Patches of a Second-Hand Planet: The Exclusive Spun Counterguy Interview

One of our most celebrated and frequent contributors here at the Brophisticate is Spun Counterguy. Undoubtedly, you’ve probably already read or seen a lot of his work. Well, he’s now published his own book of fictional short-stories called Patches of a Second-Hand Planet and is selling copies on Amazon.com. Spun has been a friend for roughly twenty years now and we vouch for his talent, creativity, intelligence, and enthusiasm.

In fact, he’s the one who introduced me, Cat Taylor, to Brophisticate.com—leading me to my own series of ramblings here. Since he’s a pretty interesting fellow, we thought it might be fun and informative to interview him about his current book. So, read on, and you can be the fly on the wall for our conversation.

Interview by Cat Taylor

Cat Taylor: When I read your stories, I detect influences from Shel Silverstein, Dr. Seuss, and Uncle Remus. Have I got you pegged or am I way off base? Either way, please expound upon the authors who influence your writing.

Spun Counterguy: I love all those and grew up with them always around, so you nailed it! But I guess I wanted to write my version of all those works yet set on a beat up planet settled by American Mid-Westerners and Southerners and a few Chinese thrown in. In addition to those you mentioned, after I had written the first few stories in this style and posted them for friends on Facebook, one friend gave me a book by the German writer Walter Moers. Finding him really encouraged me to go ahead and be even freer with the imagination and story meanderings.

CT: I also caught a few, not always subtle, political messages hidden in your stories and many of them aren’t necessarily “politically correct” in today’s society. Do you have some messages that you really want to get out to your readers or is your inclusion of those elements more of a catharsis to keep you out of face-to-face political arguments?

SC: I hope I don’t come off as too serious about messages but yes I feel I’ve really seen a lot of things that range from laughably a failure to tragically a failure. Often they were just as much revelations to me because I had so many beliefs when I was younger, not based on any true observations, but just wishful thinking. So in a lot of the stories I’m just telling on myself like a parent would tell it’s child, “Hey, I know you want to do this or that but let me tell ya, I’ve tried this and that and that’s why I walk funny now!” Of course I could be wrong on what I think now and understand life or someone may come along and school me more.
Regarding political correctness specifically, I remember initially perceiving it was just politeness or insulating the public forum from hate speech. But as it became a partisan political tool to shut down honest debate- even in the field of sciences- I remember thinking it was starting to resemble Orwell’s 1984. Still, in a quest to be seen as cool among peers and to not jeopardize my income, I usually kept my mouth shut if I had a different view on whatever was declared unquestionable. Later I really became shamed when I was living in China and witnessing people being arrested for just stating ideas the government didn’t like. I remember in Beijing watching police attack an older couple who were just passing out flyers and thinking I was such a coward for keeping quiet in America just so people would like me.

CT: I once described your stories as “children’s stories” due to the themes, structures, tone, and the fact that they take place in fantasy worlds and typically have children or non-human creatures as the main characters. However, you once said something to me like, “I guess, but I wouldn’t let my children read them.” Explain what you mean by that statement, and if they aren’t children’s stories, who is your target audience and why did you choose “fantasy” styles and settings?

SC: Some of them are probably ok for kids but yeah, a lot of them deal with the worse human nature has to offer, which might be a little harsh for a young person full of life, optimism and Juicy Juice. As I think back, I guess I didn’t really go into writing these with a target demographic; it was just my way of finding meaning and humor in the real things that were going on around me/within me in specific times of my life. It seems to me that a lot of stories and parables I heard as a child, whether it was from fairy tales or Sunday school, I reference to still to this day.

CT: Have you had any feedback from people who get confused by some of the Seussian nonsense elements of your stories such as the “Great Hip Shaking Vine of Ami”, “fried butter babies,” and “Brain Cleaver Clever Competition?” Are you hoping to keep certain types of readers confused or are there other purposes behind including “psychedelic” elements?

SC: Yes a little. But I should say this, I’ve written like four to five volumes of these stories, where nearly everything and everybody that might be casually mentioned in one story gets more explanation or their own starring role in another. Still, I can see that it can be a bit maddening to plow through.

CT: Despite wildly made up elements in your stories, you’ve also told me that a lot of your ideas come from real world experiences and people you know, even if they are heavily disguised in print. Do you hope to make statements about human nature or society through real-world inspiration; is it self-therapy to get ideas off your chest, or something else?

