Author Inteview for The Land of the Purple Ring

When did you know that you wanted to be a writer?

The Writing Compulsion (genus: Inspiration) is one of the most insidious, inexplicable, inexorable, and intractable items in the construction site of Imaginarium.  Often mistaken for a jellyfish when isolated, the Writing Compulsion spreads out over its host’s brain, sending tendrils into every crack and crevice, merging with every lobe and electrical field, influencing every thought and integrating with every action so thoroughly that it soon can no longer be distinguished or extracted from its host.  Nor would many hosts wish to extract it, for though when ignored it causes agony, when its wholly unreasonable demands are fulfilled it exudes chemical satisfaction beyond any other accomplishment.



Where did you get the inspiration for The Land of the Purple Ring?

Give me a random word, please.  Now another. Oh, you want me to write about knitting and mountains?  Naturally, all mountains are knitted. There is an entire clan of oysters who do nothing all day but knit mountains.  That’s why mountains have so many trees on them: the yarn pills. The center of each mountain is, of course, a pearl—for pearls are formed by layers and layers of nacre.  The oysters who form mountains use a nacre-like substance, except that it extends from them like spider’s web . . .

You see?  Like that.



Who is your biggest writing inspiration?

​Walter Moers.  L. Frank Baum.  Norton Juster.  Roald Dahl.  Vivian Vander Velde.  James Thurber.  W.S. Gilbert.

But since this is supposed to be a singular answer, I’d say: the alphabet.

It just has it all.



Tell us one weird, interesting tidbit about yourself.

I have five fingers.

(on each hand)

(including the thumb)



What does your writing space look like?

It has no look; it has only sound.  The sound of my cackling laughter.



How long have you been writing this book?

Honestly?  I wrote the first draft in three months.  Then I rewrote it by the time six months had passed.  That was, oh, about a year and a half before publication, during which time I did some editing.

This book wanted to be written so desperately, it practically wrote itself.  Maybe it too had a parasitic brain jellyfish infection.



Which character do you identify the most with in your book?

The kheir, whose bones constantly pop in and out of alignment so that it terrorized chiropractors until they appealed to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe to put a stop to it.

On Beauty and Ugliness

As part of my research for Bargaining Power and the Power Trips series in general, I looked into beauty and ugliness.  Which is to say, on the psychological studies that had been done on each, and what I found was interesting on a number of levels—the first of which being that it was easy to find studies on how differently beautiful people are treated and extremely difficult (although I did succeed) to find information on how differently ugly people are treated.

To put it another way: there is a stigma not only against being ugly (and shame on you if you were born that way) and thus a politically correct denial that ugliness exists.  “Everyone is beautiful, because true beauty is on the inside!”

Yeah, except that’s not what “beauty” means, when we’re talking about physical attractiveness.  Not everyone is beautiful.  The vast majority of people aren’t beautiful.  The vast majority are ordinary looking or within a standard deviation thereof.  To put it another way, imagine we’re talking about race.  Let’s say there are two sorts of people, blue and green.  In their culture, there is a vast and deep prejudice against blue people, but everyone denies that prejudice exists because really, everyone is green.

Do you think this attitude will lessen prejudice against blue people?  The first step to fixing a problem is admitting you have one.

Another example.  After doing this research, I came to the conclusion once more that I am glad I do not have the sort of beauty that makes people act significantly differently toward me.  People don’t give me free things because I’m just so beautiful, for example.  Heads don’t turn when I enter the room.  I’m not habitually objectified by the people I meet.  But what fascinates me about this?  Whenever I mention this to someone, their INSTANT response is, “But you are beautiful!”  And then they proceed to lecture me on the meaning of true beauty, etc.

In other words, they are purposefully misunderstanding what I mean and telling me that I am, in fact, what I have expressed that I am grateful I am not—and acting as if I only made the above observation because I’m . . . what?  Low confidence?  Fishing for compliments?  Do they think that because I acknowledge that I’m not instantly stunningly gorgeous I must think I’m ugly (and we mustn’t admit anyone is that!), and that nothing less than thinking myself “beautiful” will allow me to live a fulfilling life?  Are people's self-worths entirely dependent on thinking themselves beautiful?  Rather than, for example, beloved by God?

