This blog is pleased to be part of the virtual book tour of Jim Musgrave’s compilation of short stories, “The President’s Parasite.” What follows is an interview I did and an excerpt from the short story with the same title as the book.

As a “pending emerging author” and pretty much a new blogger, I felt a sense of appreciation to be given the chance to host this event.  When I was asked if I had questions for this author, I thought, “What me?  Who the heck am I to ask questions of someone further up the ladder than I am?”  Well, turns out, I read the work and had questions I would ask over a beer. Turns out mine might be a beer and his might be something else.  Oh well, the travails of getting to know new friends.  Reading his work lead me to ask about alcohol, and other things I would ask as just a writer guy.  I hope the questions I formed are ones you might have asked.  I know his answers were enlightening, entertaining and made me hope to have the ability to answer questions in the future with the same alacrity and sincerity.

I want to express my sincere appreciation for being part of this virtual tour, for the opportunity to give readers the chance to get to know this author and for his responses to questions I hope he didn’t find banal or obvious.

I encourage you to read his answers, as well as his work and remember to leave your comments to his work as well as his answers to my questionable questions. You can even ask Jim a question or leave a comment for a chance to win a free print copy of his book at the end of the tour. Increase your chances of winning by stopping and leaving a comment at each blog hosting the tour.

Write on!

Plot Dog

The Interview

PlotDog:  I see a lot of drugs and alcohol in your writing, what is the back ground to this?

Jim Musgrave:  Before March 15, 1987, I was a practicing alcoholic.  Not the James Frey variety, mind you, but a real one.  What one of my friends calls, "A snot-slinging drunk."  I like that image because I used to fool myself into believing I was an "intellectual artist" during those years, and I was not.  I ruined my life, and I got a new one when I decided to get sober.  I had a lot of help, also, and my stories with references to alcohol are attempts to tell the world "what it was like."  No matter what income level or educational level, we drunks and other OCD types are all the same.  We cannot drink or do anything in a completely civilized or moderate manner (whatever that means). 

PlotDog: How do you think differently when your main character is a female from when it is a male?

Jim Musgrave: I’ve studied the work of an excellent sociologist/writer Deborah Tannen, who writes about the way men and women communicate with each other.  I know I must piss a few people off, but I figure if folks can literally change their sexes, then I can do it on the page, dammit!  When I’m a female, for example, I will think more in terms of "inclusiveness" and "family appreciation."  In other words, generally speaking, a lot of women will walk into a room a try to fit in, whereas men often walk into a room (especially filled with other men) and try to figure out "who’s in charge" or "what the hierarchy of authority is."  Women and men also differ in that the communication of "how one feels" is much more important to women.  Men tend to want to "solve your problem" rather than "empathize or commiserate with you."

PlotDog: Do you have one of the stories you have written that you like the best and why?

Jim Musgrave: This will piss my wife (and a lot of women) off, but I like "The Lupercian Festival."  It’s about a Canadian aborigine who happens to have the longest penis in the world.  Can you see why it pisses my wife off?  Actually, I poke fun (satirize) the male preoccupation with size in this story, and I just really got a writer’s kick out of creating it.  It also tells a lot of what I believe is possible in this world of multiple realities.  I’ve read a lot about advanced physics theory, and much of this is incorporated into my stories–especially in this one.  The ending tells more of what my personal religious beliefs are than in any other story of mine.  Just think of me as the guy with the big one at the end of this story (another big story, that is).

PlotDog: Do you prefer a certain length of fiction?

Jim Musgrave: To be honest, no.  If I’m on a roll, and I like the subject, I don’t think about length.  Of course, I do edit for particular markets..

PlotDog: What is your writing process like?

Jim Musgrave: It ain’t rocket science, R2D2.  Ha!  I always like to say that.  Actually, as I teach writing at the college level, I believe everybody can develop a process that will allow one to write with competence for most worldly tasks.  However, the creative side is an entirely different story (pun intended).  I really believe this:  you can teach writing, but you can’t teach imagination.  I literally "plug in" to my imagination to write my best stuff.  I suppose Carl Jung called it the Collective Unconscious (I knew I was getting my knuckles rapped by the nuns for something!), and this is what makes all of us creative types daydream when we’re supposed to be functioning in the "real world."  Tribal societies used to just let us sit in the corner and tell them stories.  We were too dangerous to the real politics of the group!  Leave me alone, okay? I’m writing!  Get the idea?

PlotDog: How do you choose writing perspective first versus third and level of omniscience?  Is one more comfortable for you than the other or do you let the “story decide”?

