a teenager and caring who Katy Perry is.


How long does it usually take you to finish writing a novel? How about reading one?

Writing a novel, when you factor in all the non-writing aspects, usually absorbs about eighteen months of my life. Reading time really depends on which novel. I’m a fast reader. I can whip through a book in a night. Or, I might savor it slowly if it’s especially good. I’m obsessive about finishing books I start even if I don’t like them. Those books tend to take longer.




What inspired Fade to Blue?

A girlfriend I had in high school. What it was like lying on the rug in my room with her, listening to records. Holding hands. Watching her from across the gymnasium and marveling that she would soon be sitting next to me. Also, a profound confusion about the nature of the afterlife and metaphysics in general.


Would you consider your novels character-driven, or plot-driven?

That’s a good question. I tend to find novels that are solely plot-driven to be fairly dull. I hope mine are idea-driven.


Do you outline, or just wing it?

I wing the outline.


You have tackled what could be called one of the most difficult concepts in literature: humor. Was this a conscious decision, or did it just kind of happen?

I think it’s bad form to say “I’m funny.” But usually when I’m having one of those moments where I’m talking to someone and being all vulnerable and honest and we’re taking turns saying what we like about each other, people whisper “you’re funny.”


If you could choose one of your books to be turned into a film, which would you choose and why?

I want all of them to be immediately optioned by the guy who made Zombieland. Or, you know, Martin Scorcese. But I think You Killed Wesley Payne is practically a script in book form. I think a person with the right vision could make a fantastic, hilarious, crazily high-concept movie out of it.

Who is your favorite character to write?

It’s like asking who your favorite child is. I love them all the same. Except that the answer is probably Sophie Blue.


If it was that character’s birthday, what kind of cake would they eat?

One with black frosting, shaped like a giant lipstick.

You get to spend an hour with any writer in history. Who is it?

Apparently Norman Mailer was a lot of fun at a party. And Herodotus would definitely be able to put a few mysteries to rest. But I think I’d go with Vladimir Nabokov. Poet, historian, professor, linguist, raconteur.

Are you working on anything right now? Care to share?

My next book, Wise Young Truck, is already done and in production. It’s a rock and roll saga. I’m actually working on the one after that at the moment. Suffice it to say it’s vampire-free.


Do you have any advice for writers trying to break into the market?

Read constantly. Write at least one really great short story before you tackle a novel. Keep in mind that an exceptional short story may require thirty or more drafts. Be disciplined. Don’t follow trends. Don’t be too clever. Practice being interviewed. Essentially, writing is way too hard to waste your time on if you don’t passionately want to do it.

Thanks so much for joining us at The Daily Monocle!

Lish McBride, author of Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, was kind enough to stop by and give us this epic interview. I hope you all enjoy it, and be sure to check out her website, and her book!

***

What inspired you to write Hold Me Closer, Necromancer?

Boredom, originally. The book started as a really terrible short story when I was stuck in alternative school with nothing to do (I’d already finished my work). Then I rewrote it when I was in college. It was still terrible, but I needed a story to turn in for class, and I wanted to work on something fun. Then I just kept thinking about the story, changing things, adding things. I don’t know if there was ever a light bulb kind of moment.

And about how long did it take you to write it?

To actually get the first draft out, maybe three to six months? I’m not sure. I was in grad school at the time, and the book was my thesis to graduate. So, while I was working on draft one, I was also turning in short stories and screenplays and working on the school journal. Then we spent a couple of months doing revisions before shopping it out to publishers. After Holt bought it, we spent another year and a half or so working on it because we had time…so, maybe two to three years total? But like I said, I was doing a lot of other stuff at the time and then taking my time with my editor.

Your protagonist, Sam is a teenage guy, a voice in which many women find it difficult to write. Was it difficult for you to write in a guy's voice?

You know, people ask me this a lot and I don’t really get it. What I mean is, authors tend to write outside of themselves. No one asks if it was hard to write from the point of view of someone who can raise the dead or turn into a wolf, and I’m not any of those things either. I think if you’re writing a fleshed out character, it doesn’t really matter what gender you or your character is, especially now. We’ve moved into this great time when there are all different points on the gender scale. Sam is a guy, but he’s kind of a gentle beta male. He’s not going to talk about hot rod cars or work on his pecs. He’s just not that kind of dude, and I know a lot of guys like Sam. Plus, I’m not the girliest cat in the universe. I was raised with three brothers and it shows.

In college, I had three male roommates. It’s always been easier for me to live with boys. We took a vote one day and decided I was the most masculine in the house. We’ll put it this way, three people in our house had seen the Princess Diaries, and I wasn’t one of them. Most of my friends just aren’t uber masculine.

I think a lot of people get caught up in trying too hard to make their characters sound like teens (or like their gender) and they forget that, well, teens are still people, and no two people talk alike. So, Sam just sounds like Sam. I didn’t try too hard to make him sound young or like a guy. I just wrote it, thinking that no one would see it, since it was just my thesis to graduate.


Speaking of Sam, I know he works at a fast food restaurant and has some… amusing experiences there. Have you ever worked in a similar situation and/or gone through some of those same experiences?

Sadly, yes. I know first hand what a grease traps smells like. I’ve played potato hockey—though I played this later at a bakery since the fast food place I worked at didn’t have potatoes, just pre-cut frozen fries. We spent many an hour playing “guess what I put in the fryer.” A coworker dared me to drink straight soda mix once (before the carbonated water or whatever it is added) and I ran around like a humming bird until I slipped on some grease. And yes, I did catch the grill on fire. Grease is flammable, people.

