Richard Thomas is a busy man.  He’s a husband and father of twins.  He’s a graphic designer.  He helps moderate a writing workshop at The Cult, one of the most popular author websites in the world.  He’s helped edit zines and magazines alike.  He’s pursuing his MFA in Fiction.  He’s part of a group of up-and-coming writers who each year help each other through the hardships of writing a novel.  And yeah, he’s also a writer whose debut novel, a neo-noir thriller called Transubstantiate, was published in July 2010, the flagship novel of the upstart independent press Otherworld Publications.  High on life and hell-bent on sharing in the revelry of being part of a new movement of fresh voices in the literary world, Richard stopped by Oxyfication to share a little bit about himself, how his debut novel Transubstantiate came to be, and what it’s like when one of your literary heroes tells you that your writing reminds them of their literary heroes.

***

Take us to the beginning, and through the years leading up to Transubstantiate.  When did you start writing?  When did writing become something more, that you wanted to pursue professionally?

I’ve always loved reading, since the 6th grade, when I won a contest for most books read (boys). I wrote a lot of papers in high school, but not any fiction, didn’t really have room in my schedule, college prep. It wasn’t until college, and really, my junior and senior years when I took a fantasy and science fiction class with Dr. Edgar Chapman, and we watched Blade Runner, that I started thinking about the possibilities. I took several creative writing classes, some independent studies that involved writing, and I got really excited about writing. My first story that I published was at Bradley University, in the literary journal, Broadside.

After I graduated and moved to Chicago, I worked at a country club up in Glencoe (there are some stories there for sure) and eventually moved downtown. I lived at 666 N. Dearborn, and again, there were some wild stories there. I remember typing away on my old Remington Quiet-Riter (that’s a typewriter) and sending out stories. It was so slow and painful, typing, copying, mailing. It was devastating. I got involved with other things – having fun, living the bohemian lifestyle, chasing girls, and kind of gave up on writing for a long time. I got sucked into the world of advertising, where I’ve been for 15 years. Sure, I was the fiction and poetry curator at Around the Coyote, a festival in Wicker Park, years later, and I even wrote some non-fiction for some indie magazines (Subnation and 3rdWord) but I didn’t have the focus, the desire.

It wasn’t until much later, about four years ago, that I was reborn at the Cult, studying with Craig Clevenger, Monica Drake, and Max Barry, and I felt like I had any talent, and finally started to believe in myself. Better late than never, right? This got me to the place where I felt like I should pursue an MFA (that’s real money, folks) and my wife got behind me, saw that I was serious, and I started to get work published, started to break through.

The only thing I can say is that for years I’ve been in advertising, and I’ve had success, won awards, landed multi-million dollar accounts, but it’s never felt right, and I’ve always hit a ceiling and stopped. The minute I started pushing in a different direction, towards writing, it felt right, I had some positive experiences, I started to break through, and that’s when I knew that I was doing the right thing.

Every book starts somewhere.  An idea.  A sentence.  What is the genesis of Transubstantiate?  Did you always plan on it being a book, or did it naturally evolve into one?

Well, it all started with the Max Barry intensive at The Cult.  We were given the assignment to write four introductions to four novels that we’d always wanted to write.  Anything at all.  So, I think I did a horror intro, science-fiction, neo-noir, and literary.  I wanted to title each of the sections with a word that was really unique and that I’d never heard before.  Transubstantiate was one of those words, vainglorious was another.  I poured over the internet, lists of unique words, all kinds of stuff.  That was how I came across transubstantiate.

The intensive was to write a novel, so starting with those four openings, I decided to expand the cast of Transubstantiate to seven. I’m not sure how I got to seven. I think early on (I was just looking at some old notes) I played with the idea of the seven deadly sins. So while those four openings turned into Jacob (literary), X (horror), Jimmy (SF), and Gordon (neo-noir), I added in Marcy, Roland and Assigned later. If you look at the seven characters, you can kind of see how they match up with those sins. Jacob was sloth, Marcy was lust, etc.

Though at times rooted in the fantastical and based in the future, Transubstantiate is very real in the dark side of reality sense of the word: people under surveillance, population control experiments, etc.  You’ve classified the novel as neo-noir, which is a sort of all-encompassing genre/movement, but would you say that there is also a social science fiction element to it?

