Joining us today is author David Grant. David is the author of Corporate Porn, The Last Breakfast, and the short story collection Emotionless Souls. His latest release is the dual novel Bleach/Blackout.
Q: Welcome to Divine Caroline, David. It’s a pleasure to have you with us. Can you tell us where you got your start?
A: Silverthought Press published my first book, Corporate Porn, in 2005. Earlier this year Brown Paper Publishing published my short story collection, Emotionless Souls and novella, The Last Breakfast. Bleach|Blackout is my latest work, a double novel through Offense Mechanisms, an imprint of Silverthought Press.
Q: Tell us about Bleach/Blackout.
A: Bleach opens during the last sixty seconds of 2003 in a bathroom where a girl lay dying and a jaded thirty-year-old named Jeremy, who navigates the reader through the endless repulsiveness of the world, watches. The entire story builds up to the climax of the “The Party” on New Year’s Eve where all the men are dressed as prostitutes, all the women look like pimps, and decadence and debauchery dictate the rules. Everything seems to be spiraling out of control, and Jeremy realizes there are no guarantees for him or anyone else.
Blackout picks up two years after Bleach in Las Vegas, where Stoner and friends are celebrating his bachelor party complete with strippers and crack cocaine. The ride home is blurry and the next morning in Los Angeles brings a surprise when Stoner’s friends, Chip and Jeremy, wake to find police officers and a dead body they are allegedly responsible for, but neither can recall.
Q: Where did the idea for this book come from?
A: Bleach is somewhat autobiographical in terms of the main character (Jeremy) going back to the Midwest for the holidays. The stories within are a mix of actual events, stories from friends, and fiction. I’ll let the reader guess which areas are embellished. Blackout, written three years later, was more my curiosity of where these characters would be. Bleach ends on a somewhat sour note and I was curious to see where they were three years later and how they had changed, if any. As I wrote Blackout, the story was less jaded than Bleach; however, I believe I stayed true to the rule that people never totally change.
Q: Does your work attract many female readers?
A: When initially writing Bleach, I never considered my audience, not for one minute was this important to my writing of this book. Given this, I was pleasantly surprised when I found female readers enjoyed Bleach, and also the sequel, Blackout.
This book explores dealing with life in the present, whether it be through addiction, sex, or inane conversations around relationships. These issues are not gender related, but rather generation related. As Jeremy, the main character in Bleach states, “I grew up during the eighties and nineties sandwiched between the ME generation and generation X. I want money—I just don’t want to work for it.”
So far I have been overwhelmed by the positive response for Bleach/Blackout. I consider myself very lucky to be able to write the stories I want and make them available to those interested. The stories are written at break neck speed with pop culture and obscure references throughout. It’s as if you are reading a screenplay in paragraph format, but will not realize it until you are knee deep in it.
Q: Where can readers purchase a copy of Bleach/Blackout?
A: You can find the book at Amazon.com and on the publisher’s Web site.
Q: What’s up next for you?
A: In November my novella, Hollywood Ending, will be published by Brown Paper Publishing. I have just finished a novel and am working to complete a second collection of short stories.
