NPR Interviews Graeme Rylee Part 1

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NPR Interviews Graeme Rylee Part 1

Posted On : Jul-07-2011 | seen (869) times | Article Word Count : 6324 |

The following is a list of excerpts from NPR's interview with Graeme Rylee, author of the controversial novel, The SpudGun Circus.

INTERVIEWER

Without giving too much of the story away, can you tell the audience what The SpudGun Circus is about?

GRAEME RYLEE

It's about an outlaw circus that invades America. Most of the players are British. They're a gaggle of verbally abusive miscreants and circus freaks on their way to perform near Lollapalooza--not at Lollapalooza, like a rock band would--but nearby where they plan on siphoning off their crowds. So, their goal is to get the circus to the Coachella Valley, but they're constantly thwarted by cops, angry fans, supernatural entities, and their own incompetence.

INTERVIEWER

I've read the book and I have to say it is the most unique novel I've ever read.

GRAEME RYLEE

Thank you...I think.

INTERVIEWER

No, I mean that in a good way. It's like a jackhammer. Relentless.

GRAEME RYLEE

Yeah, one person described it as Mad Max on the written page. I guess it does sort of pound away.

INTERVIEWER

How did you come up with such a story?

GRAEME RYLEE

The SpudGun Circus actually started out as a flame war on my blog between some Americans and Brits. I guess we just got bored with the usual back-and-forth, so The SpudGun Circus evolved as a short, 5-page story degrading the opposition. It was top-notch verbal abuse, pretty heinous in it's original form, actually. In the novel, I basically kept the monikers the same as they were in the online forum--names like Farq, Marco, and Aussie Paul. But I toned down some of the sexual debauchery and violence that existed in the original.

INTERVIEWER

So these are real people?

GRAEME RYLEE

I don't know the real names of these people, even though we've been heckling each other online for years. I wanted to keep the story as authentic as possible, so I kept the monikers the same as in the original SpudGun. But I had to change the story to make it fit for public consumption. Still, the original set the abusive tone and there was no escaping that.

INTERVIEWER

How are the original real-life characters taking it?

GRAEME RYLEE

Well, they probably wouldn't like seeing their real names dragged through the mud in freakish circus acts, but I think they somewhat enjoy seeing their online monikers mocked in a novel. It's all tongue-and-cheek and absurd anyways. Besides, Brits are way more thick-skinned than Americans. Whatever abuse was heaped on them in this novel, they've returned the favor their fair share of times, believe me.

INTERVIEWER

So you created a complete story from mere fragments on a blog?

GRAEME RYLEE

I've never had trouble with creative prose. The story pretty much wrote itself. I did have loads of trouble with the ending, however.

INTERVIEWER

You obviously resolved it.

GRAEME RYLEE

Yes, but it wasn't easy. I hated the ending, because originally I had everyone getting killed. It was too depressing. But I couldn't think of any other way to deal with these despicable characters I had created. Thankfully, I went to the Hard Rock Hotel in Chicago. I guess it was the culture shock and vast change of scenery that did it for me. Downtown Chicago is way different than L.A. Being there for a week shook me out of my daily routine and cast a new light on the story. I changed the characters from being downright despicable to being somewhat likeable and amusing. And then the ending came easily. I didn't get to see as much of Chicago as I had wanted to because I was locked in my room furiously typing away.

INTERVIEWER

Sounds like you learned something about the importance of the writer's environment.

GRAEME RYLEE

Absolutely. Change of scenery is one that I've filed away for future reference. Another is hotels. I now understand why so many writers live in hotel rooms. It's brilliant. All the daily BS is taken care of and the writer can focus on writing. I also learned the value of waking up to larger-than-life paintings of Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley each morning.

INTERVIEWER

You must have been staying on the KISS floor.

GRAEME RYLEE

Yes.

INTERVIEWER

So, what was the toughest part of the story for you besides the ending?

GRAEME RYLEE

Maintaining the balance between preserving authenticity and possibly losing the American audience.

INTERVIEWER

How so?

GRAEME RYLEE

Well, take one example of British rhyming slang for instance. Brits call Americans "Septics"--short for "Septic Tank"--which is rhyming slang for "Yank." The Aussies call Americans Seppos. I wasn't sure if Americans would be able to catch that bit, so I left out Seppo, but included Septic, and added an explanation in the dialogue. There's another part with Aussie Paul, when I call his hat a "cowboy hat." Now, Aussies would call it an "akubra." But if I maintained complete authenticity, I would risk losing most of the American audience, so I just called his hat, a "cowboy hat." Some things I left for the audience to figure out for themselves, other times I felt I had to help them along. I even used British-English spelling throughout the story, but changed it to American-English spelling when American characters were speaking. It was confusing as hell.

INTERVIEWER

But you left the punctuation style American.

GRAEME RYLEE

Yes, originally I had it punctuated British-English but it was just too weird looking for Americans, so I changed it. It was a pain in the ass. The whole thing is a hybrid.

INTERVIEWER

Is it fair to say that the best part for you in writing a novel is the creative process?

GRAEME RYLEE

Absolutely. I enjoy the creative process of bringing a story to life. But after I'm done with the creative part and start cutting and pasting the content into chapters, the fun part stops and the real work begins. The numerous revisions did my head in. In fact, it's such a left-brained exercise, all the grammar and punctuation that has to be looked after. I'm not detail oriented so it was a real grind.

INTERVIEWER

Doesn't your editor take care of all of that?

GRAEME RYLEE

No. I didn't have an editor for SpudGun. I tried a few but couldn't find the right match. Some if that's my fault. I'm not easy to work with. So, like everything else with the book, I had to do all the editing myself.

INTERVIEWER

How do you mean like everything else, you did it yourself?

GRAEME RYLEE

I know enough talented people in L.A. who read a lot and know a good story. I had them read through the early manuscripts to tell me if any parts contained continuity errors. Sometimes when a story has been playing over and over in my head for too long, I develop blind spots and phony connections that make sense to me, but lose the reader. My friends were a big help in that. So I edited the book myself after listening to their input.

INTERVIEWER

But can't a good editor help make a story better?

GRAEME RYLEE

Of course, but on the flipside, a shite editor can make a good story shite. I preferred to do it myself.

INTERVIEWER

What other aspects of the book did you take on?

GRAEME RYLEE

I'm also a designer, so I was heavily involved in the design of the book cover and I designed the website VerbalCage.com where I have The SpudGun Circus promo page. I also produced and edited the book's video trailer, and I proofread the whole damned book as well.

INTERVIEWER

Shouldn't those tasks be delegated?

GRAEME RYLEE

Of course they can be, but oftentimes there's a fuzzy line between delegating and abdicating. I didn't want to abdicate anything. I'm not detail oriented, so proofing the text was an absolute nightmare. I hated every minute of it, but you know what? It made me a better writer. I combed over the manuscript loads of times looking for typos and I ended up writing tighter sentences and finding better replacement words in the process. But please understand--it sucked.

INTERVIEWER

You obviously survived.

GRAEME RYLEE

Yeah, but I can tell you, when I engage in left-brained activity like editing and proof-reading, my ideas shut off. For that 6 weeks of proofreading, I had not one new idea for a story. Not one creative thought so to speak...as if I'd been lobotomized. But I have a good proofreader lined up for the next book so that should be a big help.

INTERVIEWER

Have you had troubles with writer's block?