For sure. I wish I could write more SF, I just feel like I’m not smart enough to write true SF, that it’d have to be soft SF. My math skills, science, well, they’re not my strengths. Although, I am toying with the idea of writing something “steampunkish”. I’m fascinated by the idea of moving so far into the future that we have all of this technology that we (in 2010) see as the “future” (such as ray guns, teleportation, time travel, etc.) and then everything fails. We shut down everything, it collapses, no more tv, internet, flying cars etc. And we regress to the survival mode of hundreds of years ago – fire, water, air, wheels, steam, gears, etc. I loved King’s Dark Tower series, and I’m reading some steampunk – China Mieville, Jeff VanderMeer, Cherie Priest, etc. I’ve always been drawn to SF, grew up reading Bradbury and Heinlein, but I’m still learning about it. I love Vonnegut too. So those guys are a bit of an influence, and that comes through in Transubstantiate. I try not to be too preachy.

Having seven different narrators is a daunting task both on the writer and potentially the reader, having to keep track of what everyone’s doing/saying/etc.  How difficult was that for you, how did you keep track of everyone, and did you ever have any apprehension about going that route?

It was tough. And I don’t plot either. So it was a matter of doing a couple of things to keep me in line.

First, I wrote every day for about an hour at work. I closed the door, wolfed down a sandwich, and then wrote. Each day it was a different character. Monday was Jacob, Tuesday was Marcy, etc. I’d only write maybe 500-700 words. Over time those expanded a bit.

But I’d think about the characters. While I was working, or on my commute to work, whatever that day was, I’d be thinking “Okay, Jacob, he’s in the bookstore, he’s waiting for the new arrival, and he has a secret. What happens next?” By the time I got to work, and to my lunch hour, I was ready to go. It just spilled out.

You may notice that for a long time I keep the characters apart, maybe four chapters, I think. I didn’t have a problem writing from the different POVs, in my head I could hear their voices, but I wasn’t sure how to handle it when they got together. I didn’t want to have two perspectives on the same situation, so most of the time it was a time-baton, where the scene gets handed off from one character to another. For example, early on, Marcy is going to see X, to have sex. I have it from X’s POV first, and I leave it about where she enters the gate of his compound. I pick it up with her, on her way, and it goes from the gate to the house and the sex.

For sure it was intimidating. And from most of the reactions I’ve gotten, I did a good enough job. But I’ll always worry that I didn’t do enough. Should I have given Jimmy more of an accent? Should I have made Gordon’s voice more fragmented?

And you’ll also see that every three chapters I do something as well. So not only do I have seven POVs, but Chapter Three is a flashback. Chapter Six starts out THIRD PERSON (where the previous entries are all 1st person) everyone in one place, then does a flashforward. Chapter Nine is all correspondence – letters, postcards, e-mails. Chapter Twelve is everyone in one room.

Maybe I’m insane, I’m not sure. I took some risks for sure, but looking back I can’t say that this could have been anything else. The only other thought I ever had was to really expand this, make it almost twice as long, but in the end I didn’t want that. And, there’s always a possibility of a sequel.

It’s interesting that you said you didn’t want to have two perspectives on the same situation because the part where all of the characters come together and find out about their new opportunity that’s exactly what you’re doing.  Did you think this scene was necessary for the reader so they’d know where these people came from, how they got together, or was more the natural progression of things for these characters?

I think you’re talking about chapter twelve, where they’re all in the same room together (and I don’t want to spoil anything here) about to be sent out to their new lives. Yes, in that scene, I did have all seven perspectives on the same place and time. BUT…I hand that baton off, from one person to the next, moving forward in time, no overlap, really. AND it’s much later in the book, chapter twelve, so by then, I had a little more confidence in what I was doing. Now, if you’re talking about chapter SIX, where they are all tied to the posts around the fire, well…it was the plot, I think. I felt like I had to get them together so they could understand what was going on. We kind of figured it out together, what was happening. As they are talking to each other, and not everyone is happy to be there, or to see each other, I was figuring out what was happening. And again, it’s six chapters in, so I was just starting to get a feel, some confidence, and knew that I was going to do a flash-forward there.