In the Merlin mini-series with Sam Neill, Morgan Le Fay uses magic to make herself beautiful.  Merlin pityingly tells her that her beauty is only skin deep, and she scornfully replies that beauty is always only skin deep.

Some people are better looking; some people are worse looking.  Acknowledging that, and acknowledging your own prejudices, will help you overcome them.

Lying will not.


Own Your Face

The Full Monster Saga

The background:  So, a few months ago I posted about making K-pop mix CDs with stories attached.  My first one was "Descent Into Monster."  As I made more, though, that one kept bugging me.  Since it had begun as an EXO mix rather than a general K-pop mix, it was very unbalanced.  I therefore eventually went back and turned the 31-song 2-disc mix into a single 20-song mix.  But then this left a lot of songs from the first mix unused.  I thought I'd just incorporate them elsewhere, but I found myself to instead continue the saga until I'd used every song and finished the story.  As part of it, I tried to also reincorporate more of the same artists to give each an appropriate feel, though there was a limit to how possible this was.

Anyway, here it is -- the complete saga:


Descent Into Monster

MC spends his time doing drugs (Dope) until he overdoses, whereupon he finally seeks medical attention (Overdose).  Now clean, he finds that he’s a loser (Loner) with mommy issues (Mama).

MC spots a woman and falls in love (Beautiful).  Though he knows he’s not good enough for her (Mr. Simple) he asks her out (CALL ME BABY) and to his astonishment, she accepts (Take You Home).  For the first time in his life, he’s happy (Ring Ding Dong).

But things start to go wrong (Dramarama) and she breaks up with him (HURT).  He can’t handle this and begins going crazy (Psycho), finally becoming a monster (Monster).

A former soldier recognizes what is going on (Skydive) and takes it upon himself to solve the situation.  He ambushes MC (BOOM).  They fight (Shoot Out), and MC retreats (Run Away).  Soldier gives chase (Follow).

Soldier sees he has one shot at victory, but it'll cost him his life (One Shot).  He decides to sacrifice himself to end MC's evil (Before the Dawn).


Rise Into Twilight

Against all odds, Soldier survives (Blue Flame).  He celebrates (DamDaDi) only to be interrupted by a flash of monstrous madness (Growl).  He tells himself it was nothing (Bounce).

Soldier goes to tell his girlfriend (Love) about his victory (Cherry).  But as he does, the madness comes on him again (Crush My Mind), and he can’t stop himself (Badman) from killing her with his new, monstrous strength (Black Pearl).

He is horrified at what he’s become (Dangerous), and must come to terms with the truth (Like Rain Like Music): his victory (Lost) turned him into a monster (Alligator).

He tries to blow himself up (Bomb), but that only serves to unleash the madness again (Let Out the Beast).  When he comes to himself, he despairs (Rainfall).  He doesn’t understand—until night falls (Twilight), and his full powers emerge (Wolf).  Then it finally clicks (Tick Tack).  He survived not because MC made him a monster, but because necessity unleashed his innate powers (Dracula).


Battle Against Night

Honorable (Last Romeo), Soldier swears he will never kill another innocent (Ghost).  He will rise above his monstrousness (Rise) and hunt his own kind (N.O).

In his search (Under Cover), he finds a woman weep­ing (Lonely) as she feasts on human flesh (Mirotic).  Soldier wonders whether she regrets being a monster (Winter Butterfly) and approaches her.  She attacks him, but instead of dying, he unlocks a new level of power (Valkyrie).

She escapes, and he sets off on a rampage (Obsession).  But the more monsters he kills, the more he leaches away his sanity and humanity (Lost in the Dream).

One day, when he’s knee-deep in blood, he realizes what he’s become. He falls to his knees, seeming weak.  At that moment, Mirotic, who’s been stalking him, makes her move (Dun Dun).  Soldier realizes immediately what she is about and swears to take her down with him (Good Luck).

The game begins (Hide & Seek), with each deter­mined to kill the other (Answer).  They fight with no clear victor (Stuck).  They are such equals, this feels almost like friendship (Maze of Memories).

