1 - Why did you first start writing? Was there a book that you read or a film that you saw which pushed you towards it? Have you stuck with the genre you began in?
I began writing about seven or eight years old, I think. I loved all the Disney movies from the 70’s with ridiculous chase scenes. And books by Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Edgar Rice Burroughs, anything with exotic locations, romance, danger, adventure. As long as I can remember I wanted to be an artist, either with words or sounds or images. My first efforts almost all seemed to involve anthropomorphic fruits and vegetables which I set into action as detectives and adventurers. It’s hard to say whether there is a single genre that excited me to the point where I wanted to emulate its tropes. I’m still working at a singular hybrid of styles that combines aspects of satire, horror, science fiction and fabulism of the Nabokov/Kafka/Borges variety. In the 80s and early mid-90s I was heavily into the first wave of Splatterpunk writers and enjoyed the extremity and irreverence of those books and stories. But whatever genre I try to work in inevitably tends towards humor. I can’t resist having a little fun with stock characters and situations and kind of pushing this Monty Python meets Ed Lee sort of funny mayhem—for example, my weird Western novel Bad Sunset and the stories in my upcoming collection, Wicked Candy. I’m calling it ‘Splatstick.’
2 - As an author you are well versed in stretching the truth. What is the most blatant lie you have ever told?
I am not a very good liar, mostly because my memory is so poor I wouldn’t be able to carry the whole thread through without screwing it up somehow; also, because I sincerely prefer honesty whenever possible. Even when I’m blatantly making things up.
3 – Every author gets writers block at some point. How do you cope with this?
Not well, I’m afraid. Forcing myself to write doesn’t seem to work. This past year was the end of a cycle in which I had accumulated a vast amount of material that I was having trouble marketing. Then I found some wonderful publishers. There always seems to be a disconnect with me between what really drives my creativity and the market that is available at the time for the stuff I come up with in that white heat. By the time I have a publisher for that material, I’m somewhere else creatively and spiritually.
4 – If you could switch genders for a day, what would you do?
Gender switching does seem to be au courant these days. Well, I would have an enormous amount of kinky sex. I think that about covers it.
5 – What are the most important attributes to give to a lead character, in your opinion?
Conflict. Internal conflict and conflict with other protagonists and/or the environment in which the character finds themselves. They have to be interesting enough to engage the reader’s attention, which usually means they have serious problems. My characters tend to be exaggerated or larger than life. In Bad Sunset the lead character is none other than Jesus Christ. You can’t get more conflicted than that.
6 – What, outside of writing, do you consider your biggest success?
I’m proud to have taught English at the university level. But my biggest success has been internal, my daily war against my own ingrained habits and stupidities sometimes yields a victory that is unexpected.
7 – And the same question but in regards to your writing?
There are bits and pieces of stories I’ve written I consider successful in that they accomplish several things at once—entertain, inform, crack up, gross out, maybe even enlighten. If I can make people laugh, I consider my work successful, and I’ve had a lot of positive feedback on that count.
I began writing about seven or eight years old, I think. I loved all the Disney movies from the 70’s with ridiculous chase scenes. And books by Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Edgar Rice Burroughs, anything with exotic locations, romance, danger, adventure. As long as I can remember I wanted to be an artist, either with words or sounds or images. My first efforts almost all seemed to involve anthropomorphic fruits and vegetables which I set into action as detectives and adventurers. It’s hard to say whether there is a single genre that excited me to the point where I wanted to emulate its tropes. I’m still working at a singular hybrid of styles that combines aspects of satire, horror, science fiction and fabulism of the Nabokov/Kafka/Borges variety. In the 80s and early mid-90s I was heavily into the first wave of Splatterpunk writers and enjoyed the extremity and irreverence of those books and stories. But whatever genre I try to work in inevitably tends towards humor. I can’t resist having a little fun with stock characters and situations and kind of pushing this Monty Python meets Ed Lee sort of funny mayhem—for example, my weird Western novel Bad Sunset and the stories in my upcoming collection, Wicked Candy. I’m calling it ‘Splatstick.’
2 - As an author you are well versed in stretching the truth. What is the most blatant lie you have ever told?
I am not a very good liar, mostly because my memory is so poor I wouldn’t be able to carry the whole thread through without screwing it up somehow; also, because I sincerely prefer honesty whenever possible. Even when I’m blatantly making things up.