GRAEME RYLEE

Here's the weird thing. I have friends and acquaintances who are very accomplished writers, yet they have yet to produce a novel. One writes for a major network sitcom. Another for a big ad agency in New York and another gets published regularly in major magazines. I keep saying "big" and "major" purposely for effect. These people are not small timers. Way more accomplished than I am in that sense. However, they can't get past the first page when writing their novel. It's as if that omnipresent English professor is peering over their shoulder scrutinizing their every word and they freeze up. They second guess themselves, worry about what the critics or literati will say, then they fall into self-loathing. It's a weird cycle.

INTERVIEWER

And you don't have that problem?

GRAEME RYLEE

I guess I'm lucky. But more likely I don't have that problem because I recognize that I'm a freak. There's no hiding that. There will always be a niche of people who enjoy what I do, and we basically have a laugh together with my bizarre stories. I can't be concerned with critics and what not, nor can I blame them. For Cliff's sake, I criticize people all the time, so it's only fair I get my fair share of abuse right back. I kind of welcome it in a way.

INTERVIEWER

So you deal with criticism by welcoming it?

GRAEME RYLEE

No, I deal with it by hurling it back, usually. No one likes to be criticized, but it's part of the game. Especially when you put something up for public scrutiny. I don't care what you do, there's going to be some a-hole out there critiquing it. So, just get on with it. If, however, someone is brave enough to criticize in my online forum at Verbal Cage, there are some pretty nasty bastards who haunt that site. Should that happen, I probably won't even have to lift a typing finger. The poor bugger would instantly be set upon by a menagerie of abusive thugs.

INTERVIEWER

But don't you think some writers have trouble finishing a novel because it's such a personal process? You're in effect laying your heart out there on the page.

GRAEME RYLEE

I don't really lay my heart on the page...it's more like my shlong...(laughs). Just kidding. Of course it's personal. Much more so than writing for a client at an ad agency, or for an actor speaking lines in a sitcom. Your name is all over the novel, so you have to expose more of your soft underbelly for a public carving...so to speak. But I really think failed novelists start editing too early in the process. They just need to start by splashing the words all over the page. Some really talented people start analyzing what they're writing, start censoring themselves, start worrying about which political pressure group they might offend. It's ridiculous.

INTERVIEWER

So, you don't censor yourself.

GRAEME RYLEE

A lot of people probably wish I would, but no. I edit myself, but only later down the road. Even though I often freak myself out by what I write, I don't censor that inner voice early on.

INTERVIEWER

Explain what freaks you out.

GRAEME RYLEE

I almost abandoned The SpudGun Circus several times because I was scaring myself by what was coming out on the page. I thought it was too depraved. I thought I might get arrested or something.

INTERVIEWER

I read it, and honestly, I've read worse language than this.

GRAEME RYLEE

Yeah, but you read the final version. The earlier versions were scary. I almost made myself physically ill, but I managed to forage ahead. I'm happy with the story now, but when I first started writing, some of the things that came out on the page were far from pleasing. I had to work through it because to self-censor that early in the process, would have meant killing some story line that could wind up being great later on were it allowed to flourish. It would be like the regret one would face if one had aborted Martin Luther King or Gandhi in the womb for fear they might be born with down syndrome or something.

INTERVIEWER

So, how do you handle Writer's Block?

GRAEME RYLEE

I don't have that problem. Like I said, I don't self-censor when I write. I don't have an imaginary English teacher snooping over my shoulder scrutinizing everything I write. And since I never wrote for a newspaper, I don't fear an editor snooping over my shoulder either. I don't freeze up or panic when the words go on the page. The pen or the keyboard just tries to keep up with the thoughts and imagery that are racing through my mind. But if I stopped to scrutinize myself and what I was writing, if I started self-censoring in the early process, then I suppose I could develop Writer's Block.

INTERVIEWER

But surely you have days when words just don't seem to come to you.

GRAEME RYLEE

Sure. But I let my mood swings dictate the direction I go on for the day. Some days I just wake up feeling lousy and there's no way I can be creative, so I don't force myself to be. Some experts say you must write every day in order to be a writer. But that's bollocks. If no ideas are forthcoming, I don't force them.

INTERVIEWER

So what do you do on those kinds of days?

GRAEME RYLEE

I either take heroin or I smoke medical marijuana and listen to Madlib. Or I watch Guy Ritchie or Quentin Tarantino films all day. If I'm smoking medical marijuana, I'll watch French New Wave films.

INTERVIEWER

(Long pause...)

GRAEME RYLEE

You don't know if I'm serious or not do you? Heroin makes one terribly uncreative, so I don't do any of that. There is a legal drug I take when I want to write but I'll never tell what it is. It's my secret weapon. But in actuality, most days I don't need it because the ideas come at me in successive waves. It's maddening because I can't write them down fast enough. But I know that when the ideas come, I have to write them down, because they may be fleeting. It's frustrating to not be quick enough to write everything down, and then lose them forever. I hate when that happens.

INTERVIEWER

How often would you say these kinds of creative moods hit you?

GRAEME RYLEE

I walk around with about five stories playing over and over in my head at any given time. I used to think it was a curse or that I had ADHD or something. I mean, someone would start telling me about their day, and instantly my imagination would go off running with a story and I'd stop listening to them. It's rude, I don't like it, but oftentimes I'm off on a tangent running with a story idea while they're still talking. Like I said, I used to think it was a curse, but now that I’m a writer, I realize it's a blessing. I just roll with it and try to write quickly.

INTERVIEWER

Do you think this is some form of genius?

GRAEME RYLEE

I wish you were right. And thank you for even suggesting that possibility. But I just think I'm a freak. There are others who might consider it a form of mental illness. If I'm stuck somewhere without a computer, it can be very frustrating. I'll try to excuse myself from a social setting or a restaurant, find a napkin or newspaper, anything to write the idea down before I lose it. And sadly, I lose ideas all the time because they're all fleeting. If I'm lucky, they'll recur at an unexpected moment when I'm thinking about something else, but sometimes they're lost forever. It drives me crazy.

INTERVIEWER

But don't you carry a recorder or at least a notepad with you?

GRAEME RYLEE

I often times forget my notepad. Besides, if I'm riding my bike or something I don't like things in my pocket. Also, voice recorders don't work for me. It must be some strange left-brain, right-brain thing. Because the minute I start to verbalize my ideas, POOF! they stop. The quickest way to make them stop is to start tape-recording them.

INTERVIEWER

Really?

GRAEME RYLEE

Absolutely. I bought a recorder to carry in my car and it's a veritable idea crusher. If I speak it outloud, it stops the flow. I donated it to Out Of The Closet.

INTERVIEWER

So, you have to write to keep the ideas flowing?

GRAEME RYLEE

I have to write or type, but here's the strange thing. I have to write them left-handed or I kill them.

INTERVIEWER

How's that?

GRAEME RYLEE

I was born left-handed. My dad was a football coach in West Texas. No way in hell was he going to have a sissy poet or a left-hander in the family. He saw to it that I was going to play sports and that I would play right-handed. He made me a right-hander and I developed a stutter for a year.

INTERVIEWER

So you naturally write left-handed, but you do everything else right-handed.

GRAEME RYLEE

No. I'm a hybrid now. I shoot a rifle right-handed, but I shoot a pistol left-handed. If I shoot a handgun right-handed, I get the shakes. I mean really bad shakes after unloading just a few clips. In baseball, I bat left-handed, but I play golf and tennis as a right-hander.

INTERVIEWER

Interesting. In the film, The King's Speech, the king developed a stutter having been changed from a left-hander.