Unlike many contemporary books, Hold Me Closer, Necromancer presents a tangible "bad guy" in Douglas. How did you like writing a definite villain?

What’s kind of sad is I think I have to edit his parts the least. Douglas is definitely one of my “louder” characters. Writing him is more like channeling, which can be a little scary to read back and think, “Huh. So that’s in my brain. Good to know.” The thing about Douglas is he makes me kind of sad. He was warped pretty young by his psychotic aunt, and he didn’t really have a choice. So with all of his later decisions, there’s a kind of inevitability about them—I know he’s going to make bad choices and I can’t stop him. It’s kind of like watching your kid learn how to ride their bike. They fall down a lot, and it hurts to watch, but you have to stand back and let them fall or they’ll never learn.

The flipside is that villains are fun to write. When I write Sam, who is a much nicer person than I am, I have to always check my decisions and see if that’s the right thing for him to do. Not so with Douglas. He’s very much a do what I want when I want kind of person and not many of us can get away with that kind of thing.

I think one of the defining factors of your book is that it's set in the present-day "ordinary" world. Why did you choose to do this?

I love urban fantasy. That being said, when I was younger, I was set on writing traditional fantasy only…well, I’m not very good at it yet. But I love the contrast of urban fantasy. Magic cheek to jowl with technology creates a lot of interesting friction. In this case, I’m not sure it was a conscious choice. The book always started at the fast food place, and that pretty much locks you into here and now.

Paranormal fiction is a huge market right now, especially in the Young Adult genre. Most of these stories deal primarily with paranormal romance, however Hold Me Closer, Necromancer uses paranormal romance only as a backdrop. Was this a conscious decision on your part, or did it just happen like that?

I prefer to let the story come out, and whatever happens, happens. Shaping is what you do during editing. It’s good to know what’s popular I guess, but if you try to aim your books, well, that can back fire. I do like paranormal romance, but remember when I said I was raised by brothers and that I’m kind of like a dude? Make that a twelve year old dude who’s still pretty sure they need cootie shots, and you’re getting close to the mark. My man friend is more likely to buy me comics than flowers, for sure, so I’m not I’m the best target audience for romance. (I do like flowers; it’s just that they don’t last long and comic books are forever.)

However, Sam had a crush on Brid from the get go. I was planning on introducing them in book one and saving any romance-y stuff for later, but both of them told me no. They said now and I had to listen. My characters are very bossy.

Your book is written with a healthy dose of "black humor". Do you naturally write like this, or was it something you had to strive for?

I can’t stop it. Seriously. I used to get into trouble all the time because of “my smart mouth” and all of my research papers had notes on them about my lack of academic tone. I don’t mean to do it sometimes, but I’ll write something down in all seriousness and someone will read it and say, “that’s very funny” and then I get confused because, well, I was trying to be serious. I’m just not very good at it, I guess. My family is pretty funny and I was introduced to English humor (Monty Python, A Fish Called Wanda, etc.) and Canadian humor (Kids in the Hall, SCTV) at a young age, not to mention the fact that I learned to read by flipping through Garfield comics.

On top of that, my family is pretty medical, and I think humor is a natural coping mechanism. My mom has been an ICU nurse forever. She’s seen some pretty terrible things, and at some point, it’s either laugh or cry, you know? I used to have to pick her up from work and I’d have to walk past the “quiet room” (which was never quiet because it was a padded room for drunks or people that had come off their meds and they liked to shout things at passersby), past people coming down from heroin screaming their lungs out, people with massive injuries, and that was just to get to her office. All very sad things, all of which can really take it out of you. So, we crack jokes.

Looking back, I don’t think I had much of a choice with the dark humor thing.

Who was your favorite character to write?

Man, that’s tough. Ashley is fun because she’s snarky and I don’t get to write her all the time…and I like doing the back and forth between Ramon and Sam. I don’t know if I have favorites, to be honest.

All of your chapter titles are song lyrics (and there are some excellent songs in there, I might add!). Did you have a writing playlist? If so, do you care to share any of it?

I don’t have a writing playlist. I used to put music on when I wrote, but then I realized that I block it out anyway. Albums would be long over and I wouldn’t even notice. I tend to write in a café now (so cliché, I know) and they play some good music, so every once in awhile I’ll surface and hear a random song, but that’s it.

I do love music, though. I think that’s pretty apparent.

Now, as I mentioned in my review, I love the cover art on this book. What did you think when you first saw the cover?

Relief. We’d been having some cover issues. I really liked the original cover, but Barnes and Noble didn’t like it so we had to change it. They wanted something with a more realistic photo on the cover, and I had this fear of getting a bunch of mopey teens on my book. A gaggle of emo kids is good for a dramatic book, but my book isn’t like that. So the illustrator (who’d done an awesome job) had to go back to the drawing board. The next few covers I saw were quick mock ups but they were covered in sad faced teens and they had the same Alexie quote about the book being funny and I kept thinking, “Well, it sure doesn’t look funny.” So when they finally put together the current cover and the designer had made it interesting and different, I was really happy. He’s amazing, and if I ever get to meet him, I’m going to hug him in a very awkward manner.


How long have you been writing?

