Q and A with Allan MacDonell
Another California-based writer I admire (who did a Q and A with me for this blog last fall), Michael Marcus, author of #1 Son and Other Stories), told me about Allan MacDonell's work recently. Michael's recommendation prompted me to pick up MacDonell's first book (he has 3 out now), Prisoner of X: 20 years in the Hole at Hustler Magazine. I couldn't put it down. Allan kindly agreed to do this Q and A with me.
1. Tell us a little about your book.
Prisoner of X: 20 Years in the Hole at Hustler Magazine chronicles how I clawed my way from entry-level proofreader to editorial overlord of Larry Flynt’s X-rated empire.
Sex and bad behaviors of all sorts are plastered all over the book.
Creeps and hoodlums and sycophants and some talented writers, photographers and artists act out and conspire and scheme behind the scenes. Celebrity cameos are sprinkled in. Often those celebrities are caught with their pants down and genitals in action.
For history buffs, Prisoner of X climaxes by revealing how Hustler tricked Speaker-elect Bob Livingston into resigning from the House of Representatives on the very same day that the House of Representatives voted to impeach Bill Clinton.
Still, don’t let me give you the idea that this story is a redemption cycle; it’s more a sinking swirl of irredeemable.
2. Did you have the book's structure in mind before you started or did it evolve?
In 2002, Larry Flynt fired me after I performed at a roast of him, performed at his command. A former editor told me, “Write the book! Just vomit it out! Start puking now, and puke until you’re done!”
I told Adam Parfrey, the publisher of Feral House Books, that I was thinking about puking out a book. During the years editing Hustler titles, I’d bought articles and stories written by Adam. He said, “Puke out the book. Feral House will put it out.”
Next, I was at a party, and a big-deal journalist, said: “Start the book with the roast, with the routine that Flynt fired you for. After the roast, go back to the beginning and work forward to the present time. End at the roast where you started.”
I liked that idea.
I’d taken a few workshops under the dictatorship of the great novelist John Rechy (City of Night). Rechy always stressed structure as a key to framing a cohesive longer work. Thinking about John’s direction, I broke the book into chapters corresponding to recurring features of Hustler magazine, from the cover to the table of contents and on into “Asshole of the Month,” “Hot Letters,” “Beaver Hunt,” all the way through special projects and “Coming Next.”
So it’s nothing I did on my own.
3. Prisoner of X has many hilarious moments. One of my favorites: "Mark Arnold...was in the odd position of needing a haircut and hair plugs at the same time," but also many instances of introspection and what I'd call melancholy - in that we see you coming to terms with addiction, divorce, and to put it mildly, an antagonistic work environment - what was the experience of writing Prisoner of X like? (am guessing you had to have a few extra hours of therapy while you were writing it).
Therapy was out of my price range, but I didn’t really need it. Since I was a kid, I’d wanted to write a book and have it published. As I wrote, I was working toward a goal that mattered to me. Writing, even about the low points, was almost fun. There was a purpose to it. I was putting my spin on public and private events. I was pulling back the curtain. Adam Parfrey at Feral House had given me a deadline. I had urgency. Anticipations were high. “This book is about to change my life! This book will land me the big jobs!”
4. What were some of the more memorable reactions to this book's publication?
Hustler magazine wrote me up as “Asshole of the Month.” The first word in the column contained two typos: The word was It’s. That’s about what I would have expected. The surprise came a few months later when Hustler’s “Feedback” section published a letter refuting the “Asshole of the Month” allegations against the book. Somebody half smart must have read it and realized that my story is not an attack on Hustler or on Larry.
5. You had a complicated relationship with the polarizing porn icon Larry Flynt, as anyone who reads the book will be able to tell from the start. Now that you've been away from Hustler for more than 15 years, what do you think about your time there (and your relationship with him)?
I was lucky to have the encouragement to take things too far that Larry Flynt provided, along with a fat paycheck. A lot of the individual liberties that are being chipped away today are only here to be eroded from all sides of the political spectrum because Larry Flynt sacrificed his money and his physical health and went to prison to keep fundamental constitutional freedoms alive. He and I have had zero contact since the September day in 2002 when he directed a human resources professional to fire me. I still kind of love the guy.
6. If this book were a film, it would doubtless receive an NC-17 rating. Writing about sex isn't easy for a lot of writers, but you know how to do it with aplomb - and of course were paid to by Hustler. All that aside, why do you think it's such a difficult topic for many to write about?
Sex scenes can get out of hand if the writer’s process is, “Hey, look! Let me show you how great I am at sex! The throbbing titillation of this slavering exposition will prove to you that I am the most fantastic fuck you have never met!”
7. What are you working on now?
I have a book of thematically linked short stories completed called Scary Parts. I’m working on finding an agent who will sell it.
Allan MacDonell’s Prisoner of X: 20 Years in the Hole at Hustler Magazine (Feral House, 2006) exploited his years running Larry Flynt’s pulp factory; Punk Elegies (Rare Bird, 2016) centered on characters and consequences met as a 20-year-old writing for 1970s punk zine Slash; and Now That I Am Gone (Rare Bird, 2018) is a memoir of people in his life as they carry on without him. Before all that, MacDonell studied creative writing at San Francisco State University.
