John Shirley is the author of numerous novels and books of stories, including the novels Cellars, Wetbones, City Come A-Walkin’ , Eclipse, A Splendid Chaos, the collection Black Butterflies (which won the Bram Stoker award and which was chosen by PW as one of the best books of that year), and the collection Really Really Really Really Weird Stories from Nightshade. He was co-screenwriter of the film The Crow, has written scripts for television series and cable movies. He was lead singer and songwriter for various bands including the punk band SadoNation, the post-punk band Obsession (Celluloid records) and the post-cyberpunk band The Panther Moderns

A hearty shout out to Mac Tonnies at Posthuman Blues for his suggestions and help in putting this interview together.

MT Your “Eclipse” novels depict a future that’ s eerily like that of our own. How have they fared as predictive fiction and protest literature?JS In a general thematic sense and in some specifics, my novels Eclipse, Eclipse Penumbra and Eclipse Corona (currently from Babbage Press) were pretty accurate and I’m afraid are becoming more so every year. I predicted a move toward theocracy in the United States, and a kind of disguised neofascism–that seems to me to be coming about. I predicted this would be predicated on global military turmoil–the equivalent was 9/11. I failed to predict the loggerheads quality of our relationship with the Muslim nations but I did predict that there would be something along the lines of a “New Soviet” in Russia, becoming increasingly nationalistic and belligerent and that seems to be in the offing. I predicted that news media would not be reliable in the age of computer animation and the globalization of news information and this is proving out too. I predicted the increasing use of Remote Piloted Vehicles (aka Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) for surveillance, in smaller and smaller varieties–this is coming true too. I predicted a rise in racism, and an illiterate class in America that is somehow computer-literate anyway (the “technicki”) and this is coming about.

MT Your fiction is morally and technologically informed. What interests you about the intersection between ethics and “progress”?

JS The great numbers of technological “temptations” (I don’t mean this in some Christian sense) will overwhelm our ethical sense. Life will increasingly mimic certain science fiction films. We will be able to genetically engineer our children and eliminate problematical genes (which will be of course up for debate), yes like in the movie “Gattaca”, and after a generation or less of debate we’ll give in to the impulse; we’ll be able to create artificial worlds, VR worlds, yes like in the movie “The Matrix”, which people will become immersed in till they starve to death, and after some anxiety about this, capitalism will drive it forward; wealthy people will have relative immortality–this is sure to be in some science fiction film or novel–while the poor have to accept their lifespans, because they won’t be able to afford a new organ from the organ-vats or the nano-bot cell-rejuvenation treatment and the world will be stuck with eternal versions of assholes like Donald Trump. Ethics will usually lose because it’s a competitive world and because if a thing is forbidden in this country it’ll be allowed in another one and people will simply go there to get it…

MTWhat are you working on now and how does it fit into your fictional trajectory thus far?

JS I just finished revising THE OTHER END, my new novel, which will be out in August in its first limited edition, and it does flow into my vision of theocracy emerging–but it’s a very particularized book, very specialized. This book partly exists to refute the “Left Behind” books by saying that if there’s an apocalypse or Judgment Day, why should it belong to superstitious right-wing people? If you could design your own Judgment Day what would it be like? This is my fantasy Judgement Day, informed by my personal metaphysical convictions–it’s in opposition to the religious beliefs of the Christian Right of course. The novel brings about the end of the world as we know it–and the beginning of another. But in an intelligent way, compared to the kind of nonsense we hear from mindless religious fanatics.

MT You write in a wide variety of genres/forms do you get a similiar sense of gratification from them all your work or are the perks and quirks of your writing hinge on what kind of project it is?

JS Some things are more pleasurable than others. Things that are *my* creation are always more exciting to me; sometimes I hire out on tie ins and such. I get satisfaction from that too but for me the great thrill is the uniqueness of my own creation. Music provides a personal thrill, an emotional payback, like no other…it’s very personal, and it’s a means to transcendance.

MT How did you like taking on Batman and John Constantine?

JS I wrote the tie-in novels based on these comic book characters and enjoyed both–Batman especially as I grew up reading Batman and I liked “being” a superhero in my mind, and making it adult-believable (within reason). I got to be a kid again in a way. The Constantine/Hellblazer novels are fun, I get to play with philosophical ideas too, but it’s hard to write from the pov of a British character with enough cultural integrity.

Related

John Shirley’s homepage (link)
EdgeTrends John’s blog (link)
John’s books (link)
Mp3s of his work (link)

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