Enter the Octopus

Daryl Gregory just published his first novel, “Pandemonium,” a sci-fi/alt.history mashup set in a world where demonic possession is an everyday occurrence. Check out my review here after you read this interview:

Tell me a little about yourself. Where are you from? Where do you live now? Is writing your sole job or do you do something on the side? What’s a typical day for you?

I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, which may be evident in Pandemonium, but I’ve spent most of the last 18 years in State College, Pennsylvania. I call myself a full-time writer, because I spend half the day writing C# code for a software company, and the other half writing fiction in the local Starbucks. It’s a pretty good life.

What were you like as a kid? Would I have guessed that you would grow up to be a writer had I known you then?

I think it’s no surprise to anyone that I wanted to become a writer, mostly because I kept telling people that I was going to become a writer. What wasn’t so clear was if I had the discipline to work at it. After my first novel at age 12 (an eight-page masterpiece published by Daryl Gregory, with cover art by Daryl Gregory), I spent more time talking about writing than actually writing. Which I still find easier. Like now, for instance.

Tell me about “Pandemonium.” What’s the story? When did you first conceive of this plot? Was there something that inspired you?

Pandemonium is science fiction / fantasy / horror / alternate history novel (take your pick) set in an America like our own, except that demonic possession has been a regular occurrence since the 1940’s. But “possession” and “demon” are just terms to describe what no one understands. Possession may be a psychological disorder, a neurological quirk, divine invasion, or something weirder. The demons are alternate personalities that look and act like archetypes from the collective unconscious, but dressed up in pop cultural clothing. They’re comic book heroes, pulp action figures, Lovecraftian monsters, and characters from American folklore.

The story begins when Del Pierce comes home, looking for an exorcism. Del was possessed when he was five by a demon called The Hellion, who is a more violent version of Dennis the Menace or the Katzenjammer Kids. Del thought he got rid of it, but now, in his 20’s, he realized he only suppressed it, and now it’s breaking out at night. He’s on a quest to get rid of it by any means necessary, and along the way he begins to unravel what the demons are.

Speaking of inspiration, there are a lot of nods to geek culture in your novel: comic books, Golden Age SF, Lovecraft. How much of this accurately reflects your personal interests?

All of it. I’m naked, here. But especially the comic books. I grew up reading comics, mostly Marvel (because DC was too musty back then for me and my friends—until the New Teen Titans came along). The conversations that Del and his brother have about superheroes, and about creating their own comics, are near transcriptions of every geeked-out conversation I had between the ages of 10 and, well, now.

When I started thinking about the novel, I realized I had a golden opportunity to write about all the characters and types of stories I loved. Then it was a matter of making a list and doing my best to jam them all into one novel. If it looks like I was having a little too much fun, it’s because I was.

The story deals heavily in archetypal characters. Were you at all familiar with C.G. Jung’s work before you began? Have you read “The Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious” or any of his other seminal works?

I was casually aware of Jung, in that archetypes and the collective unconscious are so heavily referenced in literary theory—and so woven into the themes of fantastic fiction—that it was impossible not to know something about them. When I realized that this book was going to grapple with these ideas more directly, I went back and started reading Jung, and especially the people who were arguing with him, or writing biographies about him. I think most of his ideas are pretty nutty. Depending on whom he was talking to and when you asked him, Jung believed in UFOs, telepathy, ghosts, and who knows what else. If he was talking with academics or the mainstream press, he would couch these ideas as metaphors. But in his letters and among friends, it was clear that there were periods in his life in which he deeply believed in the paranormal, and thought that the supernatural explained his own experience of the world, especially when he was trying to understand his own mental breakdown.

Do you have any personal theories about why real archetypes appear over and over again in stories?

I think that’s the definition of an archetype: things that appear over and over again in stories. The question is, where do these recurring patterns come from?

In real life I’m a materialist who’s pretty convinced that our most enticing beliefs—about self, God, and the persistence of a soul outside the body—are illusions generated by the jerry-built biology of our brains. I’m much more likely to find the source of archetypes not in the stars, but in ourselves.

