Interview with AB Bard, author of 'The Killer Poet's Guide to Immortality'
Reclusive Seattle author AB Bard's poetry has twice been nominated for the Pushcart. He is the author under a pseudonym of two other hysterical novels, or perhaps historical novels, neither of which is funny. Mr. Bard is not now, nor has he ever been, a member of the Republican Party. Mr. Bard does not Tweet. He was awarded a sheepskin (BAaa) from Reed College Sleeper Cell. His one super power is the ability to repel all conventional measures of literary success. Mr. Bard is lap to a cat, pal to a girl, God to a dog, & dog to the Man.
Could you please tell us a little about your book?
The Killer Poet's Guide to Immortality is the story of a frustrated poet who becomes a serial killer in order to get read. The main character, AB Bard – also the pen name under which I wrote the book – sticks his poems to victims with a boot dagger. Things get out of hand quickly, as he becomes internationally notorious, spawning copycats who pin bad poetry to victims. He surrenders to the authorities, and is executed by lethal injection.
Then things really get wild. He is cryogenically frozen by his groupie/wife Yumi, and awakens hundreds of years later into a Bardic Theocracy in which he is worshipped as the second coming of Christ. You'll have to read the book to find out what happens next.
The Killer Poet's Guide to Immortality is a "Bardic Novel" – essentially a new genre in which full-throttle fiction is meshed with poetry to tell a story on multiple levels. It is neither a book-length poem nor a collection of short stories/essays interspersed with poetry; rather, it is literature for the 21st Century, glowing and phantasmagoric because it's all one muse.
Oh, and did I mention? It's funny. "Consistently laugh-out-loud hilarious" according to one reviewer.
Did something specific happen to prompt you to write this book?
I've written two historical novels of which I am quite proud – Just Deceits, a historical legal mystery set in 1792 Virginia; and Bones Beneath Our Feet, a historical novel of Puget Sound. Each took hundreds of hours of research before I could even begin to write.
I started doing some reading to prepare to write a third historical, but felt great heaviness. I wanted to write, free of the constraints of old dead stories. So I just let it all hang out, and The Killer Poet's Guide to Immortality is the result. It is a book of pure inspiration, channeled from the cosmos in about four months.
Who or what is the inspiration behind this book?
The biggest inspiration behind The Killer Poet's Guide to Immortality is the desire to unify my poet self with my novelist self. I write poetry and I write novels. When deep inside the work, it's all one muse. Why should they be so rigorously separated? Poetry is so intense that it is enriched by having some fiction to break it up. Fiction is fast and flirty; it is deepened and given new gravitas by its relationship to poetry. Just as physicists struggle to unify the quantum and macro fields, I was inspired to try to unify two important modes of literary expression.
But lest I sound too grandiose, I also wanted to have fun! I'd just finished a great big serious book about culture clash and war. It is an important book, and I'm glad I did it. But after struggling with so much reality, I wanted to give readers something funny, quirky, and surreal.
I will also add that it was so liberating to work in first person. My previous two books were omniscient narrator / third person, which is fine for historical fiction involving lots of characters. But getting inside the (insane) head of this poet/serial killer was fun. Extreme characters are simply the most interesting!
Who has influenced you throughout your career as a writer?
My high school creative writing teacher, Gladys LaFlamme Colburn, for her sweet nurturing of whatever angst-filled doggerel we shoveled her way. Yeats for revealing how beautiful words could be. Ferlinghetti for deconstructing Amerikkka. Ken Kesey and John Kennedy Toole for getting the insanity people call normality down in ink. Marvin Bell for the Dead Man who lives as if he were already dead. Dad for taking me hiking so I could see what's really important.
Do you have any advice for writers or readers?
For writers, write. Don't worry about what your mother, the grocer or some critic will think about it. Don't write to sell; write because you have to in order to survive. Then you will be happy and un-cursed by fame, just like me. The Killer Poet learned that fame is not all it's cracked up to be.
For readers, just keep reading! It is wonderful that someone still does. I don't care whether you read a paperback, a KINDLE, an iPad, or cuneiform inscriptions on old rocks, just as long as you are reading. The only thing I might suggest is – try something outside your usual comfort zone. You might like it! It might even change you in ways that cannot now be imagined.
What are some of your long term goals?
To stay healthy and above ground.
What do you feel has been your greatest achievement as an author?
In the following order:
The Killer Poet's Guide to Immortality
Bones Beneath Our Feet
Just Deceits.
In other words, I grew as a writer with each new book. Just Deceits is a satisfying and very accessible book. Bones is less commercially viable, but – not just me talking – a better book than Just Deceits. The Killer Poet's Guide to Immortality is in a whole different dimension – probably too far ahead of its time for commercial viability. I managed to jump through the wormhole into a new reality for a while. That's what literature is all about.
You know the scenario – you're stuck on an island. What book would you bring with you and why?
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. A great big modern poetry anthology. And a satellite internet connection.
