Live Free or DIY

One thing that definitely informs my writing self is Punk. Not in the strident stancemongering of latter-day punks these days, but in that my youthful roots (christ, a lifetime ago, specifically from 1987 onward).

Punk impacted me majorly as a kid. I absolutely dug it, and I still do (although not as zealously as I did as a teen). Even though I bitterly reflect on just how dead Punk is, and how Metal ultimately prevailed as the go-to rebellious counterculture (a retrograde issue, because there was a time when Punks and Metal kind of vied for that ultimate outsider place, with Punks as the surburban ragers and the Metalheads as the working class rebels).

When I was a teen, Punk was a magical whirlwind of nihilistic, revolutionary rage that absolutely suited my rebellious adolescent temperament. The old-school bands of that day hit a nerve for me and remain dear to me, even as in my far mellower fogeydom, I have long since made my peace with Metal, which has its own charm and intensity.

I could go on and on about that, but I'm keeping focused on how Punk impacted my writing. The idea of "Punk is an attitude" has always stuck with me -- that drive for authentic and original, uncompromising expression, resentment of authority, loathing of posing, the DIY aesthetic, etc.

The DIY in particular stuck with me -- you want XYZ? DIY it. Make it yourself. Go for it, no compromises. Get after it. The flip side of DIY is most of it is crap. But there was always possibility rooted in DIY that the corporate slickwads were too afraid to touch. The energy and anger and originality of Punk remains.

I'd like to think that spirit infuses my writing, too -- Punk Lit endures with my work, wherever I take it, whatever I write (specifically within Horror and Science Fiction). It's why I worked with The Jestress to form Nosetouch Press, which was a declaration of intent and a DIY stance as there ever was. Indie or bust!

Sure, some might sniff at self-publishing, but they're norms, squares, and cowards.

For a Punk, self-publishing is pure DIY. I mean, bands like Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, and Minor Threat formed their own record labels because they knew what they were creating would not get heard through the corporate industrial channels.

They absolutely self-produced their own music (aka, musical self-publishing), and carved out their niche based on their vision of what they wanted to play, how they wanted to play it. Their efforts birthed an entire indie and alternative music movement. From my POV, DIY was a logical, no-compromise way to go. I respect that, and always will.

Punk aesthetics meant doing your own thing, your own way, and striving toward true originality on your own terms (and, yes, in the larger cultural conversation, it was almost totally corrupted by corporate conformity, but I still honor the romantic spirit it represented). It definitely fueled the genesis of NP, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

And, sure, I'm going to try to find trad markets for some thriller work I'm doing -- my punky teen self would kick my ass for doing it, but I'm still going to try, even though I wonder if/whether I'll ever write something that the mainstream normies will appreciate -- I operate way outside the boundaries of normalcy, while masquerading as comprehensible in order to survive.

Maybe that's part of my literary persona -- one time, at an anarcho get-together in the 90s, one of them said to me "Man, Dave, nobody would ever guess you're as radical as you are. You just *look* so all-American," and I just smiled and said "Yeah, that's one of my secret weapons -- I don't wear my rebellion on my shirtsleeves and lapels, but it's always in me").

Maybe my work'll compel with wider audiences, maybe not. My attitude will still always be there, even if it's coated in affability. Part of me tries just to see what'll happen, which is a bit of my old Punk self indulging in a little artful chaos. Those who feel it know that impulse.