Because all humans are running pretty much the same software on pretty much the same hardware, and have grown up in cultures that are more similar than different, it would be a miracle if there weren’t patterns that showed up over and over through the centuries: mothers, fathers, lovers, tricksters. I imagine that dolphin novels are full of archetypal sharks and feature a lot of swimming.

All that said, I’m more than happy to take Jung’s ideas, throw them together with a little Philip K. Dick and Jack “King” Kirby, and see what kind of fictional salad comes out.

P.K. Dick makes an appearance in “Pandemonium.” With Thomas M. Disch’s “The Word of God” also featuring a fictional Dick this seems to be a banner year for fictionalizing Phil. What led you to bring him into the story, and what makes him a good character?

Dick brought this on himself. Once he featured himself as a character in Valis—well, two characters, actually—he became the archetype for the writer lost in his own story. And once I realized that I was writing a mashup that could sample from every science fiction story I’ve ever read, it became impossible not to include him.

I have to ask: how much did you base Mother Mariette on Sinead O’Connor? I mean, she’s bald, Irish and a priest in a splinter faction of the Catholic church, all factors shared in common with O’Connor. Plus she has a ripped and taped together picture of the Pope in her home. Is there a story there?

I don’t know what you’re talking about. Just because Mother Mariette’s civilian name, Siobhan O’Connell, sounds a little like Sinead O’Connor, people get the wrong idea. And just because I have scenes in which O’Connell sings along to Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” and also speaks in dialog that quotes O’Connor’s lyrics, readers think there’s some connection. Frankly, I’m tired of it.

Though I do think that Sinead O’Connor is hot.

What was the best part of writing “Pandemonium?” What was the worst part?

There was a real joy in allowing my obsessions into the story. The difficulty was stopping them from taking over. I was very worried about keeping the story moving forward, and not spiraling down into My Own Private Idaho. My rule for myself was that I could allow any pop cultural reference into the book as long as it did not detract from the story. If your cultural referents happen to be mine, then wonderful—but if you didn’t happen to read Lovecraft or Dick or Captain America comics, then you still have to be able to follow the story and be engaged.

What’s next for you? Will we be revisiting Del, V.A.L.I.S. and the rest of the gang again? It seems like the novel left room for a sequel.

Science fiction is better than any other genre at opening up possibilities at the ends of novels, not closing them down. At the end of Pandemonium I wanted to provide some closure on Del’s story, but also suggest that there were more stories waiting to be told in that world, and that things were only going to get weirder.

So instead of writing more about Del and Valis, I wrote a completely unrelated novel. I’m calling it Southern Gothic Hard SF. The story hinges on quantum evolution, addictive empathy, and small-town politics. I don’t have a publication date yet.

Why should readers get out and pick up “Pandemonium?”

The only reason you should ever pick up a book—for the promise of a good time. If later you wake up hung over and remorseful and wondering what that lurid paperback is doing on your bedside table… hey, be more careful next time.

Also, I know that you’ve written a lot of short stories. If I’ve finished “Pandemonium” and I’m looking for something else to read by you where should I start? Are there a couple of stories that you’re particularly proud of?

I wouldn’t say “a lot.” Most science fiction writers can put me to shame. But if you liked the comic book references in Pandemonium, you may like “The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm,” which will be out in October, 2008 in Eclipse 2. [insert link] Imagine a minion’s-eye view of an army of superheroes flying into a third world county, turning the place to ruins, and then flying out. (Any similarities to the current adventure in Iraq are completely intentional.)

Also out in October will be a very short story called “Glass” that will be on the Technology Review Magazine site.  And my stories “Dead Horse Point” and “Unpossible” are appearing in a few year’s best anthologies on the shelves right now.

Going back in time, my best known story is probably “Second Person, Present Tense,” which won the Asimov’s Readers’ Choice Award and made the Nebula preliminary ballot. You can read that on the Asimov’s site.

Is there anything else you want to talk about?

Just this—thanks for having me!

Where can we go online to learn more about you and your work?

Stop by www.darylgregory.com. There are some free stories there as well.