Superhero Memoirs Interview

Here are the two covers for The Superhero Memoirs. The one on the right is for the 2nd publication. Now it's time for the interview:

1. I find the character Christian highly intriguing. Is Christian based on anyone you know? How did he come to exist on the page?

I have to admit that a lot of the character of Christian is drawn from my own life and experiences – or maybe more accurately, it’s based on my perception of my own life and experiences. In other words, it’s an externalization of my internal life – self-mythologization, I guess you could call it – which sounds terribly self-involved, I know – but if you think about it, don’t we all do something similar at one time or another? The little movies playing in our heads before we fall asleep each night, the scenarios we invent that allow us to play the part of the hero in our own lives, the little lies we make up so we can face ourselves in the mirror every day – those are the kinds of things I was thinking about when I created the character of Christian.

 

2. Does the superhero Cosmos remind you or readers of any man in the current culture? Who would play him in a movie?

I intended for Cosmos to be a very universal character – a metaphor, in a way, for the dilemma the modern male faces – what is the definition of masculinity? – what are some of the characteristics of the role that have become obsolete or undesirable – even toxic – in our current culture? – how does the idea of the hero play into the various versions of what it means to be a man in today’s society? – how possible – or impossible – is it to live up to our notion of heroism? So regardless of where on the spectrum of masculinity you might sit, I’d like to think that you can relate to some of the problems and issues that Cosmos wrestles with throughout the story. Hmmm, the actor question, that’s a tough one, because unlike a lot of authors, I didn’t write the book with any kind of sequel or movie spin-off in mind. Someone mentioned an actor to me the other day who might be an interesting choice – especially now that he’s gotten a little older – and funnily enough, he’s actually playing the next Batman – and that’s Robert Pattison. He’s obviously physically attractive, but perhaps not as traditionally masculine as some of the other actors who have portrayed comic book heroes.

 

3. The many women in Cosmos’s life come and go quickly but his love for his one true love remains. With all the women who have subsequently been in his life, do you think none of them match up to her, which may be why he loses interest quickly?

Well, on one level there’s the idea of “first love” – I think a lot of men – for one reason or another – get caught up with that notion – and have any subsequent relationships stymied because of that. Maybe it’s more of an ideal than anything else – the kind of lofty or noble ideal that’s easy to form when you’re younger and more impressionable – and it turns into kind of an excuse as the years go by. And it’s also related to the passage of time itself – it’s natural to look back at something or someone and view them through this amber-hued lens of longing and regret – “what could have been” or “the one that got away” – that kind of remembrance. For whatever reason, it seems like men have a more difficult time “getting on with their life” than women, which is something I can certainly attest to.

 

4. The cover art for both books is great, can you tell us about the designers?

The company that originally published the book, Zharmae Inc., chose the illustrator for the first edition, an artist named Jonathan Gadd. I came up with the concept for the front and back covers and he did a fantastic job bringing it to life. When Zharmae went out of business, the novel’s rights reverted to me, and that’s when I decided to come out with a second edition. I was approached by some other publishing companies, but ultimately decided to go with Amazon’s Kindle imprint, because they gave me complete editorial control over the process – I’m a control freak, it’s true! So I was able to go back and rewrite a few parts, add some sections that had been deleted because of length, reformat the whole thing, and change the ending back to my original intent. And as you pointed out, select a new cover. I met a graphic artist out here in LA, Leta Taylor – she’s a very talented photographer, as well – and we worked together on some new ideas, chose a model, and designed a new cover. 

 

5. Do you have a favorite out of both covers? I prefer the first one, however, people I’ve spoken to favor the second. Why do you think that is?

I have to admit I prefer the cover of the second edition. I actually originally selected a different shot – but in the printing reproduction process, the girl’s face came out too dark and you couldn’t see her features – so we ended up going with an alternate photograph. But I decided to keep the first shot for the e-book version – the girl’s face shows up fine in the digital realm – and I liked the idea of having two slightly different covers for the book – kind of like the way comic books will sometimes have “variant” covers. The art on the cover of the first edition is very whimsical – but I felt like maybe it was a little too whimsical for what the content of the book is – but more than the art – the lettering and font of the title just didn’t agree with me. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a very difficult person – and I realize that font is something that most people wouldn’t get worked up about – but I just felt it wasn’t quite right – along with the fact that they left out the “The” in “The Superhero Memoirs.”  It’s all in the details, you know?  As to why the second edition cover might be more popular – there’s research that’s been done showing books – novels, at any rate – with a photograph on the cover are viewed more favorably than those with an illustrated cover –  but who knows…

