Many of you may be very aware of the prolific Gene O’Neill - for others, this might be the introduction. My first face-to-face meeting was at a Horrorfind weekend. It was a combined reading with Tom Monteleone leading the way - and Gene following. I was impressed by his enthusiasm, and the passion he showed for his work - and the reading itself was entertaining and engaging. Recently I had a chance to read and review his upcoming novella - “The Confessions of St. Zach,” and I knew I was going to have to ask him a few pointed questions. I’m sharing those - and his answers, with you all! First, some notes on Gene’s publishing past… You can buy your own copy of The Confessions of St. Zach at the Horror Mall by clicking the cover image on the right.

SHORT STORIES:
95 or so short stories published in various magazines, anthologies, websites, perhaps most notably in the magazines: DRAGON, THE TWILIGHT ZONE (2), F & SF (6), SCIENCE FICTION AGE(5), CEMETERY DANCE (3), DARK WISDOM (4) and in anthologies like, DEAD CAT BOUNCING, DEAD END: CITY LIMITS, NEW DARK VOICES, BEYOND HORROR II, and BORDERLANDS 5. A number of these stories have garnered Nebula or Stoker recommendations, four have been reprinted from F & SF in Spain, France, and Russia, and 50 plus are currently posted on fictionwise.com. “Balance” was a 2007 Stoker finalist.

COLLECTIONS:
Some of the above short stories have been reprinted in the two collections, GHOSTS, SPIRITS, COMPUTERS, and WORLD MACHINES, and THE GRAND STRUGGLE (both collections from Prime Books are currently out of print). TWO novels in COLLECTED TALES OF THE BAJA EXPRESS just released by Delirium Books in a limited, signed HB (out of print).

NOVELS:
THE BURDEN OF INDIGO—After the Collapse, criminals are dyed and banned from the Shields to wander Cal Wild, the reds the violent offenders, the greens the thieves, the blues the sex criminals. Story is about an indigo man who has been wandering over thirty years, and believes his color is beginning to fade. Dark science fantasy. (Currently out of print from Prime)

SHADOW OF THE DARK ANGEL—Sam hears the voices of the Light Angel and the Dark Angel. The Dark Angel encourages him to bad things…very bad things. Dark fantasy/thriller. (Currently out of print from Prime).

DEATHFLASH–A young man from an Arkansas religious cult has the ability to see the soul flash from the body at the moment of death. Unfortunately the experience is addictive, and the Shepherd flees the cult, ending up in San Francisco, dispatching members of the underclass. Four unusual chapters on heroin addiction woven into story line. Dark fantasy/mystery (looking for publisher)

LOST TRIBE–An extension of the critically acclaimed novella, WHITE TRIBE –published by Elder Signs Press and in print (at publisher now).

AND NOW THE INTERVIEW!

DNW: In The Confessions of St. Zach, you dwell a great deal on the relationship between father and son. Though the wife is there, it seems to me that the adult relationship takes second fiddle. Is this something you did consciously?

Gene: I wanted to focus on the family unit, the wife actually the strength
of this unit. But obviously the bond between father and son is most revealing because of the eventual *loss* of both his wife and son–the son perhaps to something more devastating than death. The loss of his humanity. This idea of loss, of course runs through the story. With possible redemption being the kicker at the end. Loss and redemption seem to be thematic material I can’t escape. An obsession I often return to.

DNW: Can you talk about how you conceived the breakdown of the survivor’s moral structure and the reversion to barbarism in The Confessions of St. Zach? It seemed very swift in the story - and very complete…faster, maybe, than I anticipated. What thought process led you through it?

Gene: I think that the cozy med-camp as a kind of utopia during the
post-apocalyptic devolution is ill-fated from the start. Because of some lucky breaks the camp remains civilized perhaps longer than might be predicted. Finding food and medicine early on at the destroyed warehouses and hospital was just a stroke of good fortune. The journal entries, which relate, I think to the title, are actually spaced out in time, but seem to come rapidly. I think that this fairly rapid atavistic response to what is happening around them is probably a normal survival mechanism. I know that folks like myself and Dave, who’ve served in the military, may have witnessed this reaction first hand and not be quite so surprised at the quickness of the devolution here.

