David Boop: Blinding Us with Brilliance

David Boop is not only a fantastic writer, but he also has one of the most fun names you can ever say aloud. Try it. It's fun.

And so is David.

Maybe that's what I like and respect so much about him and his work -- that fun that he interjects and injects into it.

And I think once you get to know him, you'll agree.

Tell us a bit about your latest work.

I’ve been cranking out short stories of late. Last year was a good year with both my first non-genre mystery (“Kelly” in Bête Noire Issue #2) and my first media tie-in (“The Wet and the Wicked” in The Green Hornet Casefiles.) I also had my first reprint in How the West was Weird Vol 2. Good year for firsts. This year I’m seeing both my first children’s book, The Three Inventors Sneebury, come out from Fairypunk Press, and my first zombie story, “Like a Bee in the Heart” appear in Undead Tales Vol 2. Finally, I have several weird western stories coming this spring, both original and reprint. There’s a piece in Low Noon and one in Penny Dread Tales Vol 2. I seem to be big in second volumes. LOL!

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

I loved flawed heroes. Not just your normal hubris, but crippling issues. Noel R. Glass, the protagonist from my novel She Murdered Me with Science, is gutted by guilt from an experiment that had tragic results. The reader meets him just as he’s just starting to put this behind him and move on, only to have someone walk through the door and tell him his culpability was a lie and that he’d been framed. Other protagonists have issues like Oedipus complexes, borderline pedophilia, grief, arrogance, apathy and greed. Of course, these become redemption tales, ultimately. I love a story where the hero has to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and find that last reserve of strength to succeed. I like twists, taking the reader somewhere they don’t expect. I want them to discover the reward for success is not what the protagonist, or reader, had in mind.

What would be your dream project?

Working with George R. R. Martin on Wildcards, or Lucasbooks on an Indiana Jones project. I’ve had a Dr. Jones story for years; outlined and everything. I got it in front of an editor once, but it was an off time for Indy. Maybe if they do another movie...

If you have any former project to do over to make it better, which one would it be, and what would you do?

The great thing about reprints is I’ve fixed several glaring errors in my earlier writing. The first two stories I ever sold were reprinted within the last year, and now both are tighter. I wonder about my novel sometimes, but honestly, other than a few missed typos, I think it still holds true. If I ever sell the other two books in the series, maybe an editor will want me to go back over it, but I’m not sure I would change anything (That being said, I want to put in some new lines to foreshadow the second book.)

What inspires you to write?

I’m an insomniac. Ideas come into my head and won’t let me sleep until I get something down on paper. I have more ideas than I’ll ever be able to write in a lifetime. Comics, children’s books, screenplays, novels, shorts, novellas, YAs. If someone would pay me to, I could write all day, every day, and be a happy man. My ideas come from dreams, from conversations, even from blog posts. I get invites with topics/themes. Music. TV. My son. Researching another topic and hitting upon a thread. Everything inspires me.

What writers have influenced your style and technique?

Rex Stout has been a huge influence. Alan Dean Foster. Jack L. Chalker. Mike Stackpole. Kevin J. Anderson. Robert Lynn Asprin. Janet Evanovich. The last two really taught me how to do humor effectively in prose.

Where would you rank writing on the "Is it an art or it is a science continuum?" Why?

My wordsmithing is horrible. I need so much editing it’s insane. I’m definitely a storyteller first and a writer second. That being said, my craft has improved greatly over the last couple of years. I’m also back in school, again, to finish my creative writing degree. I’m hoping to see a big improvement over the next couple of years.

Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?

Fairypunk is going to be huge! There are top names signed up to do this project. I’m one of the earlier releases, so it won’t seem big at first, but then neither did Harry Potter when it first came out. The idea is to take old fairytales and re-envision them in a Steampunk setting. My story is a retelling of “The Three Billygoats Gruff” called The Three Inventors Sneebury. It’s about a family of inventors facing a land pirate who controls the drawbridge into town. If seen some preliminary art for it, and it’s amazing! I’m also taking to summer to finish some novels I started. I have the follow-up to my first novel called Murdered in a Mechanical World (and I’m a Mechanical Girl!), a paranormal police procedural called The Blood Vineyard, and a yet unannounced YA I’m coauthoring with a well-respected fantasy author. Until then, I’m just finishing up obligations to anthologies, including three more weird westerns, and waiting to hear from those I’ve already sent out.

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To learn more about David and his work, visit his website at www.davidboop.com.