SC: For sure; everything you’ve said it spot on. In fact this past month I was having to work with a very difficult co-worker and in my head the situation became one of my weird stories. In the story I explain why the character based my co-worker acts like jerk, though I didn’t really know why for sure the guy I worked with was that way. After some asking around, come to find out my crazy background story ended up being pretty close to the truth, though minus the demon with a dentist’s chair living in the basement of his duplex.

CT: Speaking of your writing style, I noticed that you’ll often have the narration or certain characters slip from proper English into a Mayberry-esque mountain dialect with “if’ns” and other folksy language. However, unlike Mark Twain, Uncle Remus, and writers of other Southern folk tales, this only happens occasionally in your writing. Most of the time the narration and character voices in your stories are written in proper English. How and why do you decide when it’s time to slip into “mountain talk”?

SC: I guess I could tell you that on this planet there are different dialects. But it’s probably just an inconsistency on my part. I’ll be the first to tell ya I need an editor to help me with these kinds of issues but I can’t afford one. So maybe I should hire you, Mr. Taylor! I hear you’ll work for fish sandwiches.

Fish head art by Anne Catherine Baker.

CT: I buy all my own fish sandwiches when I write about them. So, I actually work cheaper than you think. Getting paid with a sandwich would be like getting a raise! While we’re on the topic of “self-employment,” what made you pursue self-publishing of your book? Furthermore, how did you go about the logistics of self-publishing and what lessons have you learned from it?

SC: Back around 2000 I tried to get another novel published. I did all the things the writer guides tell ya to do, sent hundreds of queries and samples, blew hundreds of hours and dollars on postage, all to no avail. So I thought that if it was destined for me to be a professional writer then God or someone would send someone my way. You hear of that kind of thing happening to some people but of course that didn’t work out for me either. Then I finally accepted that many successful people are just the ones that don’t give up in spite of all their failures. A few other friends told me about how much easier Amazon was making it for anybody to self-publish. So I decided to just put something out even though it may not be a perfect or even wanted product.
I’m still figuring things out about how all this works and it gets lonely and frustrating sometimes; self-publishing is still difficult, especially if you know nothing about layout, graphic design and all that. But at least you don’t have to submit to the abuse of some agent in a New York high-rise anymore.

CT: You are a person of many talents and life experiences. Off the top of my head I know you’ve done folk music and electronic music, you’ve been a DJ, written poetry, done spoken word, been an entrepreneur, dabbled in art, produced videos, done some teaching overseas, and probably a lot more. Which of these things have made you the happiest and why? Are there any ventures that you regret?

SC: My theory is that the chemical in my brain that occurs when I create anything is very addictive; to the point that I get terribly depressed if I don’t get that feeling nearly every day. So is the feeling of having a purpose. So anything that produces either of those emotions makes me very happy.
I think also that working on one thing- music or writing or teaching or whatever- can get stale. So jumping around from medium to medium keeps me from getting weary or burnt out.
I suppose even the projects that ended up being mediocre or terrible in the end I should still cherish, if for anything the experience of finding what works and doesn’t. Most of the things I worked on before 2000 are embarrassingly immature so I either I’ve thrown them away or stored them to maybe try to salvage later. But man I really regret I tried to force that stuff onto my friends and family for consumption! How uncomfortable I must’ve made them!

CT: Besides the multitude of things you have already done, are there other projects you aspire to do in genres with which you haven’t yet experimented?

SC: I’m working on mapping out an interactive game like Myst or Zork that would be wonderful to one day see on a platform. But in the meantime I would love to just do better work in the mediums I’ve dabbled in. Maybe with others who know how to execute things better.

CT: Along those lines, what are your future plans for “Patches of a Second-Hand Planet” and are you planning to write and publish more books in the near future?

SC: If I sell a decent amount to justify publishing another volume, for sure! But if not, I hope to next publish a collection of horror stories that are quite a bit more easier to read; no ‘fried butter babies’ or anything like that.
But even if no one is interested in any of what I try to put out there, I’ll still keep making stuff. Creative people who have little or no audience just have to do what they were created to do and be satisfied with the immediate joy it brings, since that may be all they’re ever gonna get.

CT: On that note, readers can purchase their own copy of “Patches of a Second-Hand Planet” by Spun Counterguy on Amazon.com.