Forever. I’m one of those jerks who always knew what they wanted to be. For a short span of time I wanted to be a veterinarian and a writer, but then I realized vets had to poke animals with needles, so I crossed that one off. I think I was six. Then in high school I told a friend I might want to try and be a comedian and a writer, but he told me I wasn’t funny. And now I get paid to be funny. Win!


Hold Me Closer, Necromancer is your debut novel. Was getting this book published everything you thought it would be? Why or why not?

Yes, and no. I went to a creative writing program and they were pretty good at preparing me for some of the stuff (like having no control over your cover) but there’s a bunch they never tell you, and some stuff you just don’t think will happen. Part of the problem is we tend to shroud the process in mystery so people aren’t prepared. Luckily, most of my surprises have been pleasant. I thought agents and editors would be scary, but all of mine are super nice. My publisher flew me to New York for a lunch meet-and-greet this summer. They flew me cross-country for LUNCH. The whole time I kept thinking that it was silly and people didn’t actually fly somewhere for lunch. And then I was worried about the meet-and-greet, but everyone was so nice and friendly.

I guess a lot of it hasn’t sunk in yet. Every time I see my book on the shelf, I feel like there must be another Lish McBride out there and someone made a big mistake. It’s all very surreal.

Would you like to continue writing in the world of Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, or are you going to move on to another project?

When Holt bought HMCN, they also bought book two. I’m editing it now. We’ll see what happens after that.

In fact, if you're working on a novel right now, do you care to share any details?

Hopefully book two will be done soon, and when that’s off into copy editing land, I’ll get back to a new project that I’m working on that’s totally different. It’s still YA, but that’s all I’m saying…for now.

Do you have a certain room you like to write in the best?

I’ve learned that I can’t write in my house. The layout is terrible and there’s nowhere off to the side to go and hole up. I kept getting distracted by chores and books and shiny things. So I’ve been meeting a friend at a coffee shop. That’s been working nicely.

You have ten words in which to convince people to read your novel. Go!:

Talking severed head, skateboards, and a zombie panda. That enough?

Have you ever had any sort of paranormal experience like those in your novel?

Nope. I keep trying, though. One of these days, I’m going to raise me a zombie.

If you were one of the magically inclined sorts that are present in your novel, which one would you be and why?

Tough question. There’s a Fury in there, and though we haven’t really seen her much yet, she’s pretty badass. It would be cool to talk to the dead, but it might be kind of spooky, too. I like the Harbingers, but I wouldn’t like being dead. Probably a were. I’d love to be able to change into something else. James would also be a good answer, but you haven’t read book two yet, so you don’t know why. Mu ah ha ha ha! (Sorry I’m such a jerk.)

Halloween just passed. Have you ever considered dressing up as one of your characters? Did you dress up this year?

Not really, no. My editor went as Ashley last year, which I thought was pretty sweet and my friend dressed her baby up as Sam for Halloween, which was cool, though it’s probably doomed him to geekdom forever.

I usually dress up because I love Halloween. (I miss living in New Orleans. They do Halloween right, for sure.) This year I just put on some horns and helped my friend hand out candy. I grew up in the woods, so I never really got to do that. She took pity on me and let me help, which was awfully nice of her. Last year I made a black, glittery mask, wore some stars on my head, and made a black cape with stars and bats on it and went as The Night. It was fun.

Thanks again to the wonderful Lish Mcbride!

Although it's a few days late (my bad), here is the wonderful interview that Jennifer Donnelly did for The Daily Monocle. You may remember I reviewed Revolution not too long ago, and now we get to hear from the author. Enjoy! And don't forget to check out Revolution at your local bookstore. :D

***

Revolution's central concept is the French Revolution. How long have you been interested in the French Revolution?

Actually, the book’s central concept can be found in Alex’s last diary entry – and Andi’s eventual understanding of it – that “the world goes on stupid and brutal, but I do not.”

What inspired the book was not the French Revolution per se. It was an article in the New York Times about a small human heart in a glass urn that had been in the possession of the Basilica of St. Denis, in Paris, and which had been undergone DNA testing and had been identified as belonging to Louis Charles, the young son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

The article went on to explain the terrible treatment this child had received at the hands of the revolutionaries, and it really upset me. I couldn’t understand how a group of people who wanted liberty, equality and fraternity for all, denied those very things to a defenseless child. It raised a lot of questions for me, and provoked a great deal of emotion, and I had finally had to deal with it the way writers do – by writing a story.

Did you visit France before writing this book?

Yes, several times. Before and during the writing of the book.

One of the big themes in Revolution is grief. Is there a particular reason that you chose to write about grief and mourning?

It wasn’t really my choice. My subject matter, and my characters, dictated it.

Your main character, Andi is a musician, and much of Revolution centers around her musical interests. She shows classical influences in modern music numerous times. Do you feel a particular connection to music and history?
I’ve always felt an enormously strong connection to both music and history, and Andi does, too. Music sustains her. She sees and understands the rich legacy of her musical ancestors. One thing I would really like readers to take from the book is the idea that artistic legacies exist for all of us – in music, in writing, in painting. When the going gets tough, reach back and clasp hands with artists who have gone before you. Let them teach you and inspire you and carry you through.

Is there a particular reason you chose Mahlerbeau as a facet of your novel, instead of a non-fictional composer?

I don’t want to give anything away, but I needed a fictional composer because Malherbeau was someone else before he was Malherbeau.

