"Irate Reincarnates, Death, and Laughing Your Ass Off: the Platt Interview"

John R. Platt is the author of the brilliantly funny as well as disturbing collection of short stories and poetry "Die Laughing." He resides in New Jersey and currently wiping out the first printing of "Die Laughing." Catch him in person or collect dirt on him at his website.

Being from New Jersey, how has the state affected your writing?

Well, New Jersey has a lot to offer -- a lot of people, a lot of pollution, a lot of traffic, a lot of animosity...

I have a love-hate relationship with this state. Lately, the “hate” part is easier than ever. The population density here is absolutely insane. The lack of culture is ludicrous. The roads go everywhere but nowhere. The accents are awful. And “Jersey girls” ... don’t even get me started there. But on the plus side, there are some wonderful little gems hidden deep inside this state: beautiful undeveloped areas, quaint small towns, local legends so plentiful they’ve spawned their own magazine (Weird New Jersey), a hugely diverse population, and a Wal-Mart or a Target every quarter-mile.

How has all of that affected my writing? Well, mostly, the roads are so clogged here, I’m afraid to leave the house, so I just stay home and write. That helps. (On the other hand, my social life has suffered a bit...)

A journalist once said that the films and literature coming out of New Jersey are filled with anger, a reflection of the citizens of New Jersey. The reasoning behind this is that when all the WWII Nazis died they were reincarnated in the citizens of New Jersey. How true would you say that is?

Well, there are just too damn many people in this state for them *all* to be reincarnated Nazis, but maybe if you also lump in the Conquistadors, the Huns, the Vikings, Idi Amin, Mary Kay Cosmetics saleswomen, and the Spanish Inquisition, then you might be getting somewhere...

As for the anger ... well, you know the expression about caged rats?

You were president of the Garden State Horror Writers. How did you get sucked into that and what was it like?

Well let me tell you, everything that I am today, I owe to the Garden State Horror Writers. I’ve been a member for more than ten years, ever since the group’s very first public meeting. I was a fresh-faced kid, just out of college, and the GSHW started its monthly meetings one town over from where I lived at the time. I wasn’t even writing horror then, but I wanted to meet and greet, you know, get to know some other writers.

Lo and behold, I really was “sucked in” like you said. Meeting professional writers (remember, this is long before the Internet) inspired me and started me off on the right path. Being in a group that ran the gamut from published novelists to rank beginners (like myself at the time) showed me that I could get to the top if I wanted to. I wanted to prove myself to them, especially to people like the GSHW’s founder, the late novelist Pat Graversen, so I wrote more, submitted, and soon started selling.

It wasn’t long before I was editing the group’s monthly newsletter, which I did for two years, and then after that I took on the mantle of vice president. Both of those positions put me in touch with the GSHW’s monthly guest speakers, and my professional and creative growth continued through this association with some really incredible people.

After that, the natural progression was to take over as GSHW President, which I did for another three years. I worked really hard to promote the group, and by the time I was done, the GSHW had more than tripled in size. I’m really proud of my days in office -- I helped a lot of writers make connections, improve their writing, and get published.

Now, the downside of this was that the GSHW took over so much time, my own writing suffered a bit. Not a lot, but I’m happily a civilian now, so I can finally sit back and enjoy the meetings. I still participate, but it’s mostly just lending my expertise when it’s asked, and letting the current officers do their jobs. It’s a good feeling.

John Platt, Elder Statesman. I like the sound of that.

"Phone Tag" is such a disturbing story, but it is also funny because it reflects the way parenting is this day and age. Was there any personal influence to that story?

Nah, just my natural sarcasm coming through there.

I’m glad you liked the story, though. It’s been pretty popular. It was one of my experiments -- in this case, an attempt to do a story completely in dialogue. I have fun doing “Phone Tag” in public readings. It is a nasty one.

Some of your short stories involve big business and the little worker. The big business is usually depicted as evil. Any bitter feelings about previous jobs?

Well, one old boss became the Devil in my story “A Hell-Fire Cure for Baldness.” Yeah, that was a fun job...

Other than that, this is the Age of Enron -- how could I not write about corporations as evil entities? Now, I’ll be fair. I know that there are very few truly evil corporations, but there are an awful lot of evil or at least morally challenged people running them, and they’re hurting this planet and its citizens. And the more I look at these CEO types, the more I’m disgusted. Have you seen the homes being built by some of these corporate thieves? You could fit a small African nation inside some of them. These parasites live in castles while the people they stole from are losing their jobs and eating dirt to survive. And we let it happen! It’s the return of the lord-serf relationship. When did society suddenly revert to the social order of a thousand years ago?

It’s pretty disgusting. There’s not a lot I can do to fight it in the real world, but I can at least attack it in my fiction.

I do that a lot.

Do you have an obsession with the figure Death?

What on earth would make you think that? I mean, it’s not like Death shows up in every other story in DIE LAUGHING.

Wait ... He does?

Oh well. It’s amazing what patterns show up in an artist’s work before they’re ever even aware of it...

Anyway, am I obsessed with Death? No, not really, but I think I’m a bit obsessed with both death as a concept, and Death as a character. I like to explore society’s feelings about death, and I use the character of the Grim Reaper to do that. Death has a lot of aspects to it, both good and bad. It’s inevitable. It’s universally feared, but at the right time, it’s welcomed. Out of that paradox grows drama. It’s hard for a writer like me to ignore.

When people find out you are a horror writer, what's the stereotype that they pin on you right away?

If I had a nickel for every time someone said to me “So you’re going to be the next Stephen King, huh?,” and then followed it up with “I’ll tell everyone I knew you when,” well, then they’d really be able to tell people they knew me when!

What is the biggest pain in the ass about being a writer?

Actually, the pain is in my lower back and wrists from all of this work on the computer. Beginning writers only need to know one word to get them started in the right direction: ergonomics!

Any plans on a novel and what can you tell us about it?

There is a novel in the works, a secret novel that no one knows about yet. If you’ve read DIE LAUGHING, you might even realize what it is. But for now, I ain’t telling.

Thanks so much for taking the time John.

No problem! It was easier than washing the dishes. Thanks!

For more information on the work of John R. Platt just head to any of the following sites.

John R. Platt
Medium Rare Books

Critical Raves for Mike Purfield's "Dirty Boots."

"If you're looking for a good read, something you've never experienced before, then this is the book for you." Paul Kane of Terror Tales.

Rated 3 out of 4 by Unhinged Magazine.

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