GRAEME RYLEE

Yeah, but that poor bastard kept it for life. Luckily, I only stuttered for about a year. But I don't blame the parents. Back in those days, left-handers were sinister. They were considered satanic, or natural-born communists or something. I wish my father would have just left me alone, but I understand the societal biases against lefties back in those days, so he was doing what he thought was right. No pun intended.

INTERVIEWER

Now, I notice you didn't treat the folks from Lancaster very kindly in The SpudGun Circus--nor Oakland Raider fans for that matter.

GRAEME RYLEE

I didn't treat anybody kindly in The SpudGun Circus. Lancaster sucks and most people who live there would agree with me. Yet there is something I like about nearby Antelope Acres. I have a feeling I'll live in a trailer out there one day near the "one righteous man" I write about in SpudGun. I even took photos of his house and put them on my website.

INTERVIEWER

(laughs) Now what would you do in Antelope Acres?

GRAEME RYLEE

I would lock myself in my trailer with a mountain of books and my legal drug of choice, and I would just write chaotic prose for days on end. Real insane stuff that can only come with heinous amounts of sleep deprivation. I would also harvest medical marijuana out of a green house and develop a B-list of clientele who would gather from miles around to worship my harvest. Near the end of my worthless life, I would either be arrested for the things I wrote, or for growing cannabis beyond the "legal" limit as determined by our Almighty, All-Knowing, All-Seeing State.

INTERVIEWER

...Sounds like the beginning of a new novel.

GRAEME RYLEE

No. But back to your comments on Oakland Raider fans. I went to high school in Northern California, so I'm well aware of the Raider - 49ers' rivalry. My friends who are 49ers fans absolutely detest Raider fans. And vise versa. That's why I included that bit in my book.

INTERVIEWER

I take it from your book that you are a 49er fan?

GRAEME RYLEE

No. Even though I didn't treat Raider fans kindly in SpudGun, I gravitate towards them. I miss the days of Kenny Stabler, Jack Tatum, Ted Hendricks, even Lester Hayes. The Raiders hit so hard, so viciously in those days. They were basically a bunch of outlaws who had been rejected by other teams. Al Davis knew how to pick outlaws and rejects and mold them into a team. I enjoyed how they played, and obviously I gravitate toward their outlaw nature.

INTERVIEWER

Yet you make a terrible mockery of Raider fans in your book?

GRAEME RYLEE

Kindred spirits we are. It's like brothers picking on each other.

INTERVIEWER

But you'd have to admit The SpudGun Circus goes beyond being offensive to those living in Lancaster, Raider fans, and others.

GRAEME RYLEE

Okay, but did you notice in the news, since SpudGun's release, L.A. county is now investigating people, (desert rats they call them) living in illegal dwellings around Lancaster?

INTERVIEWER

Do you really believe The SpudGun Circus precipitated such an investigation?

GRAEME RYLEE

(laughs) I don't know. But the book was prophetic in many ways. As soon as I finished writing it, some freak went wild in a chicken suit and another guy in a wheel chair pulled a gun on people. They were close to the bits in SpudGun, and now with this investigation in to desert rats in Lancaster, I have to say that The SpudGun Circus is prophetic in a weird way.

INTERVIEWER

Prophetic maybe, but offensive definitely. You're not trying to change the subject are you?

GRAEME RYLEE

Hell no. I readily admit it's offensive on many levels. But too many people these days make a living getting offended. I don't see anything wrong with being offensive. Take me for example. I happen to be easily offended by imbeciles. I'm not the smartest person in the world, nor am I an elitist, but am I supposed to get excited when I turn on the TV only to find another talking head who assumes I'm as stupid as he is? There's a marketing push to the lowest common denominator and it seems to be the bias of TV producers, movie makers, even writers--whoever's profiting from it. I'm sure there is a lot of money to be made off that ever-growing sector of the population, but I'm still offended by it. So what? Who cares if I'm offended by stupidity. I'm offended every minute of every day by someone or something, but I don't try to censor the offender. I can tell you this, though, if you are the type of person who wakes up in the morning looking for an excuse to get offended, then don't read me. Because I will offend your sensibilities eventually. It's my job.

INTERVIEWER

I get the sense from your book that you enjoy riling people up.

GRAEME RYLEE

It's the Scots-Irish in me that makes me rile people up. I rip white-trash Lancaster dwellers, Raider fans, Baptists, circus freaks, and dwarves. Look, the only thing I feel somewhat guilty about is how hard I was on white-trash people. I read Jim Goad's Redneck Manifesto and he makes a point in the book that white trash people are the last remaining group that Americans are allowed to heap their racism and mean-spirited hatred onto. It's true. Any movie needs a protagonist and an antagonist, and the white-trash bastards are typically the ones who get it in the neck. Even in a mindless movie like Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, the bad guys are usually white trash types. You can vilify them as much as you want to. Not so with other groups, because it's considered politically insensitive to do so. So, I felt a bit guilty about heckling white-trash people as much as I did in The Spudgun Circus, because it's a cheap laugh. I suppose the only way to atone for my sin is to expand my horizons in the next book and verbally harpoon others outside that realm.

INTERVIEWER

Besides the genetic influence, on your webpage you cite Charles Bukowski, T. Coraghessen Boyle, and Hunter S. Thompson as influences.

GRAEME RYLEE

Yes, they all influenced me, but probably not in the ways you think. Bukowski is a right pig, and he influenced me in the way he suffered not in the way he wrote. He used to take off to some town he'd never been to before, pick up a job as a factotum, get a room in a flophouse and sit down with nothing but a typewriter and a bottle of booze--and write. He was constantly rejected by the East Coast literati at the New Yorker and Harper's. But he was a writer and a writer writes. He eventually found his niche. But later it became too trendy in West Coast circles to read Bukowski. That's about the time I lost interest in reading him.

INTERVIEWER

You lost interest when everyone else discovered him.

GRAEME RYLEE

Not everyone, but the writers I knew were all reading him by then, so I stopped. But I never stopped being influenced by him.

INTERVIEWER

In the way he suffered?

GRAEME RYLEE

In the way he kept at it, yes and in the way he suffered. As a writer you have to be willing to be poor, to face constant rejection. I wasn't willing to pay that price till later in life...till this year really. I was always fearful of becoming a starving artist. I recently lost that fear for whatever reason. Bukowski worked a lot of humble jobs but he kept writing, kept doing what he had to do. That part of him really influenced me--but not his writing style. I'm nothing like him. He's an observer. He would walk around L.A. describing things. I never observe anything. I'd be the absolute worst witness at a bank robbery. I'm lost in my own thoughts much of the time. I'm more into psychology, philosophy, theology, than I am into describing the physical world and the goings-on around me.

INTERVIEWER

You also mention T. Coraghessan Boyle and Hunter Thompson as influences.

GRAEME RYLEE

Yes, he goes by T.C. Boyle now, but I was reading him before that. Water Music was probably the last piece of fiction I ever read. I loved that book and I had to read it with a dictionary nearby. He used these really “big” words, and I'm sure his publisher cringed thinking he would alienate the average reader, but I loved it. He strings the words together nicely and funny story as well. My favorite part was "Ned Rise Will Rise Again."

As far as Hunter Thompson goes, I think he ruined Edmund Muskie's career when he made up the bit about him being addicted to Ibogaine. That sounds like something I'd do. Make up something ridiculously absurd and watch people fall for it. People still believe what they read, even on the internet, and it always strikes me as funny. Probably not too funny for Muskie, though, poor bastard.

INTERVIEWER

Are there any other writers who influenced you?