3 – Every author gets writers block at some point. How do you cope with this?
Not well, I’m afraid. Forcing myself to write doesn’t seem to work. This past year was the end of a cycle in which I had accumulated a vast amount of material that I was having trouble marketing. Then I found some wonderful publishers. There always seems to be a disconnect with me between what really drives my creativity and the market that is available at the time for the stuff I come up with in that white heat. By the time I have a publisher for that material, I’m somewhere else creatively and spiritually.
4 – If you could switch genders for a day, what would you do?
Gender switching does seem to be au courant these days. Well, I would have an enormous amount of kinky sex. I think that about covers it.
5 – What are the most important attributes to give to a lead character, in your opinion?
Conflict. Internal conflict and conflict with other protagonists and/or the environment in which the character finds themselves. They have to be interesting enough to engage the reader’s attention, which usually means they have serious problems. My characters tend to be exaggerated or larger than life. In Bad Sunset the lead character is none other than Jesus Christ. You can’t get more conflicted than that.
6 – What, outside of writing, do you consider your biggest success?
I’m proud to have taught English at the university level. But my biggest success has been internal, my daily war against my own ingrained habits and stupidities sometimes yields a victory that is unexpected.
7 – And the same question but in regards to your writing?
There are bits and pieces of stories I’ve written I consider successful in that they accomplish several things at once—entertain, inform, crack up, gross out, maybe even enlighten. If I can make people laugh, I consider my work successful, and I’ve had a lot of positive feedback on that count.
8 – Cracking your knuckles gives you arthritis. Fact or fiction? What are your thoughts?
Absolutely not true. Well, I can’t say definitively either way. I’d have to Google the crap out of that one.
9 – Do you have any regrets?
My only regret is that I haven’t been as bold as I would like to be. And I haven’t travelled enough or adventured enough. But I’m getting around to that, even in my advanced age. [Laughs]
10 – Who or what really makes you laugh out loud?
I find my partner, Charie D. La Marr, hysterically funny. There are some stories in her collection Bumping Noses and Cherry Pie that are just so raw and wrong I practically pee myself laughing at them. Harry Crews is funny. Woody Allen is funny even on paper. Monty Python. Chris Rock. There would be so many, actually. I really like to laugh.
11 –I have heard that you have an irrational fear of micro machines. What bought that on and how do you cope?
Let’s not talk about the micro machines now, shall we?
12 – What is your favourite story that you have written, about?
One of my favourite stories is “Vampussy,” which has appeared in two parts in The Surreal Grotesque magazine and will be included in my upcoming collection, Wicked Candy. It’s about the resurrection of cult icon Nico as a hybridized vampire bat/vagina. I have no idea where this shit comes from!
13 – How can people get in contact with you?
My e-mail, [email protected], which I check quite often.
14 – Do you like to be interviewed?
I used to think it would be awesome to be interviewed. I appreciate the opportunity to spread the word about my projects and products, definitely.
Absolutely not true. Well, I can’t say definitively either way. I’d have to Google the crap out of that one.
9 – Do you have any regrets?
My only regret is that I haven’t been as bold as I would like to be. And I haven’t travelled enough or adventured enough. But I’m getting around to that, even in my advanced age. [Laughs]
10 – Who or what really makes you laugh out loud?
I find my partner, Charie D. La Marr, hysterically funny. There are some stories in her collection Bumping Noses and Cherry Pie that are just so raw and wrong I practically pee myself laughing at them. Harry Crews is funny. Woody Allen is funny even on paper. Monty Python. Chris Rock. There would be so many, actually. I really like to laugh.
11 –I have heard that you have an irrational fear of micro machines. What bought that on and how do you cope?
Let’s not talk about the micro machines now, shall we?
12 – What is your favourite story that you have written, about?
One of my favourite stories is “Vampussy,” which has appeared in two parts in The Surreal Grotesque magazine and will be included in my upcoming collection, Wicked Candy. It’s about the resurrection of cult icon Nico as a hybridized vampire bat/vagina. I have no idea where this shit comes from!
13 – How can people get in contact with you?
My e-mail, [email protected], which I check quite often.
14 – Do you like to be interviewed?
I used to think it would be awesome to be interviewed. I appreciate the opportunity to spread the word about my projects and products, definitely.