T-roy Talks – Conversations with a Cephalopod #2

For the second episode of the T-roy Talks, the hilarious Steven Luna has joined this circus of idiocy! Author of Joe Vampire which is now available on Amazon, B&N and several other places on the computer machines, Stephen is represented by Booktrope Publishing and is already hard at work on the sequel! I had a little fireside chat with Mr. Luna in which he expounded on his writing talents and plans:

Episode #2 – Steven Luna - Conversations with a Intergalactic Cephalopod and a Down and Out Vampire

-Tell us a little about yourself. What are the sacred beginnings of the Luna?

The Luna began in Brooklyn, tumbling lazily into the world with a twin at his side. Two years later, their clan sailed overland westly and landed in Arizona, unofficially known as the Flip Flop state. His imagination was full-blown from the beginning, and forty two years in he’s just barely begun digging in the clay. In between, he tripped and fell into a degree in psychology and taught himself to play the piano and draw stuff in addition to writing down stories. Or something like that. Is that even what you meant by this question? I could totally do better if not…

-What made you write Joe Vampire?

Joe began as a character blog. A Twilight-er friend made a comment about something (I don’t remember what it was now), and my answer was “Not all the vampires sparkle; some of them are just average Joes”. It made me wonder how a contemporary dude would handle being saddle with something like being a vampire. The answer, of course, was that he’d blab about it on the internet. So that’s what he did, in a character blog called – yes – Joe Vampire. He was talking about what a raw deal it is to be stuck with this condition, while sharing details about his life. At about post 9, I recognized a story emerging and decided to make it a novel instead. And now it’s a series. I guess Joe (or I) have a lot to say about the subject of vampires. Prior to this, we had no clue about them.

-How long have you been scribbling words?

I really caught the scribbling bug around seventh grade. I wrote really bad poems, which led to really bad lyrics for songs that never materialized. That led to slightly less-bad poems, and my senior year in high school I actually made my teacher cry with a summarization of “To The Lighthouse” by Virginia Woolfe, rewritten in verse form. He insisted it was a good crying, so I kinda figured I must have improved a bit. I started taking it a little more seriously at that point.

-You’re also a talented artist. Any plans to expand on that too?

Pre-Joe, I had an online art studio that was a lot of fun, but a TON of work. It turned art into drudgery, and I really tried to keep it a positive experience, but it just turned out to be a grind overall. That isn’t at all what I want from my creative endeavors, so I figure any visual art I create from now on will arise out of personal enjoyment. Haven’t painted since I started writing again…though I am toying around with the idea of a Joe Vampire comic strip at the moment. We’ll see how that goes.

-What’s on the horizon for you?

There’s a finished sequel to Joe Vampire, called – appropriately enough - Joe Vampire 2: The Afterlife. I’m cleaning it up a bit before sending it off to my radical future-facing publisher Booktrope for editing and production. Hopefully it’ll roll out by late autumn. I’m also knee-deep in a new character, a rock star alien abductee, for a book called Starstruck. He’s a mash-up of all the rock and roll/music business folk lore we’ve all heard over the past forty years, and he’s a blast to write; the book is a mock autobiography/memoir of his life and times in show business blended with an account of his abduction. Aiming for a spring 2013 release for that. And then, work begins in earnest on Joe Vampire 3, hopefully to be ready by summer 2013.

-What is one of your biggest goals in this writing life?

I used to think that unless I could illuminate some hidden aspects of the human condition through my writing that it wouldn’t be worth doing. I’m sure every writer goes through a phase like this. As I pushed through figuring out how to turn a story into a book, I realized that what I really want to do more than anything is to entertain people with my writing. I think one of the most important needs any artist can fulfill for those who experience their work is to shift the viewer’s perception toward something more whimsical, whether through humor or drama or fantasy. It doesn’t necessarily have to impart wisdom; it just has to take them out of the prosaic for a while. So now, that’s my biggest goal: to have people walk away from my work having been entertained by it. And if I entertain myself while creating it, then everybody wins!

-What’s your favorite song right now?

It changes from moment to moment, but I’m really digging “It’s Time” by a new band called Imagine Dragons. It’s catchy and anthemic, and has some kind of mandolin thing going on, which you don’t hear too much of these days. Comes to a big, stompy, drum-tastic chorus, too. Love that. I’m also kind of stuck on “Madness”, the new tune by Muse. It’s like the best U2 song that U2 never wrote, shoved through a Prince-and-Queen filter and sythed to the gills. It’s an earworm, I tell you. Earworm.

-What line of prose are you the most proud of?

I really like the tagline for Joe: Just a dude who’ll never die, trying to figure out how to live. There’s a lot of meaning jammed into that single sentence. Another one I’m very happy with comes from my middle-grade fantasy, a quote from an author in the story describing how he brought his imaginary world to life: They had been there all along, waiting just beneath the surface; with my pen, I set them all free... That pretty much sums up our work as writers and artists, I think – the empty page holds limitless potential; we just need to draw it out.

-What would you like to be remembered for?

Making people laugh and think at the same time. You probably thought I was going to say “The eyebrow thing”, huh?

-Are you happy?

Absolutely. I consider happiness a choice, not a coincidence. It’s a direct result of unconditional gratitude, which is also a choice. Is that too hippie-ish or psycho-babbly? I could change it to, “When I’m jacked up on candy,” if that sounds better…

-Where else can we find him?

Well, the blog, which is now a resource for indie and small-press authors, readers, and supporters in addition to JoeNews: http://joevampire.blogspot.com/

The Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoeVampireBlog

The Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thestevenluna

The Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...

And folks can check in on http://www.booktrope.com/ while they’re internetting to find out more about the company and the other stellar authors they publish.

And here is a link to Joe himself: http://www.amazon.com/Joe-Vampire-Ste...