BSS #93: Nick Mamatas

segundo93.jpg

Condition of Mr. Segundo: Introspective about his long lost lawn gnome.

Author: Nick Mamatas

Subjects Discussed: The X+Y book formula, H.P. Lovecraft, Jack Kerouac, Aristophanes’ The Acharnians, telepathy, garden gnomes, radioactive fallout, conspiracies, Elián González , Littleton, Under My Roof as allegory, the influence of current events upon narrative, Cthulhu as muse, Lovecraftian poetry, crazy tenants, writing short novels in a “big book”-friendly environment, working with Night Shade and Soft Skull, Skybars, the downside of product placement in the future, pursuing an MFA, health insurance, narrative ideology, character testimonials, the influence of Animal House, micronation novels, George Saunders’ The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, Duck Soup, and life-changing YA novel experiences.

EXCERPT FROM SHOW:

Mamatas: Well, at first it was going to be a lawn jockey.

Correspondent: Really?

Mamatas: Yes. In an early draft, I had it as a lawn jockey. But I figured that was too unctuously petty bourgeois. I thought a garden gnome was more down market. And also, they’re bigger. So you can put more nuclear stuff inside a garden gnome.

Correspondent: But at the same time, there’s also a certain kind of suspension of disbelief on the part of the reader. Because if you actually go ahead and try to produce a nuclear device in a garden gnome, there’s going to be some radioactive fallout. The FBI guys kind of show up and like — I’m thinking the FBI would immediately sort of seize this family. And yet they don’t. I was wondering if this kind of realism isn’t of concern for you, or is it meant to be more of a meditative kind of…

Mamatas: Well, partially it’s meditative. Partially, people get away with things, you know. 9/11 — people got away with it, even though there were many people watching these terrorists and keeping their eye on them. But they all managed to get through and carry out this attack. There’s almost a nationalist type of myth that the FBI and the CIA are super-competent and that we always know what’s going on. That’s part of why we have the 9/11 denial movement, or conspiracy movement.

 
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One Response to “BSS #93: Nick Mamatas”

  • Bookdwarf » Monday Links says:

    [...] More Bat Segundo interviews, this time with Christopher Moore, Nick Mamatas, and Stephen Graham Jones. [...]

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What is the Bat Segundo Show?


A podcast hosted by Bat Segundo that involves in-depth interviews with the writers and literary folks of our time.

The show is updated (ideally) every week and sometimes every two weeks.

Why is Bat Segundo So Rude?


No one can really say. Mr. Segundo is a man who feels passionately about many of the issues of our time and has decided that constant complaining is a better strategy than confronting his issues head on.

Since Mr. Segundo has eschewed twelve-step programs and sundry forms of therapy, his only remedy is any alcohol or floozy that might be in close proximity.


Does This Bat Segundo Have Anything to Do with the "Bat Segundo" in David Mitchell's Ghostwritten?


Absolutely not. Mr. Segundo is honored that David Mitchell might be a fan. But Mr. Mitchell's depiction of Mr. Segundo was wholly inaccurate. For one thing, he would never take a call from a conspiracy theorist. And Mr. Segundo has never set foot in New York because he fears that he might be mugged.

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