GRAEME RYLEE

No, because I don't read fiction. I didn't even read much of Bukowski outside of Septuagenarian Stew. I used to hang out at an indie bookstore in Los Feliz and I found that book there. That's where I found Water Music as well. That was a long time ago though. I don't read fiction, not because I think I'm too cool or something, it's just that my imagination is screwed up enough without having to crawl inside someone else's headspace. I read constantly, but only non-fiction: history, biographies, autobiographies, politics, philosophy, and current events. Like I said, it's not because I think I'm too cool to read other writers, I just don't like reading fiction. Besides, I have my own style. I'm quite comfortable in my own skin and if I read too much fiction, I'd undoubtedly start incorporating someone else's style.

INTERVIEWER

Now, I hate to ask this, but why on earth would you risk publishing The SpudGun Circus yourself?

GRAEME RYLEE

I take my cues from Tyler Perry and Kevin Smith on that decision. Their DIY attitude has influenced me more than any writer ever could influence me.

INTERVIEWER

But isn't self-publishing a form of suicide for serious fiction writers? And couldn’t you be much more successful going the traditional route?

GRAEME RYLEE

It used to be suicide. And you're right, it is still a risk even today.

INTERVIEWER

Because...

GRAEME RYLEE

(interrupts) Because traditional writers, publishers, and critics will assume if you self-publish, you’re doing so only because you couldn't get a deal with a big publisher.

INTERVIEWER

That's what I was going to say.

GRAEME RYLEE

There's still a hold-over-stigma applied to “print on demand” that's carried over from the vanity publishing days. However, that perception is changing as the publishing world is itself in a state of change. It's much like the change the music industry already went through.

When I was in a rock band, the big record labels controlled the show. They were the “gate keepers.” You had to be accepted by them to get your album produced and promoted. But as the cost of entry was lowered with new technologies, the whole industry was democratized. Musicians no longer needed a record company to produce an album. This meant a burst of creative freedom, but now, since anybody can make music and market it through social media outlets, there is a ton of crap to wade through. But, when you find that gem of a band that shines through, it makes it worth the while.

The publishing industry is going through the same thing. Print on demand houses now make it affordable for writers to create their own books without having to be accepted by the traditional gate keepers--the elite publishing houses. Just like the music industry, there are loads of people now writing books who really shouldn't be. So, there's a swamp of filth to wade through. But, I think it's worth it for the unfiltered gems that will inevitably shine through as a result of the democratization. Yes, it's still a risk to self-publish, due to perceptions, but for an obstinate control freak like me, it's the only way to go.

INTERVIEWER

You've listed the cons--the perceptions that still carry over with self-publishing. What are some of the pros?

GRAEME RYLEE

By using print on demand, I don't turn over the ownership of my book to a publisher. I still own the damn thing and keep a bigger percentage of the sales. Besides maintaining control of the content, I also control the book cover design, the PR and marketing messages--everything. I suppose if I was younger and groveling for a publisher and validation from the literati, I would have tried to go that route. But for this book, I couldn't give up the control. Would I like to have a big publisher's dollars behind it, as well as their influence in getting it on the shelves? Sure, sometimes I think I would. But these days, unless you're J.K. Rowling, publishers aren't going to hand out the large advances. Money's tight all over.

INTERVIEWER

Are you saying you would never go with a traditional publisher?

GRAEME RYLEE

I never say never. What I'm saying is that as a first-time author, I know what a big publisher would do to me. First off, they'd turn a 20-something-metrosexual-Yale-grad loose on my manuscript to neuter the language and make the story more palatable for the mass market. Then, God forbid, they'd likely unleash the marketing department with some sort of bait-and-switch campaign to get the lowest common denominator to read my book. A number of imbeciles would bite and buy it, then bitch on social media outlets that the book didn't live up to the advertising. Ultimately, I'd get my percentages of book sales slashed in order for the publisher to recoup their wasted marketing dollars.

I bet they'd even have their in-house designer design a circus tent or a clown for the book cover, something so blatantly obvious that every latent dumbass could get it. "Oh look here, Mildred, this is a book about a circus!" Then, I'd be sent stumping around on talk shows like some grinning imbecile. The world's overrun with grinning imbeciles out to pitch their latest book. We don't really need another one, do we? (laughs) "Hi, I'm Graeme Rylee author of The SpudGun Circus! Would you like to buy my book? In one part, a man in a wheel chair wearing a chicken suit tries to wax our beloved hero with a sawed-off shotgun...come on down and get your copy. They're on sale at the local Piggly Wiggly..."

INTERVIEWER

(laughs) Okay, okay, you made your point. (laughing)

GRAEME RYLEE

Look, the whole publishing world is changing. Just like the music and movie businesses are changing. The internet and Amazon have changed the game forever. I can't say what's going to happen for sure, with brick and mortar biggies like Borders going under, and Barnes & Noble reportedly looking for a buyer. Maybe we'll end up in a world where Amazon rules, huge chains like Barnes & Noble will all go under, and collectives of indie bookstores will be all that's left standing. Like with videos in my neighborhood, all the Blockbusters have closed down and the last man standing is an indie video store that serves a niche of film afficianados. Who knows if that will happen with books? I just know that the landscape will change.

INTERVIEWER

And it looks like you're positioning yourself to ride the wave of that change, yet I notice you don't offer a electronic version of The SpudGun Circus.

GRAEME RYLEE

A bit of a contradiction, isn't it? I act as if I'm on the bleeding edge of a new wave, then I don't publish a downloadable eBook. Well, it's because there's just something human and tangible about a book. I know the trend is going with eBooks, but I refuse to make The SpudGun Circus downloadable. I look at a computer screen all day, so why would I want to read a book that way? And a book is a book, damnit! I don't care how much money it costs me in lost sales. This book won't become an eBook.

INTERVIEWER

You're right, a book is tangible, it's more human than reading something off a computer screen. However, eBooks certainly appear to be the future.

GRAEME RYLEE

One future, the way mp3s were once the future for all music. But if you notice, the singer Susan Boyle makes more money than a lot of pop idols who have a much larger fan base. It's because baby boomers still pay for their music. Millennials download and share music for free. So, pop bands that serve that demographic have to make up the difference by touring, selling tangible merchandise, and even limited album releases on vinyl. The strange thing is, aficionados amongst the younger age groups are going back to vinyl. If they're going to pay for something, they'll pay for vinyl. It's upside down, crazy! The mp3 hasn't eradicated everything in it's path yet. There's still a strong niche for vinyl and the sound quality is better.

INTERVIEWER

So, for all the vinyl purchasers out there, here comes The SpudGun Circus!

GRAEME RYLEE

(laughs) I guess so. It sounds hard headed and very old school of me, but I'm not making the book electronic. And in actuality, if that offends someone, it's probably going to be some techy-nerd who's way too addicted to his computer screen to condascend to read a real book anyhow. If that's the case, then that person is probably too lazy-brained to read me.

The SpudGun Circus is available at Amazon.com and select indie bookstores. VerbalCage.com is Graeme Rylee's official website.

Re-Publish this Article

<h1>NPR Interviews Graeme Rylee Part 1</h1> Author: <a href='http://www.articleseen.com/profile_John Waynevc.aspx'>John Waynevc</a> INTERVIEWER

Without giving too much of the story away, can you tell the audience what The SpudGun Circus is about?

GRAEME RYLEE

It's about an outlaw circus that invades America. Most of the players are British. They're a gaggle of verbally abusive miscreants and circus freaks on their way to perform near Lollapalooza--not at Lollapalooza, like a rock band would--but nearby where they plan on siphoning off their crowds. So, their goal is to get the circus to the Coachella Valley, but they're constantly thwarted by cops, angry fans, supernatural entities, and their own incompetence.

