An Interview with Michael Boatman

Michael Boatman is best known as an actor from television shows like the classic sitcom, Spin City, and L.A. Law, but he is increasingly demanding attention as a serious writer. With the release of his short story collection God Laughs When You Die by Dybbuk Press, Boatman looks set to launch a writing career to rival the heights he has already reached in acting. I was curious to find out a little more about a man who can portray comedic characters onscreen and spill the blood of his characters on the page with such horrific style, so I contacted him to ask a few questions, and found that there is a darker side to this man.

So, tell us a bit about yourself…

I started acting in high school (to meet girls of course) and discovered that I enjoyed making people laugh on stage. From there I went on to drama school at Western Illinois University. I didn’t start writing until 1994, after an accident took me off my feet for twelve weeks. While I was recuperating, Don Cheadle, who is a good friend, came over for a visit. He took one look at me, bearded, depressed, unable to walk, unable to work, and he encouraged me to start writing, which was something I’d always wanted to do but had never taken the time. I used the downtime to grind out a couple of screenplays. They were terrible but I loved every minute of it. I started writing my first novel while I was still on Spin City.

There was a lot of downtime during the first two seasons and so, out of boredom, I started working up a novel idea that had been percolating in my head for a while. It became a massive, 1,300 page nightmare that I still love, my attempt at a big sprawling, end of the world, alien invasion, science fiction epic. I always thought of it as “Independence Day done right.” It took literally seven years to write, and it was soundly rejected by every major publishing house in New York. But I look at that first book as a kind of trial by fire. I know I will revisit it one day, pare it down, and make it fly.

In terms of writing, who would you say has had a really significant influence on you?

I would say that the greatest influences on my writing would probably be Tolkien, and Stephen R. Donaldson has been an incredibly important writer for me because the Thomas Covenant books embody everything I love about classic fantasy fiction—deeply moving, character based stories, beautiful prose, powerful imagery, heroism in the face of absolute evil that really frightens the reader. Many of those books contain scenes and situations of outright horror. Some of his work is as violent and awful as anything written by Barker or Stephen King, but rarefied by incredible, complex language.

On the other end of the spectrum lurk my dark godfathers, David J. Schow and Joe R. Lansdale. They bring horror down to Earth in a way that no one else does: by making the horror accessible, no windswept dark castles or worn out, “old school” monsters in their books. Their stories, no matter how fantastical, are always imbued with a grinding sense of reality, and humor, which is very important to me. Then they infuse each moment with the looming certainty that the worst, most fucked-up thing you can’t imagine is about to happen to you…personally. The perils are contemporary, realistic, and imminent. The fact that both of these great writers have become friends of mine only deepens my awe of their skills. I feel like Dorothy, looking behind Oz’s screen only to discover that the men behind those curtains really are wizards.

And of course there’s always Stephen King, who manages to terrify and infuriate me with just about everything he writes.

Are there any books out there that have had a really life changing impact on you?

I would say that The Hobbit made me look at the world differently, probably because I read it when I was nine years old, and it was the first book that really took me on a quest. I remember being right there with Bilbo and the dwarves when the sun rose and transformed those trolls into stone. The journey into Gollum’s cave and the riddling contest that takes place there always fills me with dread, even though I’ve read The Hobbit dozens of times. It was the first time I can remember looking at the world with actual wonder, my mind winging its way toward far distant lands filled with magical creatures, the first book I could not put down. That book opened the doorway to an entirely new existence for me. It cemented a desire, even an addiction, for fantasy and for reading in general.

God Laughs When You Die is a fantastically varied collection of shorts, but there is still a definite flow to the narrative of the book as a whole. Did you have any specific themes in mind when you chose those particular stories for the collection?

I write stories that celebrate the Outsider, the characters who don’t “fit in.” I think the subtitle of the collection: Mean Little Stories from the Wrong Side of the Tracks, illustrates that point and describes the characters to whom I’m drawn as a reader—outcasts, people who’ve been bullied, compelled, and generally screwed over. Cyrell Biggs in “The Drop” is a perfect example; mildly retarded and the victim of intense ridicule, he’s a good-natured fellow who has fallen through society’s cracks. But when Cyrell is confronted by a bloodthirsty supernatural creature, it’s only his alienation from his fellow humans that redeems him, even though his “redemption” is darker than his original alienation.

If there’s a theme to the collection, it might read something like, “Abuse the powerless at your peril: one day… the meek really will inherit the Earth.” But by then they won’t really be meek anymore will they?

I’ve always struggled with a sense of alienation, a sense that there is another world, darker than the one in which our clergymen and politicians and even our parents want us to believe. I’m fascinated by the criminal mind, by people who strike out at society’s conventions from its outer philosophical reaches. Even the protagonist of “The Last American President” views the world from an outsider’s perspective; although he’s the most powerful human on the planet, he clearly can’t relate to what most of his constituents would consider compassion, or decency, or even basic human kindness.

While your acting CV is extremely varied, you’re probably best known for your lighthearted, comedy roles, and yet your short stories are tremendously dark. In fact, the characters in them couldn’t be further from the persona you so often portray onscreen. Are you a cheery, optimistic guy at heart, or are the stories a way for you to exorcise a few demons now and again?