Andi listens to a lot of under-the-radar bands. How many new musical artists did you discover while writing Revolution?

Loads! Including MGMT. Grizzly Bear. St. Vincent. Brother Ali. Arcade Fire. Spooky Ghost. Dirty Projectors. G. Love. John Butler. Some aren’t so under the radar anymore. Discovering these musicians was one of the big joys of writing this book.

If you could choose a theme song for Revolution, what would it be?
That’s an impossible question! But if I had to choose just one, it would be Shine on You Crazy Diamond.

Do you play any musical instruments?

Not one.

Each of your characters has a very distinctive name. Did you have to hunt for their names, or did they name themselves?
Yes, they do have distinctive names. That was very deliberate. Virgil is named for the poet. Like that Virgil with Dante, he leads Andi through her own hell and out again.

Marianne and Lewis...Max R. Peters...the new baby, Leroy...Jimmy Shoes and Jacques Chaussures....all echoes from the past.

Who is your favorite character?

I don’t have one. I love both girls tremendously.

A lot of writers feel a visceral connection with their characters, and their characters' emotions. Andi, in particular, is grieving for much of the novel. Did you find your emotions influenced at all by your characters?

Absolutely. This book took a huge piece of my heart. It was very difficult to write because of the emotional hell Andi and Alex go through.



How long have you been writing?

Ever since I was a young child.

About how long did it take you to write Revolution?

The idea was percolating for about ten years. The actual writing took about three.

Is there any particular time of day when you like to write the most?

I have a young daughter, so I write while she’s at school, and often go back at it at night.

Revolution isn't your first novel. How did writing this novel differ from the writing of your first novel?

I had slightly more a clue what I was doing. But only slightly!

Are you the kind of author who outlines her work before writing, or do you just go for it?

I outline obsessively. The plots and structures of my books are complex, and I need to know where the characters are going and how they are going to get there before I actually start writing.

Historical fiction novels that parallel lives from two different times are an up-and-coming trend. Were you conscious of this while writing, or did the story just come to you in this form?

I had no idea I was part of an up-and-coming trend. That would be a first. The form for Revolution came to me after I spent a great deal of time struggling to make the book either a historical novel or a contemporary novel. Neither character – Andi in the present, or Alex in the past – would give an inch of ground. So I finally had to. I surrendered and gave the book over to both of them.

Could you name three authors who have influenced your writing the most?

I can name three authors whose work I love and admire: James Joyce, Jeanette Winterson and Graham Greene.

If you were stuck on a plane with any literary character from any work—your own, or otherwise—who would you choose to fly with, and why?

Heathcliff and Cathy – what an interesting flight that would be!

If you could choose any artist—contemporary or historical—to paint a picture of your main character, who would you choose and why?

Van Gogh, because he had a huge, huge heart.

And just because I'm a huge fan of The Decemberists—do you really think that Picaresque is better than Castaways and Cutouts? And where does The Hazards of Love factor into all of this?

I’m a huge fan of the Decemberists, and no, I don’t think Picaresque is better – that’s Virgil’s and Andi’s argument. I love all their work and I think The Hazards of Love is total genius.

A big thank you to Jennifer Donnelly for interviewing with The Daily Monocle!

Not too long ago, I had the opportunity to read Michael R. Stevens' technilogical thriller, Fortuna. Now, Mr. Stevens has graciously agreed to an interview with The Daily Monocle!

***

Your novel, Fortuna, is a rich and exciting foray into Renaissance-era Italy, and online role-playing games. What inspired you to combine these two things?

To tell the truth, I wanted the Renaissance environment but I didn't want to be in competition with “real” historical novels because I was afraid I'd get too many details wrong. My new book is straight historical fiction. The setting is Berlin, 1923.

Of all historical time periods to choose from, why did you choose Renaissance-era Italy?

I am fascinated by the role of force in governments and societies, and that issue was central to Machiavelli, who is the source of Fortuna's intellectual underpinnings. Machiavelli is associated with manipulation and ruthlessness, but this is an impoverished reading of his body of work. There is a lot of wisdom there.

What sort of historical research did you do in order to capture the essence of the time so fully?

Tons! I studied contemporary paintings, old maps, lots of books about the major houses of the time (Medici, Strozzi, Borgia etc.), tracts on business practices and coinage, historical documents about the evolution of the Sacraments in the Catholic Church, Neo-Platonic writing... it's a long list.

Did you play any online role-playing games to familiarize yourself with the ins and outs of gaming before writing Fortuna? Which ones and why?

After the book was about two-thirds finished, I became a member of Second Life to get a reality check, as it were. As it turned out, I had gotten it right, and didn't need to make any changes in the manuscript. I chose Second Life because it is a freestyle environment where players do what they want, as opposed to environments like Worlds of Warcraft, where there are specific missions to be accomplished.

Your protagonist, Jason Lind, plays as his alter-ego, Father Alessandro da Scala in the game, Fortuna. Was there a particular reason you chose to give him this persona instead of say, a merchant or page?

Machiavelli’s central thesis is that it is impossible to be a successful prince – we might say “an effective political leader” – and also a good Christian, or, in less religious terms, a good man. My idea in making Jason a priest was to accentuate this dilemma.

Did any one thing inspire you to write Fortuna?

Yes, and I will never tell!

Who was your favorite character to write?

