Genre Purity

Do you prefer to keep a genre pure when you write? What about blending genres in pulp stories? 

Oh no. I like to put all my genres and ideas in a story blender and hit the pulp button.

Romantic awakenings of snake women on Mars? Did that in Blackthorn: Thunder on Mars.

Zombie horror stories that examine the marriage commitment? Did that twice already, once in Zombiesque and once in Pro Se Presents #1.

Fairy tales with inter-dimensional war and demons from the vast beyond? Check. Already done that too, in the pages of Classics Mutilated.

Super hero adventures mixed with fable and mythology? Not a problem. Check out Fishnet Angel in Show Me a Hero.

About the only time I stay pure is when I'm writing a straight up hard-boiled detective story.

Heroes and Tragedy

Why did you choose the quote "Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy" by F. Scott Fitzgerald for your book Show Me A Hero? Isn't that kind of depressing?

I don't think of it as depressing at all. I see it as a natural outcome of anyone's choice to sacrifice himself or herself for the good of others. And to clarify, it's only seen as a tragedy by those outside the choice itself. To the one who chooses, the experience is not one of tragedy but of triumph.

I also believe that, as humans, we tend not to learn much from moments of pleasure, but more from times of pain. And that's weird, I know, because if you know me personally, you'd know I'm a very optimistic person.

Go figure.

RPG Inspiration

Is it true that some of your characters have come from role playing games?

Yes. Next question.

Just kidding. And just to be sure we're on the same page, you are talking about table-top RPGs, right, not the weird stuff between consenting adults? (Because in that case, the answer would be no. *grins*)

A few examples, the entire cast of Last Chance School for Girls comes from characters created for the Cyber Age Adventures Role Playing Game. And the character Frique, from my short story, "Angels of Their Better Nature," (collected in Show Me a Hero, both in trade paperback and ebook) originated in one of three Play by Email (PBeM) RPGs I once ran for a year or so for iHero Entertainment.

Ms. Futura

How did you come up with the idea for the character 

Ms. Futura from the iHero story "Sin and Error Pining"?

The notion of the character came before the actual character herself. What do I mean by that?

Well, I wanted to create a character to throw away in the sense that she was going to be a one-note bit player, not to be seen again.

You see, I wanted to explore the idea of what makes a hero heroic. I've always believed that it's not the powers or costumes or white hats -- it's the consistent ethic of self-sacrifice that defines the hero. (At least that's the way I see it. Your mileage my vary.)

So I wanted a character who didn't even make it to the end of her origin. She'd learn the hard way that sometimes that act of sacrifice happens the first time out of blocks, and sometimes even before the beginning of a hero's "Year One" story.

Having that, it was a matter (or so I thought) of just painting by the numbers to fill in the blanks and finish the story.

But... (There's always a but, right?)

I sort of fell in love with the character. I looked for every opportunity to save her. I really did. I tried every story nook and story cranny to find her a safe place for her to to survive the tale.

Only, to do so would mean she ceased to be a hero.

So I resigned her to her fate and threw her lifeless corpse to the dogs. All for the best. Or at least I keep telling myself that. I really do.

Villains and Heroes -- Viva La Difference!

As a writer, how do you approach your villains differently than when writing your heroes?

Honestly, I try not to write them differently at all. They both need to have drives and goals and hurdles to overcome to accomplish those goals.

The main difference is that I get to walk on the dark side when I write the villains, so their actions can be vile or sick or antisocial.

Perhaps one of my favorite villains that I've written is the husband of the heroine Ambient Sky (in the story "The Other, As Just As Fair" in Show Me a Hero). He isn't really evil, but his drive to protect his children becomes the very thing that puts them at risk (and ruins her life) when he outs his own wife as a superhero in order to win custody in their divorce settlement.

Feet of Clay

How important is it that your hero have "feet of clay"? 

For me it's not just important, it's crucial if I want my heroes to be believable. Some of the best advice I ever got about writing comes from Chuck Dixon, and it has served me well throughout my career: Give your villain a likeable trait, and give your hero a dislikeable trait. Those aren't his exact words, but that's the gist of it.

Give your hero feet of clay. Make them struggle with something, and for my money, why not a moral issue?

Case in point,  in my SHOW ME A HERO collection, the Grandstander is a flamboyant and arrogant jackass who's only super power is that he knows the exact moment of his death and has a sort of carte blanche with his actions until that day happens, and he abuses his "power" to impress people. But not without ultimately doing the right thing.

I prefer to write my characters along a continuum rather than a clear line in the sand. My bad guys can be a little good, and my good guys have to be a little bad, or they're just not that interesting to me as a reader or as a writer.

Writing Super Heroes

What is it about writing super hero stories that appeals to you?

I love super heroes. I have ever since I first saw the trash can Iron Man beat up on the bad guys. I have since I first read about Superman stopping asteroids from hitting the earth (as opposed to meteorites).

But even as I grew up and realized their adventures were a little hokey and campy from time to time (or more often than that), I couldn't help but still love them. They exemplified the image of the sacrificial martyr putting himself or herself on the line for the greater good, the person willing to die in order to save others. I couldn't help but love that.

So why do I love to write and read super hero stories? Because I think they're still one of the best settings we have to tell stories about people making complex decisions that can tell us about ourselves. (All while beating up bad guys and stopping asteroids, of course.)