The Divine Discontent of Max Talley
Max Talley
Max’s latest book, Destroy Me Gently, Please is available at Bookshop.org, Powell's, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon, or can be ordered at your local bookstore.
For more information on Max's writing and art, www.maxtalley.com
SBLJ: You grew up in Manhattan, but have made most of your life in Santa Barbara, with moments of retreat to Santa Fe. Why did you leave the ‘big city?’ And why come to California?
I lived the longest in or nearby Manhattan. When I left in the 1990s, I was sick of the noise, pollution, and lack of nature. I first moved to Carmel and Monterey, then in 2001, traveled to Santa Barbara. I've had a three-year sojourn to Big Sur, and bought a condo with the idea of moving to Santa Fe. I do miss New York City, but it's extremely expensive and is far removed from the place I grew up in. I guess I'm restless and also have that divine discontent where you think somewhere, something better is happening. Santa Barbara is beautiful and generally a very comfortable climate to live in. It is far from an artists' community though, so I will always imagine a creative life among writers, painters, musicians, and eccentrics somewhere else, whether Portland or Mendocino or some imaginary Bohemia. I've learned from Big Sur though, that it's best to visit, spend a month living somewhere, before committing to moving or buying a home.
SBLJ: The stories in your new collection are often poignant, sometimes surreal, occasionally nostalgic. And they can range from moments of thoughtful introspection, to cutting social commentary, to places of deep personal upheaval, to otherworldly lands of discontent. Such an extraordinary range of narrative subjects and characters. I can always count on something unexpected. Where do these stories come from?
Hmmm... A restless brain. I think it's observations of life, and imagining other people's lives. Sometimes we bemoan our jobs or circumstances, but to try to think of what it's like to be a server at say IHOP, or a teenage desk clerk at a small town motel. That takes me out of my head and gives me more sympathy for other individuals I encounter. My favorite characters to write are basically decent and moral people who make mistakes or transgress. I like the duality, where good people confront their flaws. I also occasionally write about characters who are unaware that they are human wrecking balls, like Brad in "Ruby of Hesperia." Most stories in Destroy Me Gently, Please, give the possibility that the protagonists will change for the better, dig themselves out of a ditch. Other stories involve stubborn characters who know better, but shamble forward on a hellish path. I don't consider them heroes, but they relate to certain folks I've encountered in life. And depicting truth is more important to me than "everyone needs to be likable" or "happily ever after" endings. I think many of my stories are character studies about how people act under stress.
SBLJ: Share with us about some of your favorite authors, and their influences on your writing and your life.
I love Denis Johnson, Joan Didion, Don DeLillo, Hunter S. Thompson, Kurt Vonnegut, Aimee Bender, Kafka and Gogol, but there are dozens more. I like writers with a definite style and voice, something that grabs you and carries you along as their train of thought goes barreling down the tracks. I usually buy as many books by my favorite authors as I can, but what interests me, is that some books are well-written, good novels, but I remain a reader staring at print on a white page. Then each favorite writer has a few books, that for whatever reason, sucks me right into them, so I'm immersed in another world, not a human reading a book on a chair. When I come out of those novels, it's like exiting a movie theater after you see a Fellini or David Lynch film. The whole world seems different, because your mind has been altered. I think It's essential to be a voracious reader and a fan of great writers if you hope to ever be a fine writer yourself.
4. Destroy Me Gently, Please has recently landed on bookstore shelves and online sites. Your hippie crime novel Peace, Love, and Haight, set in 1969 arrives in mid-October. What should we expect in the future? More short stories? Another novel? Where will you take us next?
That depends on publishers. You and I were in a fantastic writing group together, so you know I wrote a short story a month for years, until I compiled a hundred stories. I have enough material for two more collections, one literary, one speculative. I have a surreal desert travel novel called The Duke of Barstow which I'd love to get published next. And I'm 65,000 words into a novel set in the NYC of 1972, about an atheist priest, a confrontational comedian following in the footsteps of Lenny Bruce, and a go-go dancer. Have no idea what brave publisher will connect with that or when. Thank you for your questions, Nick. You and SBLJ are treasures and I can't wait for your novel.
Destroy Me Gently, Please is available at Bookshop.org, Powell's, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon, or can be ordered at your local bookstore. For more information on Max's writing and art, www.maxtalley.com