I would say Mara, the courtesan. I didn't think about it at the time, but she's a sort of anima figure for Jason – everything he's not.

A lot of The Daily Monocle's readers haven't yet read your book. Can you tell them why they should read Fortuna in ten words or less?

It's about the most important trend of the century. It's very entertaining. (I know, that's twelve [words].)

You're on a ten hour car trip with one of your characters from Fortuna. Who do you take, and why?

I don't want to sound contentious or seem like I'm dodging the question, but I really don't think that way. The characters are constructions, part of a whole that's supposed to have an effect. I wouldn't be telling the truth if I said that I am one hundred percent in control of every word I write, but that's the goal.



How did you get started in the writing business?

I started out as a professional writer when I was sixteen, when I got a job as music columnist for my home town newspaper, The Vallejo Times Herald. Then, after college and the U.S. Army, I needed a job and writing was really the only thing I knew how to do. So I got into technical writing, then advertising, and now, fiction. I don't know if that's an upward trajectory or not.

A lot of fledgling authors tend to think that once you write and publish that ubiquitous "first book", the writing process changes, and so does their career. Has publishing your first book changed your outlook on writing at all?

It’s had an enormous impact. I can’t even find words to describe it. I’ve been blogging about it for months at www.fortunathebook.com/blog. I can’t think of any way to summarize all those thoughts.


Is there any one book and/or author who has influenced your writing the most?

Do I have to answer? It would be the science fiction writer, Frank Herbert.

A lot of writers count music as a main way of 'setting the mood'. Did you listen to any music while writing Fortuna? If so, what did you listen to?

That's interesting. I didn't know that. I'm a serious amateur musician and, perhaps for that reason, I never listen to music while writing. It would be too distracting, and I think it would impair my ability to get the rhythm of the sentences right.

About how long did it take you to write Fortuna?

About 18 months.

Did any people or events from your life shape the events or people in Fortuna?

Not really. Of course, my humanities background from college and my time in Silicon Valley certainly influenced the overall framework.

Are you working on any other books right now?

Two. One is about the process of getting published for the first time. The other is a novel with the working title, The Allegory of the Golden-Haired Wife. It’s a thriller about industrial espionage set in Berlin, 1923.

This might be a hard question, but what is your favorite book? Why?

Der Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse. It’s about a man of a certain age who is intelligent and has been successful in the world, but feels that something important in life has eluded him. Not that I know anyone who fits that description.

You've been invited to spend a week with a writer from any time in history. Who do you spend a week with and why?

Hemmingway. Why philosophize when you can drink whiskey?

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Thanks so much for this opportunity, and for the great questions.

Thank you Mr. Stevens for doing this awesome interview with The Daily Monocle!

Don't forget to check out Michael R. Stevens' website here, and purchase your copy of Fortuna on Amazon today!

If you've read my review of The Reapers are the Angels, you know that, not only do I think very highly of of the book, but I also think it's emotional, and beautifully written.

And while Reapers doesn't hit shelves until tomorrow(!), I was fortunate enough to be able to interview Alden Bell for The Daily Monocle. I hope you all enjoy the read.

***

How long have you been interested in zombies?

Ever since my father took me to see Dawn of the Dead when it came out. I was nine years old. You could call it bad parenting, but I like to think of it as brilliant foresight on my father’s part. On some level he knew I would grow up to write a zombie novel.

What inspired you to write The Reapers are the Angels?

It’s a combination of two literary dreams I’ve had for a long time: the first was to write a Southern Gothic novel in homage to William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor and all the other great writers I grew up loving; the second was to write a zombie novel in homage to all the horror films I grew up loving. At some point it occurred to me that these two novels might actually be one. After all, it seems as though much of Southern literature is about the loss of a majestic past—which is the perfect setting for a novel about a once great but currently devastated world.

And about how long did it take you to write it?

This was a relatively quick novel to write. It took me seven or eight months. The revision process was not long either. Sometimes a story requires heavy labor to get it told; other times, as in this case, it just seems to pour out of you naturally.

Zombies are a hot subject right now. What do you think makes your book stand out from the masses the most?

A lot of the current zombie stories are ironic or humorous. The comic zombie seems to be the standard of the day. My zombies, on the other hand, hearken back to a more traditional mythology. There’s nothing funny about them at all. Also, I think Reapers is very much about the irrepressible beauty of the world—which is probably not so common among stories of the zombie apocalypse.

Your protagonist, Temple, is a 15 year old girl. Obviously, part of your reasoning behind her age was so that she would never know a time without the zombies. Were there any other reasons you chose to write such a young main character?

I like the idea of a character whose whole life has been one thing. Older characters tend to have more texture, more complexity, more experience behind them. But what’s unique about Temple is that there’s a purity of identity in her. She isn’t old enough to have lived multiple lives: everything she has done in her short life has been about survival and violence. I think that single-mindedness is what makes her tragic but also very strong.

Temple's weapon of choice is a gurkha knife, rather than a gun or a club. Why a gurkha knife?

Mostly because of the looks of the thing. That inward-curving blade always looked brutal and savage to me. It’s not built for stabbing but just for chopping, which evokes an entirely different, animalistic kind of violence. Also, from a purely practical perspective, Temple would always prefer a blade to a gun so that she wouldn’t have to rely on finding ammunition in the wasteland. She is nothing if not pragmatic.