Jim Musgrave: I suppose I let the story and the characters decide.  I just finished reading a short novel called Ghost by physicist-turned-creative-writer, Alan Lightman.  I kept wanting his character to break out into something other-worldly and dazzling, but Lightman wanted to keep this guy in the real world.  However, his character’s "head trip" was actually quite thought-provoking enough for me, although I might have handled it differently. 

PlotDog: Do you have a favorite author?

Jim Musgrave: Of all time (as Mohammed Ali used to say)?  For short stories, I’d say either Raymond Carver (for the moderns) and O. Henry and Flannery O’Connor (for the latter-day authors).  For novels?  I suppose Cormac McCarthy (although he needs a new editor) and Albert Camus and Franz Kafka.  Oh.  Did you ask for one?  Sorry.  I suppose if I were trapped on a desert island or inside of one of President Bush’s secret prisons, I would have to go with Kafka.  He curls my toes (and my hair) every time!

PlotDog: Do you visit any online writing websites? Do you have a favorite?

Jim Musgrave: I’m new to blogging, but I would have to say the writer’s group at Blog Catalog.

PlotDog: How was the process of getting published? Can you describe it and tell us how it felt?

Jim Musgrave: The first time was with a "big publisher," and it was like being raped.  That’s a bit harsh, isn’t it?  Actually, it’s like going to the cleaners, but your book is what’s being cleaned.  Still too harsh?  My first experience led me to the independent publishing "phenomenon," where I’ve been ever since.  There are many independent folks out there (hell, we’re America, aren’t we?), and I prefer the freedom of this publishing style.  I belong to the Independent Publishers Association (PMA), and I’m proud of it!  I also prefer indie films, indie music and indie underwear (only kidding on the last one).  Also, independent publishers don’t produce crap!  Have you read any of the commercialfiction, lately?  Same old plots (boring), same old character types (boring), and same old "best selling" authors (they control most of the big publishing buck these days).  Need I say more?

Excerpt from “President’s Parasite”

The President’s Parasite  
We Cestodes share the same basic body plan.  As I am the
presidential parasite, I like to consider myself unique, but (alas)
that is not the case.  What’s our plan?  All of us have a scolex,
sometimes colloquially referred to as the "head" and a brain inside that head
(more about this later). We also have a "neck," and one or more proglottids,
which are sometimes called "segments," and which are the source of the
name "tapeworm," because they look like a strip of tape. 
 
Our proglottids are each capable of reproduction (containing both testes and
ovaries—we’re hermorphadites!), and, as they are very flat, they tend to
wave inside our host’s large intestine like a long pennant.  I like to joke that
I symbolize the American flag, and as my host’s common refrain these days
is “Freedom is on the march,” my body is an apt metaphor for the type of
“freedom” my president is reproducing (especially in the Middle East).   
 
All cestodes have a nerve ring in the scolex with lateral trunks passing
through the rest of the body.  Ours is a lonely life because we have no eyes
to see, no olifactory organs to smell, no mouth to chew and taste, and no
hearing.  We are, in effect, worse off than Helen Keller, also quite a liberal
mind and effective author in her own right!  In other words, we are a
Conservative Republican’s worst nightmare.  
 
George W. Bush’s nightmare became real after 9/11/01—the day he injested
me.  How did it happen?  Zolanda Pitcairn, age 7, handed my host a
barbeque sandwich, in which I was hiding (in my proglottid or, as Marx
would say, “proletarian” form) inside the meat.  Little Ms. Pitcairn was an
intermediate host, in and of herself, as the Emma E. Booker Elementary
School was home to many of the lower-class students of Sarasota, Florida. 
Zolanda and her fellow students were happy to have the president read to
them that day, and Zolanda was simply showing her appreciation, in the
middle of the reading, by handing George her sandwich.  I, of course, was
also quite grateful, as this was the beginning of my very personal
relationship with the leader of the Free World, as he couldn’t help but take a
bite of that sandwich.

Upcoming Virtual Tour Events for Jim Musgrave

July 21 - http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nikkileigh(4:00-5:00 EST) Call in number - (347) 215-8201

July 22 - http://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/

July 25 - http://currenteventsinbooks.blogspot.com/

July 28 - http://www.blogtalkradio.com/authorsread-12 noon EST - Call-in Number: (347) 215-8319

July 30 - http://readersstation.ning.com/group/promotionalauthorinterviews- Promotional Interview with Nikki Leigh