INTERVIEWER

I've read the book and I have to say it is the most unique novel I've ever read.

GRAEME RYLEE

Thank you...I think.

INTERVIEWER

No, I mean that in a good way. It's like a jackhammer. Relentless.

GRAEME RYLEE

Yeah, one person described it as Mad Max on the written page. I guess it does sort of pound away.

INTERVIEWER

How did you come up with such a story?

GRAEME RYLEE

The SpudGun Circus actually started out as a flame war on my blog between some Americans and Brits. I guess we just got bored with the usual back-and-forth, so The SpudGun Circus evolved as a short, 5-page story degrading the opposition. It was top-notch verbal abuse, pretty heinous in it's original form, actually. In the novel, I basically kept the monikers the same as they were in the online forum--names like Farq, Marco, and Aussie Paul. But I toned down some of the sexual debauchery and violence that existed in the original.

INTERVIEWER

So these are real people?

GRAEME RYLEE

I don't know the real names of these people, even though we've been heckling each other online for years. I wanted to keep the story as authentic as possible, so I kept the monikers the same as in the original SpudGun. But I had to change the story to make it fit for public consumption. Still, the original set the abusive tone and there was no escaping that.

INTERVIEWER

How are the original real-life characters taking it?

GRAEME RYLEE

Well, they probably wouldn't like seeing their real names dragged through the mud in freakish circus acts, but I think they somewhat enjoy seeing their online monikers mocked in a novel. It's all tongue-and-cheek and absurd anyways. Besides, Brits are way more thick-skinned than Americans. Whatever abuse was heaped on them in this novel, they've returned the favor their fair share of times, believe me.

INTERVIEWER

So you created a complete story from mere fragments on a blog?

GRAEME RYLEE

I've never had trouble with creative prose. The story pretty much wrote itself. I did have loads of trouble with the ending, however.

INTERVIEWER

You obviously resolved it.

GRAEME RYLEE

Yes, but it wasn't easy. I hated the ending, because originally I had everyone getting killed. It was too depressing. But I couldn't think of any other way to deal with these despicable characters I had created. Thankfully, I went to the Hard Rock Hotel in Chicago. I guess it was the culture shock and vast change of scenery that did it for me. Downtown Chicago is way different than L.A. Being there for a week shook me out of my daily routine and cast a new light on the story. I changed the characters from being downright despicable to being somewhat likeable and amusing. And then the ending came easily. I didn't get to see as much of Chicago as I had wanted to because I was locked in my room furiously typing away.

INTERVIEWER

Sounds like you learned something about the importance of the writer's environment.

GRAEME RYLEE

Absolutely. Change of scenery is one that I've filed away for future reference. Another is hotels. I now understand why so many writers live in hotel rooms. It's brilliant. All the daily BS is taken care of and the writer can focus on writing. I also learned the value of waking up to larger-than-life paintings of Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley each morning.

INTERVIEWER

You must have been staying on the KISS floor.

GRAEME RYLEE

Yes.

INTERVIEWER

So, what was the toughest part of the story for you besides the ending?

GRAEME RYLEE

Maintaining the balance between preserving authenticity and possibly losing the American audience.

INTERVIEWER

How so?

GRAEME RYLEE

Well, take one example of British rhyming slang for instance. Brits call Americans "Septics"--short for "Septic Tank"--which is rhyming slang for "Yank." The Aussies call Americans Seppos. I wasn't sure if Americans would be able to catch that bit, so I left out Seppo, but included Septic, and added an explanation in the dialogue. There's another part with Aussie Paul, when I call his hat a "cowboy hat." Now, Aussies would call it an "akubra." But if I maintained complete authenticity, I would risk losing most of the American audience, so I just called his hat, a "cowboy hat." Some things I left for the audience to figure out for themselves, other times I felt I had to help them along. I even used British-English spelling throughout the story, but changed it to American-English spelling when American characters were speaking. It was confusing as hell.

INTERVIEWER

But you left the punctuation style American.

GRAEME RYLEE

Yes, originally I had it punctuated British-English but it was just too weird looking for Americans, so I changed it. It was a pain in the ass. The whole thing is a hybrid.

INTERVIEWER

Is it fair to say that the best part for you in writing a novel is the creative process?

GRAEME RYLEE

Absolutely. I enjoy the creative process of bringing a story to life. But after I'm done with the creative part and start cutting and pasting the content into chapters, the fun part stops and the real work begins. The numerous revisions did my head in. In fact, it's such a left-brained exercise, all the grammar and punctuation that has to be looked after. I'm not detail oriented so it was a real grind.

INTERVIEWER

Doesn't your editor take care of all of that?

GRAEME RYLEE

No. I didn't have an editor for SpudGun. I tried a few but couldn't find the right match. Some if that's my fault. I'm not easy to work with. So, like everything else with the book, I had to do all the editing myself.

INTERVIEWER

How do you mean like everything else, you did it yourself?

GRAEME RYLEE

I know enough talented people in L.A. who read a lot and know a good story. I had them read through the early manuscripts to tell me if any parts contained continuity errors. Sometimes when a story has been playing over and over in my head for too long, I develop blind spots and phony connections that make sense to me, but lose the reader. My friends were a big help in that. So I edited the book myself after listening to their input.

INTERVIEWER

But can't a good editor help make a story better?

GRAEME RYLEE

Of course, but on the flipside, a shite editor can make a good story shite. I preferred to do it myself.

INTERVIEWER

What other aspects of the book did you take on?

GRAEME RYLEE

I'm also a designer, so I was heavily involved in the design of the book cover and I designed the website VerbalCage.com where I have The SpudGun Circus promo page. I also produced and edited the book's video trailer, and I proofread the whole damned book as well.

INTERVIEWER

Shouldn't those tasks be delegated?

GRAEME RYLEE

Of course they can be, but oftentimes there's a fuzzy line between delegating and abdicating. I didn't want to abdicate anything. I'm not detail oriented, so proofing the text was an absolute nightmare. I hated every minute of it, but you know what? It made me a better writer. I combed over the manuscript loads of times looking for typos and I ended up writing tighter sentences and finding better replacement words in the process. But please understand--it sucked.

INTERVIEWER

You obviously survived.

GRAEME RYLEE

Yeah, but I can tell you, when I engage in left-brained activity like editing and proof-reading, my ideas shut off. For that 6 weeks of proofreading, I had not one new idea for a story. Not one creative thought so to speak...as if I'd been lobotomized. But I have a good proofreader lined up for the next book so that should be a big help.

INTERVIEWER

Have you had troubles with writer's block?

GRAEME RYLEE

Here's the weird thing. I have friends and acquaintances who are very accomplished writers, yet they have yet to produce a novel. One writes for a major network sitcom. Another for a big ad agency in New York and another gets published regularly in major magazines. I keep saying "big" and "major" purposely for effect. These people are not small timers. Way more accomplished than I am in that sense. However, they can't get past the first page when writing their novel. It's as if that omnipresent English professor is peering over their shoulder scrutinizing their every word and they freeze up. They second guess themselves, worry about what the critics or literati will say, then they fall into self-loathing. It's a weird cycle.

INTERVIEWER

And you don't have that problem?