Temple has a complicated view on good-vs.-evil. Is this something that the character just developed as the book progressed, or did you intend this quality from the beginning?

I knew from the beginning that I wanted her character to be in pursuit of redemption for some moral infraction she had committed—but it took me a while to figure out what infraction that was. Actually, now that you mention it, I guess I tend to see her view on good and evil as relatively simple. She’s not a complex moralist: she tries to do the right thing and tries to avoid the wrong thing. The only problem she has, sometimes, is telling which is which—and you can’t really blame her, growing up as she did in such a topsy-turvy world.

What was your favorite scene to write?

To be honest, my favorite scenes are the ones where not much is happening. About three quarters of the way through the book, Temple takes a train ride across the landscape—and the action drops away in favor of lingering descriptive passages. Those are my favorite. Even though Reapers has plenty of action in it, as a reader I tend to like books that are more slowly paced, books that take their time and force you to stop and think. I prefer books that you have to endure rather than books that rush you through at a breakneck speed to their conclusion.

And were there any scenes particularly difficult to put on paper?

I always found the character of James Grierson a little difficult to write. In my mind, he is a kind of Hamlet character: tragic prince, crippled by his own moroseness. But he’s also distant, which made it hard to get behind him. I was never quite sure what he would say in any given situation—and I’m still not.

I can only imagine the research you had to do in order to write this novel. How many macabre facts did you discover?

Actually, this is an almost researchless book (and so I’m sure there are numerous factual errors that people will point out). I had to do a little research on the guns used in the story—and some on the geography of the South so that Temple’s journey would make some sense. But other than that, I’m shooting from the hip. I’ve never been such a fan of realism or accuracy. It seems to me that artifice is the whole point of art—so I let my liar’s flag fly.

Do you think Reapers has a lot of crossover potential with the YA market?

I don’t read many YA books, but I would think that Reapers could be of interest to that market. After all, it is a kind of coming-of-age novel. If I had a daughter, I certainly wouldn’t mind her reading the book. Temple is a good role model: tough, adaptable, independent, ferociously true to her own code. I think young girls could do much worse than following Temple’s lead.

Can you sum up your book in three words or less?

To blatantly rip off Faulkner from The Sound and the Fury: They endured.

If you were living the post-zombie apocalypse world, which of your characters you pick as your travelling companion, and why?

Temple, definitely. She knows how to dispatch a zombie, she knows how to travel a landscape of death and destruction, and when she sings she has the voice of a songbird—or at least that’s what she claims.

How long have you been writing?

I’ve been writing all my life that I can remember. I started with stories when I was in grade school, and I was pretentious enough to write my first (terrible, truly awful) novel when I was in high school. I can’t say I enjoy writing, because I’m never actually eager to sit down and do it. But I guess it’s like yoga for some people or psychotherapy for others: they may not look forward to it, but they know they’ll feel better once they’ve done it.

What author (or authors) has influenced your writing the most? How so?

I don’t do any writing at all that isn’t in some way an echo of William Faulkner. No one tells a story quite like him. In fact, I think very few writers are as interested in the processes of storytelling as he is. Beyond Faulkner, there’s also James Joyce—who shows you how limitless writing can be, how full of possibility and promise. You read Joyce, and you feel like you can do anything in your writing. More recently, I’ve been deeply influenced by contemporary authors like Tom Drury, Tom Franklin, Daniel Woodrell, Cormac McCarthy, William Gay. All of them have a deep, abiding passion for gorgeously wrought language.

Writers tend to be separated into two distinct groups: those who outline and control the story, and those who give control to their characters and 'watch' the story develop. Which side are you on?

I tend to be on the more controlling side, consistent with my somewhat compulsive personality. I like knowing in advance how long a book is going to be, what the major story arc is, what major events are going to occur. I do allow myself a little leeway if things begin to evolve naturally—but I don’t have that kind of faith in my characters that I know some writers do: I don’t allow them to “go where they want to go.”

I know this is probably a difficult question to answer, but could you give me your top three (or five) favorite books?

William Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom!
James Joyce, Ulysses
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
William Gibson, Neuromancer
Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49

How would you feel about Reapers being made into a movie? And who would you want to play the lead character?

There are a number of great actresses out there who could bring Temple to life. I’ve thought about this a lot, actually, and I could picture Jennifer Lawrence in the role or Mia Wasikowska or Ellen Muth. Or, when she gets a bit older, that little girl from the movie Kick-Ass. The ratio of her age to the violence she perpetrated was perfect.

Are you working on any other books, and do you care to share any details?

I’m currently working on a book that will be published under my own name, Joshua Gaylord. It’s called Frontierland, and it takes place in Orange County, California, in 1975. It’s all about the frontier of suburbia and the human desire to, alternately, escape to it and escape from it.

And finally, because I just have to ask: how long do you think you could survive in the event of a zombie apocalypse? (Thanks to a *super-accurate* Facebook quiz, I know would survive about five months)

Good question. I’ll have to check out that quiz. But knowing what I know of myself—particularly my desire to want to get along with everybody, zombies included—I would be one of the first to be eaten.

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A big thank you to Alden Bell for agreeing to interview for The Daily Monocle!

And don't forget to check out The Reapers are the Angels at your local bookstores when it hits shelves tomorrow. You can check out Reapers on Amazon, and Alden Bell's website.