You spoke a lot in other interviews about the influence of the writing intensives that you took over at The Cult; the kind words you received from Craig Clevenger, the support you got from Stephen Graham Jones, and so on.  Did you ever find studying with some of your literary heroes a daunting task, or perhaps, and especially with Transubstantiate, did it maybe help give you the confidence one needs to actually write a novel?

You don’t often get a chance to connect with an artist that you love and respect. How often does a painter or musician or writer get to talk to somebody that they look up to, somebody they have studied and enjoyed? It doesn’t happen very often. Not every author that has taught at the Cult has been somebody I’ve read, but certainly Craig and Monica are two people I’ve read. Max, I was familiar with his work, but wanted to work with him because he’s successful, and it was the first novel intensive I saw at the Cult. I learned a lot from Max, more than I thought I would, since our styles are so different.

I was very nervous to work with Craig. I had a feeling that he’d be nice, that he wouldn’t be cruel in his criticism, but he is nothing if not sincere. He doesn’t blow smoke, he finds something in your work that is WORKING and he tries to focus on your strengths, while showing you where you can improve. At least that was my experience with him. The first story I sent in, I was sick to my stomach. When he compared some of it to one of HIS idols, Steve Erickson, I was blown away. He’s very smart, but he finds a way to bring it down to a level where you can digest it. He’s brilliant, really. I hope he keeps publishing, and more often, as I can’t wait to read more of his work.

Monica, she’s such a nice person. She has gone out of her way to help me, in the intensive, and in the real world, at AWP and other places. She really helped me to get over my fears, to treat myself as an actual writer. I think I’ve published every story I wrote in her intensive. She gets the best out of you.

Max got me over the paralyzing fear of trying to write a novel. He got me to write with a maximum word count per day instead of a minimum, and that reverse psychology really worked for me. He got me to see the story only as far as the headlights of the car would allow. I don’t think I could have written Transubstantiate without his advice, his support, and his confidence.

Later, I came back to the intensives for a fourth one, the SECOND Clevenger intensive. That was where I think I really started to write well. I’d learned so much in the process. I wasn’t scared of Craig any more, I considered him a peer, a friend, and when he pushed me to start sending out my story “Stillness” saying it was ready, perfect, I took a deep breath and got over my fears. That story got rejected a good dozen times, but I was aiming at the top, Clarkesworld, F&SF, only the best places. When it got accepted at Cemetery Dance for their anthology Shivers VI (out in September 2010) I was thrilled. Shocked, but thrilled. That’s a 1% acceptance market. Craig had been right. And because of people like him, and Monica, and Max, and so many others, at the Cult, the Velvet, and Write Club, I had the confidence to push myself. I’ve been lucky.

Stephen has also been so very cool. I’ve never had the opportunity to study with him, I missed that intensive, as well as Baer’s, but he’s been very supportive, gave me a blurb (as did Craig), and every time I’ve met him, at various AWPs he’s been so very generous. He’s hilarious too. Not to mention one of the most talented, and prolific, writers I know. He’s really what I’d like to become. He writes literary, as well as genre, has no problem defending people like Stephen King, he writes and publishes all the time, teaches, does panels, and never apologizes. Some day I’d like to be where he is. I don’t know if it’ll happen, but he’s really an inspiration to me.

Write Club also seems to have had a major influence in the writing and editing of Transubstantiate.  How important do you think having a collective of like-minded contemporaries was to the process, and how do you think it helped shape the final product?

Write Club has been a huge influence on me. Without this support group, I don’t think I could have written Transubstantiate. I won’t start naming names, because I’m sure I’d leave people out, but they know who they are. It’s the same core group of writers that shows up at the Cult, the Velvet, GoodReads, Facebook, etc. and they’re all so talented, so giving. I can’t stress how important it is to have a support network like this. These people, they tell me how it is. They don’t pull punches. We fight over scenes, over endings, word choices. They keep me on my toes. My work is much better because of them. These are the men and women that take the time to read my work, to put 100% of their mind, and heart, and soul, into making me better, into telling me when I’m on my game, helping me to fix what isn’t working, and when I get work out there, they are the first to say congratulations, to pimp me to their friends, to retweet, and post on FB, write up reviews, give me 4-5 stars at Amazon or GoodReads, etc. And not because they feel they have to, but because that’s honestly how they feel. Again, I’m lucky. And not to mention that these guys are very talented, and really deserve to be published and put out there more. I know that they’ll all succeed as well. I’m so happy to see them all getting book deals and putting their stories out there.

