Interview With Preston L. Allen
Indi: Let me ask the easy one first. Where do you write from? What inspires you?
PLA: People. I'm always asking myself, what's this guy like? What's this girl like. Writing for me is learning. I write about people, and then I understand them better. I write to understand. Gawd, that sounds boring. I write to understand, yuck. But it's your fault, Indi. Please ask better questions, Indi.
Indi: I will try. What do you read? What five books are on your bookshelf at home?
PLA: I have way more than five books on my bookshelf at home, Indi . . . uhm, lemme see . . . two copies of the King James Bible . . . you mean five books that I know are on my bookshelf? The two Bibles, Marge Piercey's THREE WOMEN, William Goldman's BOYS AND GIRLS TOGETHER, THE RED TENT (I've forgotten who wrote that one, but it's a good one).
Indi: Give me two more. Skip the two Bibles.
PLA: The Bibles are important.
Indi: Just for this exercise, Preston. Give me two more books.
PLA: I gotta have my Bibles, but okay, BLOOD MERIDIAN by McCormac and Roth's GOODBYE COLUMBUS.
Indi: You read a lot.
PLA: Yeah, writers have to read.
Indi: Why?
PLA: For inspiration, direction, and to know your competition.
Indi: Writers compete?
PLA: There's a little healthy competition among us, yeah.
Indi: Who's your competition?
PLA: Everybody, I guess. We're all competing for your attention. We want you to read us and tell us that we're good, interesting, whatever.
Indi: You are interesting. I finished reading all of your books last week so that I could do this interview with you.
PLA: You like my stuff? Thanks. What did you read?
Indi: I thought Hoochie Mama was one of the creepiest and coolest thrillers I had read in a long time. You created some unique psychos in that one. The Dead Kisser, Doo-Doo, Dake and David. Even the hero herself, M Gantry, has some creepiness in her past. But the Dead Kisser, he's a real gem. He kisses dead people.
PLA: Thank you, thank you. I'm glad you like it.
Indi: The short stories in Churchboys and Other Sinners are great. You were clicking on all levels. How did you manage to write so many strong stories? The interest never wavers in that one. How do you make sure that your stories in a collection are all good?
PLA: Thank you, thank you. I think that with that collection I kinda lucked out. I wrote those stories not to be in a collection, but to stand on their own in literary magazines. So each is the best of its kind. The idea of a collection was kind of an after thought.
Indi: But there seems to be a theme, or themes. The church, love, innocence awakened. They all seem to fit.
PLA: That's the happiest coincidence. I just tend to write about those things. The church, yeah, that's a big one in my life. Woowee. Love, okay. Innocence. Yeah, that too
Indi: And humor.
PLA: I admit that I was a class clown.
Indi: It show in your writing. Especially these stories.
PLA: How so?
Indi: "Get Some" has to be one of the saddest short stories I have ever read. The kid is basically saying that despite his now recognizing that his father does love him, he is going to continue down a destructive path that will likely end in his death. And yet I find myself laughing out loud while reading it.
PLA: It's funny and sad.
Indi: Yes. Exactly.
PLA: For me that kinda sums up human existence. Funny and sad.
Indi: Speaking of which, your erotica . . .
PLA: You mean the novel BOUNCE?
Indi: Yes.
PLA: Did you find it hot?
Indi: No.
PLA: Really?!!!!
Indi: Just kidding, just kidding.
PLA: I worked my butt off on that book.
Indi: It's good, it's good.
PLA: And hot?
Indi: Yes, yes.
PLA: Even for a lesbian? I'm sorry. Was I supposed to say that?
Indi: You're not outing me. I'm already out. Even my father knows I'm out these days.
PLA: I'm just saying I didn't mean anything by it. I don't want it to be taken the wrong way.
Indi: I wouldn't print it if I thought it would be taken the wrong way, you rank homophobe you.
PLA: What does rank mean?
Indi: Ha-ha-ha. You're funny.
PLA: What I was trying to ask was, is the book erotic on all levels?
Indi: It's hot, and funny, as I was saying before. You did a great job writing from the female point of view.
PLA: Thank you.
Indi: The sex is fine. The story is fine. The writing is fine. BOUNCE is a fine work . . .
PLA: but . . . ?
Indi: There is that lesbian question.
PLA: Here it comes. This is what I was trying to ask.
Indi: I know, that's why I was teasing you.
PLA: Well, go ahead and ask it.
Indi: Okay, here it comes, and it's not because I am a lesbian or anything, but how come the lesbian relationship in the book is so subtle?
PLA: Subtle . . . she told you that Rose was her girlfriend early in the book, but in a way that obscured the true emotional ties. Then later on she was more direct. That's the way the whole book works, not just the lesbian issue: I hint at something, then I reveal its true nature later on. That's what the word BOUNCE comes to mean in the book: follow the bouncing ball, read the words as they become clearer.
Indi: With all that sex going on, I would have liked to have seen her discuss her sexuality with greater frankness.
PLA: But otherwise you liked it?
Indi: I loved it! It's great.
PLA: Thanks. I'm glad.
Indi: What are you working on now? Let's close with that one.
PLA: A book called WALKING THE WALK.
Indi: What's that one about?
PLA: God.
Indi: Really?
PLA: Yeppers.
Indi: Back to your church theme.
PLA: Nope. No church in this one. Just God in his rawest form. A God who seems not to help when you ask him. A God who doesn't clean up after himself. A God who drinks the last drop of milk from the bottle and then puts it back in the fridge. A God who hogs the remote. In short, a God who is a pretty bad roommate.
Indi: Sounds different. Humorous. Is this a comedy? Like OH GOD?
PLA: This is too dark for a comedy, though there are moments of relief.
Indi: The way you describe it, it sounds . . . I don't know what it sounds like if you say it's not a comedy. God as a bad roommate?
PLA: God as the roommate from hell, actually. No it's not like that. God is invisible and all powerful and he's still a bad roommate. I don't know. It's a murder mystery, sort of. The man accused of the crime is losing his wife and his child--the murder he's accused of is the least of his problems, really. But God steps in to save the day. God is a character in the book, though you won't immediately recognize him. He's invisible, remember?
Indi: Hmmm. Intriguing.
PLA: I think so.
Indi: Are you serious about this, or are you fooling me? You're so tricky.
PLA: I'm serious.
Indi: God as a character, and it's not a comedy.
PLA: Or propaganda. I'm not preaching to anyone. There's too much preaching already.
Indi: Okay. Well . . . then what is the nature of God?
PLA: That's easy. God is love.
Indi: God is love?
PLA: Yes. That's why he's invisible. That's why we can't see him. That's why we don't recognize him when he's right there with us.
Indi: Sounds interesting. God as a character in a murder mystery. I can't wait to read it.
PLA: I forgot to add one more thing, Indi. God is incarcerated. He's doing a life sentence for murder.
Indi: Wow. I really have to read that one. WALKING THE WALK, by Preston L. Allen. Coming soon to bookstore near you.
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