GRAEME RYLEE

I guess I'm lucky. But more likely I don't have that problem because I recognize that I'm a freak. There's no hiding that. There will always be a niche of people who enjoy what I do, and we basically have a laugh together with my bizarre stories. I can't be concerned with critics and what not, nor can I blame them. For Cliff's sake, I criticize people all the time, so it's only fair I get my fair share of abuse right back. I kind of welcome it in a way.

INTERVIEWER

So you deal with criticism by welcoming it?

GRAEME RYLEE

No, I deal with it by hurling it back, usually. No one likes to be criticized, but it's part of the game. Especially when you put something up for public scrutiny. I don't care what you do, there's going to be some a-hole out there critiquing it. So, just get on with it. If, however, someone is brave enough to criticize in my online forum at Verbal Cage, there are some pretty nasty bastards who haunt that site. Should that happen, I probably won't even have to lift a typing finger. The poor bugger would instantly be set upon by a menagerie of abusive thugs.

INTERVIEWER

But don't you think some writers have trouble finishing a novel because it's such a personal process? You're in effect laying your heart out there on the page.

GRAEME RYLEE

I don't really lay my heart on the page...it's more like my shlong...(laughs). Just kidding. Of course it's personal. Much more so than writing for a client at an ad agency, or for an actor speaking lines in a sitcom. Your name is all over the novel, so you have to expose more of your soft underbelly for a public carving...so to speak. But I really think failed novelists start editing too early in the process. They just need to start by splashing the words all over the page. Some really talented people start analyzing what they're writing, start censoring themselves, start worrying about which political pressure group they might offend. It's ridiculous.

INTERVIEWER

So, you don't censor yourself.

GRAEME RYLEE

A lot of people probably wish I would, but no. I edit myself, but only later down the road. Even though I often freak myself out by what I write, I don't censor that inner voice early on.

INTERVIEWER

Explain what freaks you out.

GRAEME RYLEE

I almost abandoned The SpudGun Circus several times because I was scaring myself by what was coming out on the page. I thought it was too depraved. I thought I might get arrested or something.

INTERVIEWER

I read it, and honestly, I've read worse language than this.

GRAEME RYLEE

Yeah, but you read the final version. The earlier versions were scary. I almost made myself physically ill, but I managed to forage ahead. I'm happy with the story now, but when I first started writing, some of the things that came out on the page were far from pleasing. I had to work through it because to self-censor that early in the process, would have meant killing some story line that could wind up being great later on were it allowed to flourish. It would be like the regret one would face if one had aborted Martin Luther King or Gandhi in the womb for fear they might be born with down syndrome or something.

INTERVIEWER

So, how do you handle Writer's Block?

GRAEME RYLEE

I don't have that problem. Like I said, I don't self-censor when I write. I don't have an imaginary English teacher snooping over my shoulder scrutinizing everything I write. And since I never wrote for a newspaper, I don't fear an editor snooping over my shoulder either. I don't freeze up or panic when the words go on the page. The pen or the keyboard just tries to keep up with the thoughts and imagery that are racing through my mind. But if I stopped to scrutinize myself and what I was writing, if I started self-censoring in the early process, then I suppose I could develop Writer's Block.

INTERVIEWER

But surely you have days when words just don't seem to come to you.

GRAEME RYLEE

Sure. But I let my mood swings dictate the direction I go on for the day. Some days I just wake up feeling lousy and there's no way I can be creative, so I don't force myself to be. Some experts say you must write every day in order to be a writer. But that's bollocks. If no ideas are forthcoming, I don't force them.

INTERVIEWER

So what do you do on those kinds of days?

GRAEME RYLEE

I either take heroin or I smoke medical marijuana and listen to Madlib. Or I watch Guy Ritchie or Quentin Tarantino films all day. If I'm smoking medical marijuana, I'll watch French New Wave films.

INTERVIEWER

(Long pause...)

GRAEME RYLEE

You don't know if I'm serious or not do you? Heroin makes one terribly uncreative, so I don't do any of that. There is a legal drug I take when I want to write but I'll never tell what it is. It's my secret weapon. But in actuality, most days I don't need it because the ideas come at me in successive waves. It's maddening because I can't write them down fast enough. But I know that when the ideas come, I have to write them down, because they may be fleeting. It's frustrating to not be quick enough to write everything down, and then lose them forever. I hate when that happens.

INTERVIEWER

How often would you say these kinds of creative moods hit you?

GRAEME RYLEE

I walk around with about five stories playing over and over in my head at any given time. I used to think it was a curse or that I had ADHD or something. I mean, someone would start telling me about their day, and instantly my imagination would go off running with a story and I'd stop listening to them. It's rude, I don't like it, but oftentimes I'm off on a tangent running with a story idea while they're still talking. Like I said, I used to think it was a curse, but now that I’m a writer, I realize it's a blessing. I just roll with it and try to write quickly.

INTERVIEWER

Do you think this is some form of genius?

GRAEME RYLEE

I wish you were right. And thank you for even suggesting that possibility. But I just think I'm a freak. There are others who might consider it a form of mental illness. If I'm stuck somewhere without a computer, it can be very frustrating. I'll try to excuse myself from a social setting or a restaurant, find a napkin or newspaper, anything to write the idea down before I lose it. And sadly, I lose ideas all the time because they're all fleeting. If I'm lucky, they'll recur at an unexpected moment when I'm thinking about something else, but sometimes they're lost forever. It drives me crazy.

INTERVIEWER

But don't you carry a recorder or at least a notepad with you?

GRAEME RYLEE

I often times forget my notepad. Besides, if I'm riding my bike or something I don't like things in my pocket. Also, voice recorders don't work for me. It must be some strange left-brain, right-brain thing. Because the minute I start to verbalize my ideas, POOF! they stop. The quickest way to make them stop is to start tape-recording them.

INTERVIEWER

Really?

GRAEME RYLEE

Absolutely. I bought a recorder to carry in my car and it's a veritable idea crusher. If I speak it outloud, it stops the flow. I donated it to Out Of The Closet.

INTERVIEWER

So, you have to write to keep the ideas flowing?

GRAEME RYLEE

I have to write or type, but here's the strange thing. I have to write them left-handed or I kill them.

INTERVIEWER

How's that?

GRAEME RYLEE

I was born left-handed. My dad was a football coach in West Texas. No way in hell was he going to have a sissy poet or a left-hander in the family. He saw to it that I was going to play sports and that I would play right-handed. He made me a right-hander and I developed a stutter for a year.

INTERVIEWER

So you naturally write left-handed, but you do everything else right-handed.

GRAEME RYLEE

No. I'm a hybrid now. I shoot a rifle right-handed, but I shoot a pistol left-handed. If I shoot a handgun right-handed, I get the shakes. I mean really bad shakes after unloading just a few clips. In baseball, I bat left-handed, but I play golf and tennis as a right-hander.

INTERVIEWER

Interesting. In the film, The King's Speech, the king developed a stutter having been changed from a left-hander.

GRAEME RYLEE

Yeah, but that poor bastard kept it for life. Luckily, I only stuttered for about a year. But I don't blame the parents. Back in those days, left-handers were sinister. They were considered satanic, or natural-born communists or something. I wish my father would have just left me alone, but I understand the societal biases against lefties back in those days, so he was doing what he thought was right. No pun intended.

INTERVIEWER

Now, I notice you didn't treat the folks from Lancaster very kindly in The SpudGun Circus--nor Oakland Raider fans for that matter.

GRAEME RYLEE

I didn't treat anybody kindly in The SpudGun Circus. Lancaster sucks and most people who live there would agree with me. Yet there is something I like about nearby Antelope Acres. I have a feeling I'll live in a trailer out there one day near the "one righteous man" I write about in SpudGun. I even took photos of his house and put them on my website.