A few weeks ago, I reviewed Kevin Glavin's complicated satire, Rock Star's Rainbow. Today, Mr. Glavin has agreed to do an interview for The Daily Monocle! So, without further ado, I'd like to post the wonderful interview I had with Mr. Glavin. This is The Daily Monocle's first interview, and I know that you'll all enjoy it.

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What inspired you to write Rock Star's Rainbow?

I’ve always enjoyed writing. When I was in my 20s, I wrote two novels, which I ended up throwing away; they were more of a learning experiment.
Rock Star’s Rainbow actually started out very differently. It began as a short story for a U of Iowa grad magazine, about two teenagers in love and all the awkwardness involved with that. It ends with their graduation from high school and the end of their relationship in a barren Iowa cornfield.
Years later, around 2005, I was at a coffee shop at Berkeley and had the idea of taking these characters and forming a novel around them. I started writing ideas on napkins, wondering––whatever happened to these heartbroken kids? That was the kernel, but the story changed a lot. It morphed into a celebrity adventure. As a culture, we’re obsessed with celebrity, and even more so with celebrity scandal. I wanted to explore that. So the teenage boy from the old story becomes a rock star with everything––fame and fortune, but completely unhappy; he doesn’t have the girl. It’s a satire, but not a funny ha-ha satire. It’s more poking fun at the idea of how silly our society can be when we put these celebrities on a pedestal, as if they have all the answers and should be emulated, when perhaps they’re more lost than most.

Anyway, the protagonist, he’s become incredibly jaded, something of a jerk. Early in the book, after another night of excess, he dreams and longs for a return to a happier, simpler, more innocent time before all this celebrity madness that he has to deal with. Despite living in the multi-million dollar mansion in Beverly Hills, he’s still chasing the rainbow of happiness––this impossible dream. So, you have this megalomaniacal character at the height of superstardom and of course he must fall. And so he does, many times as he goes on his adventure to find his high school sweetheart, his “Dulcinea,” hoping she’ll help him find happiness. But she’s in more trouble than he is. He finds her, and it shocks him, and in the process he reexamines his entire life. He tries to help her and their daughter (that he never knew he had), but he’s also finding himself. It’s a quest story. But I was also interested in building upon this framework, so I layered it with many literary allusions, perhaps too many. But that was important to me––I wanted to throw everything into the pot.

Did you listen to a rock and roll playlist while writing? What was on your playlist?

To be honest, I prefer silence when writing. Occasionally, I do have music in the background. If I do, it’s usually classical––something like Beethoven or Bach. I love rock music, but I can’t really focus while listening to it.


Your main character, Rook Heisenberg, is a world-renowned musician and songwriter. Was Rook inspired by any real-life musicians?

He’s a conglomeration of many real rock stars and celebrities. Think of all the famous ones at the height of their careers––“sex, drugs, and rock and roll.” Of course, the novel starts in Hollywood. I wanted it to open right in the center of the entertainment world. Sold-out show at the Hollywood Bowl (which, by the way, has a rainbow stage). The paparazzi. Beverly Hills. All the chaos. But at some point the mayhem usually becomes too much, and usually these stars seek some kind of peace, through rehab, a quest, family, seclusion, what have you.

Rock Star's Rainbow is packed with references to Rook's life and travels as a celebrity. Did you have to do any research on the places he visited, or the lifestyle he lead?

I did a lot of research. Let me say that I can’t write about a place unless I’ve been there. It doesn’t feel authentic unless you’ve actually walked around and gotten the vibe of the streets. I’ve lived in the Los Angeles area for about 11 years now, so that part was easy––I see it all the time. I went to college in Iowa, so that part was easy too. For Amsterdam and India, I had to travel there. Very wonderful places. As I was there, I kept thinking, now how would the characters act here, or there? How does this fit in with the overall plot? As far as the lifestyle of Rook, I’ve been to quite a few rock concerts and celebrity events, and have read quite a few of their stories. At the same time, I wanted the novel to be more than just a typical celebrity rehab tale––and so that’s why there are twists and turns and strange references.

What is the zaniest piece of information you came across while researching?

There’s a lot of zany stuff that I tried to include if it fit in. For instance, some celebrities actually do keep track of their sexual conquests. There really are some very bizarre private “clubs” where people do strange things. There really are naked holy men in India painted blue who smoke some strange drug. We ran into a German guy who hung out with them, and then disappeared for a few days. When he came back his face was all messed-up, horribly sunburned, his eyes puffy. What else, some people actually do lie in a coffin as a sort of shamanistic exercise to rid oneself of the fear of death and to make the most of life. Lots of strange things, things that I couldn't possibly make up. I realize some of it is stretching belief, but I wanted to get to that point where one crazy thing happens after another, where nothing's surprising anymore in this superstar's life, while at the same time, you know that it's been written by a tabloid reporter, so you can't really trust any of it.

While reading Rock Star's Rainbow, I noticed a lot of literary and/or historical references—particularly to Vincent Van Gogh. Why Van Gogh?