Right now I’m workshopping Disintegration, my next book. It’s a neo-noir, transgressive thriller. I think it’s my best work to date. But we’re fighting over the ending, they’re challenging me on scenes, on choices I’ve made. Not to be jerks, not to push their own agendas, but to help me to make this the best it can be. When one of us succeeds, we all succeed. It’d be easy to be defensive, to say “Screw you, I know what I’m doing,” but these guys are smart, they speak from their hearts, from experience. In the end, I have to write my story, I have to stay true to my vision, but if they can help me to make it better, more honest, more true, then I do it, I make those changes, I pump it up, I push myself. And to be honest? If I was alone, I probably wouldn’t do that.

You’ve listed some influences, from Stephen King, to Chuck Palahniuk, to LOST.  In Transubstantiate the main characters are on an island, survivors of a great plague, and Jacob, one of the characters who works in a bookstore is giving one of his customers Choke to read.  Thematically everything works, but are these sort of vehicles strictly for helping to advance the story, or were you having a little fun, paying homage with little nuggets, while at the same time maybe making a connection with the readers who have like interests/influences as you?

I was having a little fun. And paid homage to some of my influences. I do think that fans of my work will also, most likely, have read similar works, and if not, then maybe they’ll pick them up. You’ll notice I also take a cheap shot at Dean Koontz, somebody I read for a long time, an author I really enjoyed in my youth (Whispers, Phantoms) but kind of failed me in his recent books, many disappointing books over the last ten years (aside from the Odd Thomas books) so much so that I’ve stopped reading him.

There are also a lot of “Easter Eggs” buried in the book. I had a lot of throw away names, and instead of just grabbing a name out of the air, I decided to use the names of people I know, other writers, friends from the Cult, Velvet, Write Club, etc.

The Dean Koontz blast was loud and clear.  In my opinion writing should have more writer-on-writer, prose-on-bros crime, ala rap battles.  If you were going to go after someone–aside from Koontz–who would you set your sights on?

Oh boy. I hate to slam anyone, because I know how hard it is to be successful as a writer, so really, Koontz is a brilliant guy in some way, he’s a millionaire for sure. I’ve never been a fan of Pynchon. There are a lot of literary writers and critics that I wish would just get off their high horses and relax, admit they enjoy genre work, and stop criticizing people like Stephen King. I’ve seen SGJ do several panels, and he’s always defending King. He’s the man. I wish I could be meaner, but really, Koontz is probably one of the few authors that I’ve read a lot of, and over time, has gotten worse, and really let me down. I took that personally. I’ve read Dan Brown. I’ve read worse. Dan Brown has a place. If they’re really bad, I’ve probably never picked them up. If they’re really good, then they’ve never let me down.

To what you said about someone like Stephen King not getting respect among critics, he’ll never have a shortage of readers.  In a perfect world one would like to have commercial success and praise from critics, but it rarely seems to work that way.  With Transubstantiate and beyond, what’s more important to you as a writer?

Wow, tough question. If I had commercial success, I could live and work as a writer, which would be fantastic. But if I felt like I was writing to the lowest common denominator, I wouldn’t be writing with my heart, my visions. If I had some sort of critical success, but never made any money, and could never be a writer full-time, well, that would be somewhat disappointing too. I’ve thought about it. In this era of mass market work, having to write towards an audience, having to make a story marketable, it does seem that a lot of publishers want to take out everything that makes a story unique, a voice different. They don’t want it to be different, they want it the same, they want a proven story, to a proven market. Ideally, I’d like to write work that is interesting, critically successful (whatever that means, since a lot of critics are closed-minded, of a literary bent ONLY) and also something the masses can enjoy. I would like to think that I write on two levels: a story that can be read, understood, something fast and exciting AND something that has layers, imagery, depth, a second and third layer that can give you more than just the story, but things to think about, to contemplate after it’s all over. I hope that Transubstantiate stays with people. I don’t want to be the literary equivalent of fast food. While some have called King that, I don’t think he is at all.