INTERVIEWER

(laughs) Now what would you do in Antelope Acres?

GRAEME RYLEE

I would lock myself in my trailer with a mountain of books and my legal drug of choice, and I would just write chaotic prose for days on end. Real insane stuff that can only come with heinous amounts of sleep deprivation. I would also harvest medical marijuana out of a green house and develop a B-list of clientele who would gather from miles around to worship my harvest. Near the end of my worthless life, I would either be arrested for the things I wrote, or for growing cannabis beyond the "legal" limit as determined by our Almighty, All-Knowing, All-Seeing State.

INTERVIEWER

...Sounds like the beginning of a new novel.

GRAEME RYLEE

No. But back to your comments on Oakland Raider fans. I went to high school in Northern California, so I'm well aware of the Raider - 49ers' rivalry. My friends who are 49ers fans absolutely detest Raider fans. And vise versa. That's why I included that bit in my book.

INTERVIEWER

I take it from your book that you are a 49er fan?

GRAEME RYLEE

No. Even though I didn't treat Raider fans kindly in SpudGun, I gravitate towards them. I miss the days of Kenny Stabler, Jack Tatum, Ted Hendricks, even Lester Hayes. The Raiders hit so hard, so viciously in those days. They were basically a bunch of outlaws who had been rejected by other teams. Al Davis knew how to pick outlaws and rejects and mold them into a team. I enjoyed how they played, and obviously I gravitate toward their outlaw nature.

INTERVIEWER

Yet you make a terrible mockery of Raider fans in your book?

GRAEME RYLEE

Kindred spirits we are. It's like brothers picking on each other.

INTERVIEWER

But you'd have to admit The SpudGun Circus goes beyond being offensive to those living in Lancaster, Raider fans, and others.

GRAEME RYLEE

Okay, but did you notice in the news, since SpudGun's release, L.A. county is now investigating people, (desert rats they call them) living in illegal dwellings around Lancaster?

INTERVIEWER

Do you really believe The SpudGun Circus precipitated such an investigation?

GRAEME RYLEE

(laughs) I don't know. But the book was prophetic in many ways. As soon as I finished writing it, some freak went wild in a chicken suit and another guy in a wheel chair pulled a gun on people. They were close to the bits in SpudGun, and now with this investigation in to desert rats in Lancaster, I have to say that The SpudGun Circus is prophetic in a weird way.

INTERVIEWER

Prophetic maybe, but offensive definitely. You're not trying to change the subject are you?

GRAEME RYLEE

Hell no. I readily admit it's offensive on many levels. But too many people these days make a living getting offended. I don't see anything wrong with being offensive. Take me for example. I happen to be easily offended by imbeciles. I'm not the smartest person in the world, nor am I an elitist, but am I supposed to get excited when I turn on the TV only to find another talking head who assumes I'm as stupid as he is? There's a marketing push to the lowest common denominator and it seems to be the bias of TV producers, movie makers, even writers--whoever's profiting from it. I'm sure there is a lot of money to be made off that ever-growing sector of the population, but I'm still offended by it. So what? Who cares if I'm offended by stupidity. I'm offended every minute of every day by someone or something, but I don't try to censor the offender. I can tell you this, though, if you are the type of person who wakes up in the morning looking for an excuse to get offended, then don't read me. Because I will offend your sensibilities eventually. It's my job.

INTERVIEWER

I get the sense from your book that you enjoy riling people up.

GRAEME RYLEE

It's the Scots-Irish in me that makes me rile people up. I rip white-trash Lancaster dwellers, Raider fans, Baptists, circus freaks, and dwarves. Look, the only thing I feel somewhat guilty about is how hard I was on white-trash people. I read Jim Goad's Redneck Manifesto and he makes a point in the book that white trash people are the last remaining group that Americans are allowed to heap their racism and mean-spirited hatred onto. It's true. Any movie needs a protagonist and an antagonist, and the white-trash bastards are typically the ones who get it in the neck. Even in a mindless movie like Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, the bad guys are usually white trash types. You can vilify them as much as you want to. Not so with other groups, because it's considered politically insensitive to do so. So, I felt a bit guilty about heckling white-trash people as much as I did in The Spudgun Circus, because it's a cheap laugh. I suppose the only way to atone for my sin is to expand my horizons in the next book and verbally harpoon others outside that realm.

INTERVIEWER

Besides the genetic influence, on your webpage you cite Charles Bukowski, T. Coraghessen Boyle, and Hunter S. Thompson as influences.

GRAEME RYLEE

Yes, they all influenced me, but probably not in the ways you think. Bukowski is a right pig, and he influenced me in the way he suffered not in the way he wrote. He used to take off to some town he'd never been to before, pick up a job as a factotum, get a room in a flophouse and sit down with nothing but a typewriter and a bottle of booze--and write. He was constantly rejected by the East Coast literati at the New Yorker and Harper's. But he was a writer and a writer writes. He eventually found his niche. But later it became too trendy in West Coast circles to read Bukowski. That's about the time I lost interest in reading him.

INTERVIEWER

You lost interest when everyone else discovered him.

GRAEME RYLEE

Not everyone, but the writers I knew were all reading him by then, so I stopped. But I never stopped being influenced by him.

INTERVIEWER

In the way he suffered?

GRAEME RYLEE

In the way he kept at it, yes and in the way he suffered. As a writer you have to be willing to be poor, to face constant rejection. I wasn't willing to pay that price till later in life...till this year really. I was always fearful of becoming a starving artist. I recently lost that fear for whatever reason. Bukowski worked a lot of humble jobs but he kept writing, kept doing what he had to do. That part of him really influenced me--but not his writing style. I'm nothing like him. He's an observer. He would walk around L.A. describing things. I never observe anything. I'd be the absolute worst witness at a bank robbery. I'm lost in my own thoughts much of the time. I'm more into psychology, philosophy, theology, than I am into describing the physical world and the goings-on around me.

INTERVIEWER

You also mention T. Coraghessan Boyle and Hunter Thompson as influences.

GRAEME RYLEE

Yes, he goes by T.C. Boyle now, but I was reading him before that. Water Music was probably the last piece of fiction I ever read. I loved that book and I had to read it with a dictionary nearby. He used these really “big” words, and I'm sure his publisher cringed thinking he would alienate the average reader, but I loved it. He strings the words together nicely and funny story as well. My favorite part was "Ned Rise Will Rise Again."

As far as Hunter Thompson goes, I think he ruined Edmund Muskie's career when he made up the bit about him being addicted to Ibogaine. That sounds like something I'd do. Make up something ridiculously absurd and watch people fall for it. People still believe what they read, even on the internet, and it always strikes me as funny. Probably not too funny for Muskie, though, poor bastard.

INTERVIEWER

Are there any other writers who influenced you?

GRAEME RYLEE

No, because I don't read fiction. I didn't even read much of Bukowski outside of Septuagenarian Stew. I used to hang out at an indie bookstore in Los Feliz and I found that book there. That's where I found Water Music as well. That was a long time ago though. I don't read fiction, not because I think I'm too cool or something, it's just that my imagination is screwed up enough without having to crawl inside someone else's headspace. I read constantly, but only non-fiction: history, biographies, autobiographies, politics, philosophy, and current events. Like I said, it's not because I think I'm too cool to read other writers, I just don't like reading fiction. Besides, I have my own style. I'm quite comfortable in my own skin and if I read too much fiction, I'd undoubtedly start incorporating someone else's style.