1. Tell us a little about your book.
Prisoner of X: 20 Years in the Hole at Hustler Magazine chronicles how I clawed my way from entry-level proofreader to editorial overlord of Larry Flynt’s X-rated empire.
Sex and bad behaviors of all sorts are plastered all over the book.
Creeps and hoodlums and sycophants and some talented writers, photographers and artists act out and conspire and scheme behind the scenes. Celebrity cameos are sprinkled in. Often those celebrities are caught with their pants down and genitals in action.
For history buffs, Prisoner of X climaxes by revealing how Hustler tricked Speaker-elect Bob Livingston into resigning from the House of Representatives on the very same day that the House of Representatives voted to impeach Bill Clinton.
Still, don’t let me give you the idea that this story is a redemption cycle; it’s more a sinking swirl of irredeemable.
2. Did you have the book's structure in mind before you started or did it evolve?
In 2002, Larry Flynt fired me after I performed at a roast of him, performed at his command. A former editor told me, “Write the book! Just vomit it out! Start puking now, and puke until you’re done!”
I told Adam Parfrey, the publisher of Feral House Books, that I was thinking about puking out a book. During the years editing Hustler titles, I’d bought articles and stories written by Adam. He said, “Puke out the book. Feral House will put it out.”
Next, I was at a party, and a big-deal journalist, said: “Start the book with the roast, with the routine that Flynt fired you for. After the roast, go back to the beginning and work forward to the present time. End at the roast where you started.”
I liked that idea.
I’d taken a few workshops under the dictatorship of the great novelist John Rechy (City of Night). Rechy always stressed structure as a key to framing a cohesive longer work. Thinking about John’s direction, I broke the book into chapters corresponding to recurring features of Hustler magazine, from the cover to the table of contents and on into “Asshole of the Month,” “Hot Letters,” “Beaver Hunt,” all the way through special projects and “Coming Next.”
So it’s nothing I did on my own.
3. Prisoner of X has many hilarious moments. One of my favorites: "Mark Arnold...was in the odd position of needing a haircut and hair plugs at the same time," but also many instances of introspection and what I'd call melancholy - in that we see you coming to terms with addiction, divorce, and to put it mildly, an antagonistic work environment - what was the experience of writing Prisoner of X like? (am guessing you had to have a few extra hours of therapy while you were writing it).
Therapy was out of my price range, but I didn’t really need it. Since I was a kid, I’d wanted to write a book and have it published. As I wrote, I was working toward a goal that mattered to me. Writing, even about the low points, was almost fun. There was a purpose to it. I was putting my spin on public and private events. I was pulling back the curtain. Adam Parfrey at Feral House had given me a deadline. I had urgency. Anticipations were high. “This book is about to change my life! This book will land me the big jobs!”
4. What were some of the more memorable reactions to this book's publication?
Hustler magazine wrote me up as “Asshole of the Month.” The first word in the column contained two typos: The word was It’s. That’s about what I would have expected. The surprise came a few months later when Hustler’s “Feedback” section published a letter refuting the “Asshole of the Month” allegations against the book. Somebody half smart must have read it and realized that my story is not an attack on Hustler or on Larry.
5. You had a complicated relationship with the polarizing porn icon Larry Flynt, as anyone who reads the book will be able to tell from the start. Now that you've been away from Hustler for more than 15 years, what do you think about your time there (and your relationship with him)?
I was lucky to have the encouragement to take things too far that Larry Flynt provided, along with a fat paycheck. A lot of the individual liberties that are being chipped away today are only here to be eroded from all sides of the political spectrum because Larry Flynt sacrificed his money and his physical health and went to prison to keep fundamental constitutional freedoms alive. He and I have had zero contact since the September day in 2002 when he directed a human resources professional to fire me. I still kind of love the guy.
6. If this book were a film, it would doubtless receive an NC-17 rating. Writing about sex isn't easy for a lot of writers, but you know how to do it with aplomb - and of course were paid to by Hustler. All that aside, why do you think it's such a difficult topic for many to write about?
Sex scenes can get out of hand if the writer’s process is, “Hey, look! Let me show you how great I am at sex! The throbbing titillation of this slavering exposition will prove to you that I am the most fantastic fuck you have never met!”
7. What are you working on now?
I have a book of thematically linked short stories completed called Scary Parts. I’m working on finding an agent who will sell it.
Allan MacDonell’s Prisoner of X: 20 Years in the Hole at Hustler Magazine (Feral House, 2006) exploited his years running Larry Flynt’s pulp factory; Punk Elegies (Rare Bird, 2016) centered on characters and consequences met as a 20-year-old writing for 1970s punk zine Slash; and Now That I Am Gone (Rare Bird, 2018) is a memoir of people in his life as they carry on without him. Before all that, MacDonell studied creative writing at San Francisco State University.
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