Author Interview – Darren O. Godfrey

Strange Invasion is, well, strange. Where did the idea for gravy-boat shaped alien ships with long, sticky tongues come from? On a related note, and you don’t have to answer if you prefer it to remain a mystery, but did the scorpions rise to defend the earth from the invasion, or were they acting more with a rats-fleeing-a-sinking-ship mentality?

It’s all about “picturing it” with this story. So, picture it: a perfect summer day, a beautiful green golf course. I was playing the back nine with my step-dad, my ball resting about 20 yards from the 13th green. That’s when I pictured it – my shot, I mean. It went just as the shot described in the story (rare for me), though nothing burst forth from the hole to stop the ball. However, that arachnid-filled scenario played out in my head on the way to the next hole. Then, during play on the 15th hole, I envisioned an alien invasion (while I should have been concentrating on my game, but, well, as a better writer than I once put it, the mind’s a monkey). It occurred to me then to try and transport myself into the skin of my step-dad to see how he might handle such a thing. The next morning, at my desk, it all came together and I wrote it. I have no idea why the ships are gravy-boat shaped, nor why they have sticky tongues – that’s just how I pictured it. (I suspect, but don’t know for certain, that the scorpions are in cahoots with the aliens.)

What is your writing process like typically? Or do you have a different process for every story?

I had a normal writing process, once upon a time: up at 5:30, at my desk by 6:00, write till noon or when I’ve hit the 2,000-word mark, whichever came first. These days, though, the process seems to change not only from one story to the next, but from one day to the next. I get the writing in whenever, and wherever, I can.

What is your favorite piece of insect-related fiction?

Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. I also get a kick out of King’s “They’re Creeping up on You” from the film Creepshow.

As we mature, our relationship with the creepy-crawly elements of the world changes, as does our emotional (and sometimes physical) response. Can you tell us one early or notable experience you’ve had with bugs that helped shape how you view them?

Picture it: a very old, rusted-out hulk of a car lying upside down in a field. I was eleven years old and curious as all get-out. (Which is what I should have done: got out.) I saw it and couldn’t resist. I dropped to all fours and crawled inside, not knowing that a wolf spider the size of a grown man’s hand was waiting for me. I’d rather not say much more (ick! It was bad), but the bite on the back of my neck swelled up to the size of a …well, a golf ball.

What have you read recently/what are you reading currently/what is on your TBR pile that you’re excited about?

I’m venturing, for about the fifth time, into what is often called “the blue rose trilogy” by Peter Straub. It consists of Koko, Mystery, and The Throat. There are also some short stories that factor into the mix: “Blue Rose”, “The Juniper Tree”, “The Ghost Village”, and “Bunny is Good Bread” (this last under the title of “Fee” in Borderlands 4). I’ve reread all but the last half of The Throat, so it’s almost over. Again. Which makes me sad.

What are you working on now/what do you have upcoming that you want people to know about?

I’m trying very hard to finish a novel, but I’m getting my butt kicked. Meanwhile, a story of mine, “Recess” was selected by Mort Castle for his All-American Horror of the 21st Century, the First Decade. This anthology is said to feature “the best short horror fiction published by magazines, anthologies, and web sites spanning the years 2000 – 2010,” and deals with “uniquely American” themes and subjects. I don’t know about mine being “the best” of anything, but I look forward to reading the book.

We all start somewhere, and the learning curve from first publication is a steep one. What’s your first ever published work, and how do you feel about it now?

The first ever was “A Snowman’s Chance in Hell” in the Goofus Office Gazette. I still like the humor of the piece, but the writing’s not so hot (pun intended). Oddly enough, though, I feel better about it than I do my first professional publication: “Clam Bake at Opaque Lake”. I wish I had that one back.

Since we’re coming up on the holiday season, and there’s no escaping it – what is your favorite holiday-related entertainment (movie, TV special, song/album, book or story)? What is your least favorite?

Favorite is Scrooge, starring the inimitable Albert Finney. I quite like all adaptations of Dickens’s classic A Christmas Carol, but this version has clever, catchy songs, a brilliant Alec Guinness as Jacob Marley, and the most sagacious Ghost of Christmas Present ever. I also thought the little side-trip in hell was hilarious.

Least favorite? Next to the flood of holiday-related, money-grubbing TV advertising, I’d have to say Grandma Got Run-Over by a Reindeer. Idiotic song made into an even more idiotic animated movie.

One of the perennial points of contention in the world revolves around education – who should get educated (and to what degree), what should be taught, who should be excluded. Meanwhile, children in their classrooms ask, “Why do I need to know this?” Tell us one obscure thing you learned in school that you think is important, and why.

Unfortunately, I didn’t learn it till after school. I spent a good deal of my time, you see, asking “Why do I need to know this?” I had no idea that the very process of schooling, of absorbing information (whether it’s needed or not) is so integral to the development of not only one’s intelligence, but one’s character.

I wish someone had been able to get that into my head at an earlier age. Parents and teachers who demand you do something just “because I said so” are not really helping. Grasping and putting to use a variety of information really qualifies the difference between living a flat, insipid existence and one that is robust and well-rounded.

We all have our favorite authors, some of whom everyone has heard of, and some of whom are relatively obscure. Who is one of the more obscure writers you love? What do you love about their work? Tell us which story or novel of theirs we should drop everything to read right now.

David Goodis comes immediately to mind: he was a crime writer who started out in the late 30s, was fairly productive through the 40s and 50s. I’ve always liked the old pulp-era, tough-guy stories of Hammett, Cain and others. Goodis’s work, though, seems a bit different. Seductive, hypnotic, and just a little…off. In a good way.

One French publication (I think he sold better in France than America) termed his work “noir-stained existentialism.” A good description.

My favorites of his are the novel Dark Passage (originally serialized in The Saturday Evening Post, and later made into a Bogart & Bacall movie) and the short stories “Black Pudding” and “It’s a Wise Cadaver”.