I think I was an aggressively cheery guy when I was younger, say in my teens and twenties. But what I have always been is an anxious guy, something of a worrier. I think whatever cheeriness I possessed was a diversion from this ever-present wellspring of anxiety and dread that has always been with me. I love comedy, both as a performer and a writer, because it gives me a chance to dispel that darkness. However, I still think of myself as an optimist, in that I expect the best of people and am always stunned when things go horribly wrong. Growing up as I did, in a working-class Midwestern neighborhood where self-expression and individuality were not encouraged, I felt at the mercy of a multitude of forces both interpersonal and institutional: Repression in youth leads to explosions later on. And, yes, I do get to exorcise my demons by writing. I’m most prolific when I’m incensed. My comedy and my fiction have always been fuelled by anger.

While we’re hovering around the subject of your varied acting career, there’s something I’m a little curious about. You’ve worked on most genres, from action to comedy to sci fi, but what is most noticeable for its distinct absence is any kind of horror work. It struck me as a little odd, considering the type of writing you lean toward. Was that a conscious decision on your part?

It causes me no end of grief that I haven’t acted in a horror/science fiction film. I love genre movies and have seen every one worth seeing, yet I’ve never made that leap myself. (Not my choice.) I’ve just never been presented with the opportunity. I think the next step in my weird bifurcated creative journey is to write and direct my own stories, although I have almost no desire to actually act in something I’ve written. I think the task of directing films is hard enough without the added hassle of acting in one. But Woody Allen and Spike Lee would probably disagree.

You have to admit, some of the material in your new collection is pretty nasty and quite disturbing. Where does the inspiration for a story like “Folds” come from?

Well, first of all, a lot of my personal taste in fiction was formed by reading books like American Psycho and watching films like Monty Python’s the Meaning of Life, Shaun of The Dead, and all of Romero’s Dead films. Black comedy plays a big part in all those stories. In fact I probably learned everything I know about dark comedy and horror from watching Monty Python’s Flying Circus at a very young age. “Folds” was born while I was watching an episode of Jerry Springer one morning. As I sat there, stunned and yet hopelessly entertained, I began wondering what had happened to my country. Suddenly I realized that all those weird people who denigrate themselves on national television…are my country. That, in fact, the whole world was swirling ’round the toilet bowl of common sense in pursuit of its “five minutes of fame,” and that the swirl was being facilitated by television. That was it. The story of Chun King Jefferson appeared in my head.

Do you think there is a lack of quality short fiction available to the modern reader?

I think there’s actually more quality fiction available than ever before. With the advent of the small press which promotes new authors and the wide availability of fiction through places like Amazon and all the online booksellers, I think a reader’s chances of finding exactly the kind of fiction they want are greater than ever before in our history. I attribute this availability to the Internet, which I believe will one day prove to be the great equalizer: Information is knowledge and knowledge is power. So I don’t believe it when someone complains of being unable to find something good to read. God knows I’ve dug up obscure titles that I was convinced no one else would ever have read. Guess what? If you enjoyed it…chances are someone else out there enjoyed it too

As a reader, what, in your opinion, makes for a really good short story?

A great short story draws you in quickly, gets you to care, and then ratchets up the tension, propelling you along until the end. It places you squarely in the shoes of its protagonist so that you see the story through his eyes. If it’s a horror story, dread should hit you like a sledgehammer in the forehead. I don’t like “quiet horror.” I’m not immune to thoughtful pieces, but I like to finish a horror story with that “Oh My God What Did I Just Read?” sensation. And its more than violence or high gore quotient. My favorite horror stories evoke an emotional response; outrage is good, laughter is also desirable. I once read a story that was so offensive that I threw the book across the room. I went back and finished it though … I was dying to see how far the writer would go.

What advice would you give to other writers trying to get their stories published?

I would tell any writer to read… voraciously. Make it a point to read the great classics: I recently read A Christmas Carol and wept like a baby.

I would also pass on the best piece of advice I ever got: Write every day. Make it a habit. Even if you only get to sit down at your computer for a few minutes…write anyway. Even if you can only write “blah blah blah” across your screen…write anyway. James Joyce said, “First drafts are shit,” and boy is he right. Keep coming back to it day after day and soon you’ll start looking forward to the time you get to focus on getting the story just right.

Finally, I would advise any writer … check your grammar. If you don’t know how it’s spelled, look it up.

What are you working on at the minute?

I’m working on several short stories and a novel. The novel is my attempt at another epic, this time more in the dark/urban fantasy realm. I’m struggling with character, finding a way to make the protagonist, a young boy who is faced with a horrific challenge, sympathetic, which isn’t easy since he commits a terrible crime in the first chapter. I’ve also got a couple of film projects in the works, one a romantic comedy about an average joe who falls in love with a Voodoo Priestess and the other, a zombie/end of the world story.

Any plans for a second collection?

At the moment, I have no plans for a second collection. I’m anticipating the publication of my second novel, a horror/comedy called The Revenant Road. It’s the story of a famous crime writer who discovers that his estranged father was really the world’s greatest monster-hunter. Now that the father is dead, the monsters are coming for him. An electronic version will be published by The Drollerie Press later this year, followed by the print version in early 2008. I’m always writing stories, however, so I’m sure it won’t be too long before I stick some together and foist them onto an unsuspecting public

Thanks to everyone who reads this interview.
Michael

[Editor’s note: Be sure to check out The Fix’s review of God Laughs When You Die.]