 
6. What do you think of some of the "derivative" criticisms of the book?  Do you think they're justified?

What’s that old cliché? – there are only seven possible plots in all of storytelling? – well, maybe one of them is the old reliable “mental institution” plot, ha, ha! Seriously, I understand being a critic is a difficult job, but sometimes you have to wonder if they really even read the book or watched the film. Because in my novel, I actually make reference to the fact that there have been other stories – far more important than mine – that have been told from mental institutions – “Cuckoo’s Nest” – “Catcher in the Rye” – “Fight Club” – to name but a few – and I make the admission that I don’t even know if my story deserves to be a part of that hallowed pantheon. So I think you have to take criticisms like the Vonnegut comparisons with a grain of salt – of course I read Vonnegut growing up and enjoyed his books – but thematically and stylistically, he was not an influence on me at all – and I think that’s pretty obvious. It reminds me of when people used to compare Prince’s guitar soloing style to Hendrix’ – you know, they’re both black, blues-based, rock guitarists – but if you know anything about guitar, you can tell that Prince’s style and choice of notes was much more influenced by Carlos Santana than Hendrix. I was just reading an interview with Billy Corgan – you know the Smashing Pumpkins guy – and he’s still annoyed at how critics lumped his band in with the whole grunge scene – he called it “a lazy comparison” – and I guess that’s how I feel, too. I mean, Suzanne Vega, for god’s sake, was a bigger influence on me than Vonnegut. I’ll tell you someone who most people might not guess – and I know it’s not popular to say her name anymore, because she’s fallen out of favor for whatever reason – but Isak Dinesen, her work had a real impact on me, especially “Seven Gothic Tales.” 

7. I enjoyed the "Scylla and Charybdis" chapter – the section where Kristen is the narrator – her voice sounded to me almost like a grown-up version of Molly. Is that what you were thinking when you wrote it?
Thank you for noticing that – I didn’t do that intentionally, but if you think about it, the Kristen chapter could almost be interpreted as a mythologized version of Molly’s life story – Molly’s future life story, maybe – so in retrospect, what you’re saying makes perfect sense. I very much wanted to end the book in the voice of Molly – that was my original idea from the very start – I only added the Cosmos epilogue in the first edition at the insistence of my editor at Zharmae – hence the different ending in the second edition. But consequently, I’ve had people asking me about what happens to Molly afterwards. And I think you’re right – the Kristen section can almost be read as a continuation of Molly’s journey through life – as seen through her writing.

 

8. I was sad when Kristen broke up with Michael – it seemed like she could have been happy with him, don’t you think? 
That was something I was trying to examine – how often we sabotage things – particularly relationships – even those that might make us happy or fulfill us – to the point where you have to ask yourself, ‘do I really even want to be happy? What does happiness even mean?’ I think especially when you’re younger – you’re driven by obsessions, demons, desires that you’re often not even consciously aware of – and that are often contrary to what could actually be good for you. Sometimes you can spend an entire lifetime wrestling with these – I don’t know if “self-destructive” is the right term – but these patterns or behaviors – that you can’t control and don’t fully understand. I know I certainly have! And I also wanted to look at the idea of how two people could meet and be absolutely perfect for each other – but it just happens at a time when they’re not ready for it. And so often the tragedy is that one of them ends up hurting or damaging the other so badly that there’s no chance of ever reviving that relationship – or sometimes any other relationship.

9. In recent years, we’ve seen a great rise in the popularity of “metafiction” or “autofiction.” Is this something you were trying to capitalize on when you wrote your book?

You have to remember that my novel was written over a long period of time. During those years I became aware – or people brought it to my attention – that other authors were attempting something similar – some of them with great success. But I certainly wasn’t trying to be part of a “movement” or trying to cash in on some literary trend or anything like that. I think it’s more like – you know how it is when a bunch of movies come out at the same time with the same idea? I don’t think it’s because there are all these writers sitting around stealing from or plagiarizing each other – it’s more like there’s just something in the air, you know? And everyone’s plugged into it.

 

10. Reading through the book again, I was struck by all the references to time. Is it fair to say that’s one of your obsessions?

Yes, definitely – although I don’t think I’m alone in that – I think time is a theme that has long been an obsession with writers, artists, filmmakers – from Proust to Fitzgerald to “La Jetée” (or the Hollywood version, “Twelve Monkeys”) – the notion that you can recreate the past – that if you reconstruct it carefully, painstakingly, lovingly enough – you can bring the past back to life, you can relive it. Maybe that’s what I was trying to do – or maybe it was just to lament the passage of time – that’s the tragedy for all of us ultimately, isn’t it? – how our friends, family, our loves, even our youth – inevitably slip away?