Yes, there are many references. Maybe too many. The big ones are Durer’s Melencolia, Don Quixote, Either/Or, Satyricon, Crime and Punishment, Ulysses, and some references to physics. But you’re right—Van Gogh is also a big part. Durer’s artwork is a key underpinning to the work—it’s faintly in the background on the cover and serves as the frontispiece and “bookmark” of the unknown author’s progress throughout the work. Durer’s work is very complex, with many symbols, some obvious and some covert, but simply put it represents a quest––a spiritual quest for meaning, but also the artist’s quest for achieving one’s vision—for achieving perfection. Van Gogh is another echo of that––of an artist giving one’s all to achieve a vision. Rook and some of the other characters in the book are on quests too. One of Rook’s quests is that of artistic accomplishment. Where do you go after you hit the top? But what is this top? Just because he’s famous and rich, does that make him artistically successful? The contrast with Van Gogh is also to show that sometimes success in art, whether it be music, painting, or whatever, can be measured in very different terms. Van Gogh achieved his vision, but was not recognized in his lifetime. You could say that not being recognized contributed to the passion and greatness in his art. Conversely, Rook is recognized and adored during his lifetime, but for what? Some silly, corny, catchy rock songs, but is that it? A new fashion line? A movie here or there? Isn’t there some magnum opus out there for him still to achieve? He knows there is. But it might be beyond his reach. And yet still, he has to at some point reach for it, and that's where the book sort of ends. Van Gogh represents this reaching, this yearning for true art, something beyond the rainbow.

Imagine: you're taking a ten hour car ride with one of your characters from Rock Star's Rainbow. Who would you take, and why?

Oh, that’s a hard question. Um, maybe Pui-Pui Poon. She’s a bodyguard, and a black belt, but feels a conflict with violence due to reading Gandhi. She’d be interesting to talk to, and hopefully would protect me if we ran into trouble.

Who was your favorite character to write?

The entertainment reporter and supposed author of the manuscript—Aitchkiss Killawathy. I very much wanted to play with this archaic idea of the found manuscript, and loved the bit that someone would be so upset as to throw this reporter out of a plane and to his death over a celebrity exposé. We first meet Aitchkiss as he’s falling off a twenty-five foot hedge, spying on Rook’s Beverly Hills mansion. He’s the omniscient narrator, falling down to earth. He’s repugnant, but likeable at the same time, and while he strives for truth, like any tabloid reporter, he’s unreliable. He makes stuff up when it suits his purposes, so you have to take everything with a grain of salt and read it as if it were a tabloid, in a way. And yet, he’s complex as well, as he struggles with his own issues. And lastly, we don’t even know for sure that he is the author, because no one wants to confirm anything due to legal reasons. He was fun to write. Perhaps I’ll figure out a way to bring him back in some future work.

Can you sum your book up in three words or less?

Chase your dreams.

Do you consider yourself a rock star in any form or fashion?

Not at all, although I do enjoy playing music with friends from time to time.

I know that you've started your own publishing company. Has this changed the way you write, or the way you look at the writing business at all?

Yes, most definitely, I did start out working with a couple of agents, but they had different ideas for my book that I was not interested in. They wanted me to streamline my story, and cut out the “editor” part and the allusions. Of course, their effort was to have the broadest possible appeal and sell more books. That’s great, but I very much wanted to follow my own vision. After all, that’s a big part of what the book is about—following your vision, no matter what it is. And so I started my own publishing company to have that freedom.

Also, it was very worthwhile learning the whole business side of publishing. From formatting the book, to distribution, to marketing, to developing eBook versions, all this has helped me tremendously as an author.

I'm not going to ask you where you get your ideas, or what motivates you to write. However, I am going to ask who your favorite author is. Have they influenced your style at all?

That’s really difficult. I read John Irving’s The World According to Garp back in high school, and that inspired me to pursue writing. But there are so many great authors that I admire and who have influenced me. Joyce, Tolstoy, Bronte, Hawthorne, Salinger…too many influences to mention.

What is your perspective on writer's block, and how do you beat it?

I find it easiest to write every day. Even if it’s just a little bit. That way you keep the flow going.

About how long did it take you to write Rock Star's Rainbow?

About 5 years.


Are you working on a(ny) book(s) right now? If so, what are they about?

I’m working on a Gothic satire. It’s more of a straightforward story, set in Ireland. I visited there a couple years ago, and walked about Bram Stoker’s old stomping grounds, and Yeats’ Sligo. It will involve an aging yet debonair vampire, and a young American woman who has inherited a Bed & Breakfast. She goes over there to set it up, and little does she know what she’s in for.

Do you have any writing rituals?


I prefer to write early in the morning, when I’m fresh. I try and pick up where I left off the day before, and keep going until I find a place where I can stop for the next day. When I’m done with the first draft, I go back over it, and revise, or add layers, or streamline it, or whatever I’m aiming for. I try and write down ideas that occur at odd times so I don't forget them. If I'm driving, I might scribble something down at a stoplight on a Starbucks' napkin, or sometimes I'll call myself and leave myself a message.

You have been given the opportunity to sit down with any author from any time period for lunch. Who do you choose to dine with, and why?

I think it would be hard to turn down Shakespeare. I don't have the slightest idea of what I'd ask him though. I'd be too intimidated.

You're stranded on a deserted island, and only brought one book with you. What is it, and why did you bring it?
Can I bring my iPad? Well, if I could only bring one book, man, that’s tough. Maybe T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land. It has fragments of everything. Or I would like to bring a blank book. That way I could write in it. While I love reading, I think I would be more tormented by the inability to create and write.

Thank you, J.P.

Thank you Kevin Glavin!

All of you bookworms, don't forget to check out Rock Star's Rainbow's website, here, or become a fan of Rock Star's Rainbow on Facebook!

Posted on July 14th, 2010