If Transubstatiate had a corresponding “Booktrack” that readers would listen to to enhance the experience what songs/artists would be on it?

The one album that I listened to more than anything else while writing it was IN RAINBOWS by Radiohead. It’s got a lot going on – fast paced songs, slow moody tunes, a bit of the surreal there. That’s a good one to play with it. It’ll seep into the background, and then, you’ll hear a couple words, and it’ll all make sense, connect. Put it on. REBOOT.

I read  that Transubstantiate is the third book you’ve written.  What happened with the first two?  And what did writing them help with the writing of Transubstantiate?

 

Oh, man. I was hoping it would be ten or twenty years before I got this question.

The first book is called Remembering and it’s terrible. I workshopped it in my first Write Club, and, wow, it was bad. I have to thank Bret Fowler, a guy I’ve gotten to know at WC and the Cult, and just met for the first time here in Chicago recently, we did a reading together in Wicker Park a couple weeks ago. He really helped me to understand the difference between show and tell. I also realized that this first book was really preachy, just terrible. It was about a guy who gets all of the “answers” to the questions that haunt us all, directly from GOD. Bad book, it’ll never see the light of day. BUT I did learn a lot, what NOT to do, how hard it is to write a novel. Every writer has to write a first book, and most of them are horrible, should be thrown away. You get to say all of the things you want to say, get all of your “messages” out there, and then, throw it away. Seriously.

The second book is called The Fool, and it’s a memoir. Who knows, maybe some day it’ll happen. I actually got an offer on it many years ago, but it all fell apart. Basically, I had a lot of adventures when I was young – sex and drugs and rock n’ roll, you know. And I had all of these stories about people dying at my feet, acid trips and hallucinations, leaving my body, wild underground sex clubs. There were a good twelve stories that I found myself telling people over the years. I’m sure my wife, Lisa, would be happy if this never saw the light of day. Who knows. Maybe when I’m rich and famous I’ll get the right offer.

So, technically, yes, Transubstantiate is my third book. Disintegration will be my fourth. But I really consider Transubstantiate my first.

If nothing else, I learned how hard it was to write a novel, how long it takes to write 60, 70, 80 thousand words. It’s a big commitment. You should probably write short stories for awhile first, learn to master plot, character, setting, etc. all of the basics over a shorter span first. I don’t think I could have done anything but fail with that first book. It was way too soon, I was wasn’t ready. So, now, I know what it takes. I hope to keep writing, more novels and short stories. I’ve gotten over my initial fear, and hopefully I’ll keep learning and growing and getting better at this.

What would you say has been–or was–the hardest part in the experience of writing and publishing Transubstantiate?

Oh man. The hardest thing is believing in yourself. It’s the whole journey – believing in your idea, having the faith and courage to even TRY to write it. Then writing it. Then editing it for a year. Sending it out, believing it’s a great story, that you have a place in the world and are worthy. Selling your story to the masses, once you have a press, fighting for everything – the cover, the words, the events, the things you believe in, your story. The hardest part of writing and publishing is believing that you have something to share, that it is worth their time, their money, these hours, days, weeks of their lives. It’s hard. But I do believe in my words. Now. In my short stories, in Transubstantiate, and in the next one, Disintegration. I question a lot of it, so many words, sentences, scenes, chapters. I lose faith every day, and then fight to regain it. And when somebody takes the time to pop up on Facebook or send me an e-mail or writes up a fantastic review, well, I get a little bit of energy back, a bit of faith, and I keep going. Somebody just popped up on Facebook today, IM’d me real fast, just said, LOVING YOUR BOOK, and then disappeared. A guy in the UK. That’s awesome.

Transubstantiate is the first release from the upstart press Otherworld Publications.  Do you feel a lot of pressure having the flagship book on that press, and how are you measuring success for the book?  Is it just getting published, and everything else is a bonus? Is it overall book sales? Is it something else all together?

Sure, a lot of pressure. But, I can only do so much. I put it out there, do everything I can, and hope that OWP will do everything they can. We make mistakes, and hopefully learn from them. It’s a stepping stone, we’re all learning. I know that the people that are following me will benefit from the lessons that I’ve learned. And that OWP has learned. The printing process, the PR, the timelines, all of that, I know others will learn and benefit from what we’re going through right now. And whether we sell 50 or 5,000 copies, the bottom line is that I tried to put out the best book I could, and I hope that it will be a great read for everyone who comes in contact with it, entertaining, and maybe it’ll leave a mark, a tiny echo, some sort of lingering effect.