OK, I cheated. So let's go back to Cloud Atlas. I've loved that book for years, and don't dare go to the movie. The book has such luminous depth, such a wondrous variety of literary styles, such complexity, that it must be impervious to adaptation to film. It is nothing less than a clear insight into the possible (likely?) arc of our dying civilization, from imperial Britain to a bleak not-too-distant future.
What is the most important lesson you have learned from life so far?
The Egyptians were right about cats.
Could you please tell us a little about your book?
The Killer Poet's Guide to Immortality is the story of a frustrated poet who becomes a serial killer in order to get read. The main character, AB Bard – also the pen name under which I wrote the book – sticks his poems to victims with a boot dagger. Things get out of hand quickly, as he becomes internationally notorious, spawning copycats who pin bad poetry to victims. He surrenders to the authorities, and is executed by lethal injection.
Then things really get wild. He is cryogenically frozen by his groupie/wife Yumi, and awakens hundreds of years later into a Bardic Theocracy in which he is worshipped as the second coming of Christ. You'll have to read the book to find out what happens next.
The Killer Poet's Guide to Immortality is a "Bardic Novel" – essentially a new genre in which full-throttle fiction is meshed with poetry to tell a story on multiple levels. It is neither a book-length poem nor a collection of short stories/essays interspersed with poetry; rather, it is literature for the 21st Century, glowing and phantasmagoric because it's all one muse.
Oh, and did I mention? It's funny. "Consistently laugh-out-loud hilarious" according to one reviewer.
Did something specific happen to prompt you to write this book?
I've written two historical novels of which I am quite proud – Just Deceits, a historical legal mystery set in 1792 Virginia; and Bones Beneath Our Feet, a historical novel of Puget Sound. Each took hundreds of hours of research before I could even begin to write.
I started doing some reading to prepare to write a third historical, but felt great heaviness. I wanted to write, free of the constraints of old dead stories. So I just let it all hang out, and The Killer Poet's Guide to Immortality is the result. It is a book of pure inspiration, channeled from the cosmos in about four months.
Who or what is the inspiration behind this book?
The biggest inspiration behind The Killer Poet's Guide to Immortality is the desire to unify my poet self with my novelist self. I write poetry and I write novels. When deep inside the work, it's all one muse. Why should they be so rigorously separated? Poetry is so intense that it is enriched by having some fiction to break it up. Fiction is fast and flirty; it is deepened and given new gravitas by its relationship to poetry. Just as physicists struggle to unify the quantum and macro fields, I was inspired to try to unify two important modes of literary expression.
But lest I sound too grandiose, I also wanted to have fun! I'd just finished a great big serious book about culture clash and war. It is an important book, and I'm glad I did it. But after struggling with so much reality, I wanted to give readers something funny, quirky, and surreal.
I will also add that it was so liberating to work in first person. My previous two books were omniscient narrator / third person, which is fine for historical fiction involving lots of characters. But getting inside the (insane) head of this poet/serial killer was fun. Extreme characters are simply the most interesting!
Who has influenced you throughout your career as a writer?
My high school creative writing teacher, Gladys LaFlamme Colburn, for her sweet nurturing of whatever angst-filled doggerel we shoveled her way. Yeats for revealing how beautiful words could be. Ferlinghetti for deconstructing Amerikkka. Ken Kesey and John Kennedy Toole for getting the insanity people call normality down in ink. Marvin Bell for the Dead Man who lives as if he were already dead. Dad for taking me hiking so I could see what's really important.
Do you have any advice for writers or readers?
For writers, write. Don't worry about what your mother, the grocer or some critic will think about it. Don't write to sell; write because you have to in order to survive. Then you will be happy and un-cursed by fame, just like me. The Killer Poet learned that fame is not all it's cracked up to be.
For readers, just keep reading! It is wonderful that someone still does. I don't care whether you read a paperback, a KINDLE, an iPad, or cuneiform inscriptions on old rocks, just as long as you are reading. The only thing I might suggest is – try something outside your usual comfort zone. You might like it! It might even change you in ways that cannot now be imagined.
What are some of your long term goals?
To stay healthy and above ground.
What do you feel has been your greatest achievement as an author?
In the following order:
The Killer Poet's Guide to Immortality
Bones Beneath Our Feet
Just Deceits.
In other words, I grew as a writer with each new book. Just Deceits is a satisfying and very accessible book. Bones is less commercially viable, but – not just me talking – a better book than Just Deceits. The Killer Poet's Guide to Immortality is in a whole different dimension – probably too far ahead of its time for commercial viability. I managed to jump through the wormhole into a new reality for a while. That's what literature is all about.
You know the scenario – you're stuck on an island. What book would you bring with you and why?
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. A great big modern poetry anthology. And a satellite internet connection.
OK, I cheated. So let's go back to Cloud Atlas. I've loved that book for years, and don't dare go to the movie. The book has such luminous depth, such a wondrous variety of literary styles, such complexity, that it must be impervious to adaptation to film. It is nothing less than a clear insight into the possible (likely?) arc of our dying civilization, from imperial Britain to a bleak not-too-distant future.
What is the most important lesson you have learned from life so far?
The Egyptians were right about cats.
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