INTERVIEWER

Now, I hate to ask this, but why on earth would you risk publishing The SpudGun Circus yourself?

GRAEME RYLEE

I take my cues from Tyler Perry and Kevin Smith on that decision. Their DIY attitude has influenced me more than any writer ever could influence me.

INTERVIEWER

But isn't self-publishing a form of suicide for serious fiction writers? And couldn’t you be much more successful going the traditional route?

GRAEME RYLEE

It used to be suicide. And you're right, it is still a risk even today.

INTERVIEWER

Because...

GRAEME RYLEE

(interrupts) Because traditional writers, publishers, and critics will assume if you self-publish, you’re doing so only because you couldn't get a deal with a big publisher.

INTERVIEWER

That's what I was going to say.

GRAEME RYLEE

There's still a hold-over-stigma applied to “print on demand” that's carried over from the vanity publishing days. However, that perception is changing as the publishing world is itself in a state of change. It's much like the change the music industry already went through.

When I was in a rock band, the big record labels controlled the show. They were the “gate keepers.” You had to be accepted by them to get your album produced and promoted. But as the cost of entry was lowered with new technologies, the whole industry was democratized. Musicians no longer needed a record company to produce an album. This meant a burst of creative freedom, but now, since anybody can make music and market it through social media outlets, there is a ton of crap to wade through. But, when you find that gem of a band that shines through, it makes it worth the while.

The publishing industry is going through the same thing. Print on demand houses now make it affordable for writers to create their own books without having to be accepted by the traditional gate keepers--the elite publishing houses. Just like the music industry, there are loads of people now writing books who really shouldn't be. So, there's a swamp of filth to wade through. But, I think it's worth it for the unfiltered gems that will inevitably shine through as a result of the democratization. Yes, it's still a risk to self-publish, due to perceptions, but for an obstinate control freak like me, it's the only way to go.

INTERVIEWER

You've listed the cons--the perceptions that still carry over with self-publishing. What are some of the pros?

GRAEME RYLEE

By using print on demand, I don't turn over the ownership of my book to a publisher. I still own the damn thing and keep a bigger percentage of the sales. Besides maintaining control of the content, I also control the book cover design, the PR and marketing messages--everything. I suppose if I was younger and groveling for a publisher and validation from the literati, I would have tried to go that route. But for this book, I couldn't give up the control. Would I like to have a big publisher's dollars behind it, as well as their influence in getting it on the shelves? Sure, sometimes I think I would. But these days, unless you're J.K. Rowling, publishers aren't going to hand out the large advances. Money's tight all over.

INTERVIEWER

Are you saying you would never go with a traditional publisher?

GRAEME RYLEE

I never say never. What I'm saying is that as a first-time author, I know what a big publisher would do to me. First off, they'd turn a 20-something-metrosexual-Yale-grad loose on my manuscript to neuter the language and make the story more palatable for the mass market. Then, God forbid, they'd likely unleash the marketing department with some sort of bait-and-switch campaign to get the lowest common denominator to read my book. A number of imbeciles would bite and buy it, then bitch on social media outlets that the book didn't live up to the advertising. Ultimately, I'd get my percentages of book sales slashed in order for the publisher to recoup their wasted marketing dollars.

I bet they'd even have their in-house designer design a circus tent or a clown for the book cover, something so blatantly obvious that every latent dumbass could get it. "Oh look here, Mildred, this is a book about a circus!" Then, I'd be sent stumping around on talk shows like some grinning imbecile. The world's overrun with grinning imbeciles out to pitch their latest book. We don't really need another one, do we? (laughs) "Hi, I'm Graeme Rylee author of The SpudGun Circus! Would you like to buy my book? In one part, a man in a wheel chair wearing a chicken suit tries to wax our beloved hero with a sawed-off shotgun...come on down and get your copy. They're on sale at the local Piggly Wiggly..."

INTERVIEWER

(laughs) Okay, okay, you made your point. (laughing)

GRAEME RYLEE

Look, the whole publishing world is changing. Just like the music and movie businesses are changing. The internet and Amazon have changed the game forever. I can't say what's going to happen for sure, with brick and mortar biggies like Borders going under, and Barnes & Noble reportedly looking for a buyer. Maybe we'll end up in a world where Amazon rules, huge chains like Barnes & Noble will all go under, and collectives of indie bookstores will be all that's left standing. Like with videos in my neighborhood, all the Blockbusters have closed down and the last man standing is an indie video store that serves a niche of film afficianados. Who knows if that will happen with books? I just know that the landscape will change.

INTERVIEWER

And it looks like you're positioning yourself to ride the wave of that change, yet I notice you don't offer a electronic version of The SpudGun Circus.

GRAEME RYLEE

A bit of a contradiction, isn't it? I act as if I'm on the bleeding edge of a new wave, then I don't publish a downloadable eBook. Well, it's because there's just something human and tangible about a book. I know the trend is going with eBooks, but I refuse to make The SpudGun Circus downloadable. I look at a computer screen all day, so why would I want to read a book that way? And a book is a book, damnit! I don't care how much money it costs me in lost sales. This book won't become an eBook.

INTERVIEWER

You're right, a book is tangible, it's more human than reading something off a computer screen. However, eBooks certainly appear to be the future.

GRAEME RYLEE

One future, the way mp3s were once the future for all music. But if you notice, the singer Susan Boyle makes more money than a lot of pop idols who have a much larger fan base. It's because baby boomers still pay for their music. Millennials download and share music for free. So, pop bands that serve that demographic have to make up the difference by touring, selling tangible merchandise, and even limited album releases on vinyl. The strange thing is, aficionados amongst the younger age groups are going back to vinyl. If they're going to pay for something, they'll pay for vinyl. It's upside down, crazy! The mp3 hasn't eradicated everything in it's path yet. There's still a strong niche for vinyl and the sound quality is better.

INTERVIEWER

So, for all the vinyl purchasers out there, here comes The SpudGun Circus!

GRAEME RYLEE

(laughs) I guess so. It sounds hard headed and very old school of me, but I'm not making the book electronic. And in actuality, if that offends someone, it's probably going to be some techy-nerd who's way too addicted to his computer screen to condascend to read a real book anyhow. If that's the case, then that person is probably too lazy-brained to read me.

The SpudGun Circus is available at Amazon.com and select indie bookstores. VerbalCage.com is Graeme Rylee's official website.
About the Author: John Wayne is an avid story reader who has recently read <a rel="nofollow" href=http://www.verbalcage.com>The SpudGun Circus</a> by Graeme Rylee, it is available at Amazon.com and select indie bookstores. He is impressed with the way the story is being conceptualized and presented to the readers for a sheer thrill. For more information you may visit Graeme Rylee's official website “http://www.verbalcage.com”. Article Source: <a href='http://www.articleseen.com/Article_NPR-Interviews-Graeme-Rylee-Part-1_65370.aspx'> http://www.articleseen.com/Article_NPR Interviews Graeme Rylee Part 1_65370.aspx</a>

Article Source : http://www.articleseen.com/Article_NPR Interviews Graeme Rylee Part 1_65370.aspx

Author Resource :
John Wayne is an avid story reader who has recently read The SpudGun Circus by Graeme Rylee, it is available at Amazon.com and select indie bookstores. He is impressed with the way the story is being conceptualized and presented to the readers for a sheer thrill. For more information you may visit Graeme Rylee's official website “http://www.verbalcage.com”.

Keywords : Graeme Rylee, The SpudGun Circus,

Category : Writing and Speaking : Article Writing

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