Success? Sales is one thing, sure. I’d hoped to sell 5,000 copies, but now I’d probably be happy with 1.000. Who knows. We’ve been late on a lot of things, and that has effected everything. But, as somebody said to me, it’s not just the release date, it’s the whole year that comes after it. So, ask me in a year how I feel about it all. I know that I’m expanding my audience, and that total strangers from all over the world are reading my book, and enjoying it. And that makes me happy. And my peers, fellow authors, they’ve reacted really well, all positive so far, so that’s a great feeling too.

I see this as a stepping stone, a process, someplace to start. I hope to do more with this book, maybe sell foreign rights, film rights, that kind of stuff. I have short stories coming out soon, “Stillness” will be in the Cemetery Dance collection Shivers VI any week now, and they often win a Bram Stoker award for this anthology. I have a story, “Victimized” in Murky Depths in early 2011, a graphic format magazine, and I’m really excited about that too. These are two of my favorite stories, possibly my best. It’s all connected. My novel, getting my MFA, my short stories, editing and designing for Colored Chalk and Sideshow Fables, all of it. It’s connected. I’ve been humbled by the whole process, but am really excited about how Transubstantiate has grown and gotten out there and gotten attention. Every time I get a note from somebody on Facebook or GoodReads or the Velvet of the Cult saying they really loved the book, that makes me happy. And in the end, that’s what it’s all about.

In promoting Transubstantiate, you’ve embraced the grass roots approach necessary for upstart artists in the 21st century, using all of the popular social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, etc.) to help spread the word.  Have you found it’s helped in finding an audience, or maybe even creating one?

For sure, definitely. Facebook, my friends have grown to over 4000. The Facebook group for Transubstantiate is over 1200. And lots of people in the group have gone out and bought copies, people all over the world – Germany, Australia, the UK, all over the US. It’s very cool. Same with Goodreads.com, we got over 1000 people to enter the contest (gave away five copies), and 200 selected the book as “to-read”, and right now, eight people are reading it over there. So that’s pretty exciting. I know that all of these resources have helped, the forums I’m at, the Cult, the Velvet, my blogs, Twitter, all of that. I know that I’ve not only made new fans, but have turned friends into fans as well, have put my words in the hands of people who knew me, or knew of me, but never read my work. It’s contagious, it just keeps growing and spreading, like a virus. I mean, like a flower. I know that all of these resources have certainly helped me, a first time author, and my press, as well.

You just recently experienced your first book signing.  First, what was that like, and second, what has been the most surreal thing so far about the whole experience of having your first book published?

The book signing at GENCON in Indy was pretty cool. I’ve been to AWP three times now, and to other conventions, big trade shows, but GENCON was wild. Not as cool as COMIC-CON, I don’t think, but there were stormtroopers, ghostbusters, Final Fantasy chicks, various anime in stages of undress, fur bikinis, lots of strange things. Our table was in Author Alley, just a little area in the back. So, if people made it us, they were probably looking for books, and were pretty serious. Otherwise, it was a wrong turn, and they kept going, looking for more half-naked girls or giant 10-sided dice.

I was kind of excited to see a little sign with my picture, Richard Thomas signing from 12-4. And a stack of my books, both the signed/limited and the paperbacks. I got to talk to a lot of people. Most of the books were fantasy, so the book covers were dragons and pixies and stuff like that. We stood out, more neo-noir, crime, mystery, some SF. I got asked a lot of great questions – how long did it take, what was my book about, what was neo-noir (or speculative). I sold three signed/limited and I was pretty excited. I kept thinking “I can’t believe this guy is dropping $40 on my book.” Even with all of the extras (cd with 5 short stories, extra bonus chapter, extended interview). It was kind of touching, really, that they were willing to take a chance, willing to come back later to get the book signed because I wasn’t there yet (had some trouble getting my ID, go figure). We sold a lot of paperbacks over four days too. It was a lot of fun. Nobody can really talk about my book like I can, explain the genre, the themes, the plot, or answer questions.