DNW: This work has the feel of a small part of something much bigger. I really felt the story was STARTING at the end…is there more? I think the tale of his redemption, and travels, might make a ton of short stories, or a novel…

Gene: Initially I planned the story as much shorter–devolution and redemption. But the story grew. And even though it wasn’t planned, I think there may indeed be a whole book of stories about St. Zach’s travels here. CHRONICLES OF ST. ZACH? Start each with a journal entry? Or perhaps just a book of adventures. This kind of expansion/potential expansion is typical for me. In fact an editor/writer (Alan Ryan) once told me that all my short stories were really synopses for novels.

DNW: There are a lot of military bases and areas where this attack could have taken place…is there a particular reason you chose to level the part of California you did, and to have your family up in those particular mountains for safety?

Gene: My in-laws actually lived at one time on that place on Mt. George in the Napa Valley. I grew up in Vallejo, at a federal housing ghetto in the shadows of cranes from Mare Island Naval Shipyard. The conception of the story began as kind of a tongue-in-cheek revenge for something that happened to me long ago. I grew up a jock, playing football, basketball, baseball, and boxing at the rec center in Chabot Terrace (federal housing). When I was in the 9th grade I went out for Hogan Jr. High football. After the physical I had to report to the coach–who knew me well from the teams at the center. He informed me I couldn’t play that year. Vallejo City, Vallejo School district, Hogan Jr. High had an inflexible rule: You needed to weigh 100 pounds to play organized football. I weighed 95 pounds, and didn’t get to play that year. I never forgave the city powers that be. When Jake first travels across Vallejo,
he stops and contemplates the total devastation.

DNW: Standard question. You have one day to find inspiration for a new story or book. You can have access to a library of all the world’s books - a studio with all the world’s music at your fingertips, or a magic car to take you anywhere you want for the day. What do you choose, and why?

Gene: It would have to be re-reading some favorite book(s). I find inspiration from books where the protagonist transcends his perhaps apparently dreadful circumstances. THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA and ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF IVAN DENISOVICH are two stories that never fail to inspire me. I’ve even had them sent to someone I knew in prison–twice.

Speaking of prison, I like several prison writers. Edward Bunker (he played Mr. Blue in Reservoir Dogs) is one of the better prison writers, much of his stuff inspirational in a funny kind of way. He spent most of his young adult life in the California Prison System, but came out and became a novelist, screen writer, and character actor. One of his best books is NO BEAST SO FIERCE, which Dustin Hoffman made into a movie–Going Straight, something like that.

BONUS QUESTION: Can you talk a bit about the character’s love of literature, and the authors you mention - what those authors have meant to you? (This is a variation of the dreaded influences question)

Gene: Jake is an English professor, a humanist. He likes some obscure now, but solid humanist writers. Hubert Selby Junior, who was a novelist and poet, often reading during Henry Rollins’ stand up rants. He’s much admired by some of the punk rockers, perhaps because he struggled so much with drug addiction himself. LAST EXIT FROM BROOKLYN and REQUIEM FOR A DREAM are probably his best known books. He writes about the underclass, often making poor judgments, caught up in alcoholism, addiction, and paying for their sins in a kind of Greek Classical Tragedy way. Nelson Algren, spent most of his life by choice in a Polish ghetto in Chicago, writing about whores, junkies, gamblers, scam artists, petty criminals. Not really glorifying them, but bringing them to the attention of the reading public. Two of his best books are THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM and A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE. Ever writer should read his posthumously published: ON NON-CONFORMITY: Writing on writing. Of course these are two writers I admire along with dark fiction folks like Shirley Jackson, Ruald Dahl, and Ted Klein. Currently I’m writing a book, NOT FADE AWAY, that takes place in San Francisco’s Tenderloin–Selby and Algren would probably like it.

–end