The most surreal thing was probably at AWP Denver. A guy came up to me and asked me if I was Richard Thomas. If I was the guy who wrote Transubstantiate. I was shocked. He was a really smart guy, ran a panel, and was actually really well read. I don’t know if he knew what I looked like, or read my name tag, or what, but I talked to him and it was really cool. I shook his hand, and kind of gave him a hug too. Probably slipped him some tongue, I was so excited. It was surreal. My first fan. Made my day.

Talk a bit about Disintegration.  You say you’re in the process of working out the ending but take us to its beginning.  What’s it about?  Does it relate at all to Transubstantiate or are you going somewhere new? How soon before we get to read it?

Thanks for asking. Disintegration is similar to Transubstantiate in the sense that both are neo-noir (new-black) fiction. They both are thrillers, although I think Transubstantiate is faster, where Disintegration is slower, more introspective. The other difference is that I see Transubstantiate being speculative where Disintegration is transgressive. I put these labels on my books simply because it helps me to keep the voices straight, the tone. Transubstantiate has a bit of the horrific, the fantastic. Disintegration focuses on the anarchy of one man, the rebellion, man vs. society, man vs. himself.

We’ve been talking a bit about what makes a novel “noir” over at the Velvet, and some think it’s just that it’s tragic, that the protagonist is a loser, who will never win. I don’t know about that. Maybe. I’m more open about what it means – dark, tragic, with a certain mood and tone. But I’m not sure if noir, or neo-noir, has to have a bad ending, that tragedy. I’m still learning. And in the end, I don’t really care about the labels, I just want it to be a fantastic read.

Disintegration has nothing to do with Transubstantiate, I’ll just answer that straight out. BUT…there may be a sequel to Transubstantiate someday. I have some ideas.

How soon? Well, I hope to finish writing it this year, and maybe have it land at a press next year, so that means as early as 2011, but most likely 2012 or later. I’ll be shopping it around, and have a short list of presses and agents that want to see it.

What’s it about? It’s about a man who loses everything, his family, his life, his identity. He slips into this darkness, he separates himself from society, goes off the grid, and starts to do work for a shady man. The work gets more violent, until he starts killing people, on assignment, and descends into a life that is far removed from what he once was. But somewhere down there, he still has hope, still seeks out a connection, still clings to some sort of hope. It’s dark, much darker than Transubstantiate, and I’m thinking this one may be more of a tragedy, more fitting to the noir label (or neo-noir). It’s a mix of Falling Down and Dexter and is a lot more influenced by the style and writing of Will Christopher Baer. I think it’s my best work yet.

What’s the immediate future hold for you and Transubstantiate?

Well, I hope that we’ll sell some books, get some attention, and help build my audience. Everyone has been great, very supportive, people all over the world. I’m really excited about Shivers VI (Cemetery Dance) coming out in September, so many great authors in that anthology, Bram Stoker winners, great company, that should get me some more attention. I’m reading at Quimby’s in Chicago on October 16th, that’ll be fun. My first book club in Kirkwood, MO (St. Louis) in late October. I can’t wait for Murky Depths to come out, early 2011, and would love to get into more comics/graphic novels, pair up with an illustrator, that would be fun. And of course, finishing up Disintegration. And my MFA down at Murray State University in Kentucky. So, lots going on. I just want to keep writing, keep getting better, start sending out short stories again (I’ve been really dead as far as that goes, just haven’t had any time, and I published everything I had built up in the intensives, over the last three years).

And I’m excited to keep supporting all of my friends that are publishing: Nik Korpon has Stay God coming out at OWP this December, and Brandon Tietz is re-releasing Out of Touch with us too, and Michael Sonbert too, also joining the family; Caleb Ross has I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin with Black Coffee Press; Simon West-Bulford has a book at Medallion, The Soul Consortium. I LOVE all of these books, I’ve read them all. Great books, really talented authors. All guys from Write Club, the Cult, the Velvet. I’m so excited for all of them, we’re all breaking out at the same time, couldn’t be more fun, more thrilling.

***

The Oxyfication review of Transubstantiate can be read HERE (Mild Spoilers).

The website of Transubstantiate can be found HERE.

Transubstantiate can be ordered from all major online booksellers (Amazon, B&N) or directly from the publisher HERE.