Finally, Soldier surrenders, kneeling down.  Mirotic springs forward to kill him (Shine). He smiles and she realizes her mistake, but it’s too late for her (Memory).

Soldier has won and is alive to continue battling. Forever (Fate).


Triumph Over Fate

Soldier has never slacked, never failed to continue fighting monsters (Depend On Me).  Whenever it looks like he’s going to lose, he becomes yet more powerful (Level Up).  He’s gained quite a reputation (Jealous), which only increases his difficulties (Double Knot).  He wonders if he will ever be able to rest (Edge).

Then a strange woman approaches him (Girl Problems) telling him she has a solution—a place he can be at peace (Treasure).  But he must first defeat the king of monsters, to stop the influx of new monsters (Cactus).  Soldier says she didn’t need to bribe him; he’ll do his duty (On).  And yet, he desperately wants to believe he can be helped (Secret Night).

Soldier heads out to defeat the Monster King (Exodus), though his mind is constantly distracted by the woman’s promise (Baby Don’t Stop).  He stumbles while fighting (Trespass), and wonders if she meant to make him vulnera­ble through distraction (Manipulate).  Although devastated (Thought I Loved You), he fights even harder (Illusion) and defeats the Monster King (Bonamana).

The woman reappears to fulfill her promise (Na Hago Nolja).  He says he knows she’s lying (Experience), but as he speaks, his monstrousness fades, though his power remains.  He can now live whatever life he wants (Love Shot).


Track Listing: You can listen to the entirety on YouTube HERE.  YouTube has more of the songs than Spotify, but I couldn't find TVXQ!'s "Manipulate" there, and that song is available on Spotify.  

Descent Into Monster:
1.     Dope – BTS
2.     Overdose – EXO-K
3.     Loner – CNBlue
4.     Mama – EXO-K
5.     Beautiful – Baekyhun
6.     Mr. Simple – Super Junior
7.     CALL ME BABY – EXO
8.     Take You Home – Baekhyun
9.     Ring Ding Dong – SHINee
10.  Dramarama – Monsta X
11.  HURT – EXO
12.  Psycho – Baekhyun
13.  Monster – EXO
14.  Skydive – B.A.P.
15.  BOOM – NCT Dream
16.  Shoot Out – MonstaX
17.  Run Away – TXT
18.  Follow – Monsta X
19.  One Shot – B.A.P.
20.  BTD (Before the Dawn) – Infinite

Rise Into Twilight
1.     Blue Flame – Astro
2.     DamDaDi – Golden Child
3.     Growl – EXO
4.     Bounce – Boyfriend
5.     Love – Taemin
6.     Cherry – Nu’est
7.     Crush My Mind – VIXX
8.     Badman – B.A.P.
9.     Black Pearl – EXO
10.  Dangerous – X-5
11.  Like Rain Like Music – Baekhyun
12.  Lost – History
13.  Alligator – Monsta X
14.  Bomb – Ravi
15.  Let Out the Beast – EXO
16.  Rainfall – Chen
17.  Twilight – Oneus
18.  Wolf – EXO
19.  Tick Tack – U-Kiss
20.  Dracula – f(x)

Battle Against Night
1.     Last Romeo – Infinite
2.     Ghost – History
3.     Rise – Taemin
4.     N.O – BTS
5.     Under Cover – A.C.E.
6.     Lonely – Spica
7.     Mirotic – TVXQ!
8.     Winter Butterfly – Hyuk
9.     Valkyrie – Oneus
10.  Obsession – EXO
11.  Lost in the Dream – Monsta X
12.  Dun Dun – Everglow
13.  Good Luck -- Beast
14.  Hide & Seek – TVXQ!
15.  Answer – Ateez
16.  Stuck – Monsta X
17.  Maze of Memories – Stray Kids
18.  Shine – J-Min
19.  Memory – VIXX
20.  Fate – Paradise

Triumph Over Fate
1.     Depend On Me – VIXX
2.     Level Up – Oneus
3.     Jealous – TVXQ!
4.     Double Knot – Stray Kids
5.     가장자리 (Edge/ The Family Head) – N
6.     Girl Problems – EXO CBX
7.     Treasure – Ateez
8.     Cactus – A.C.E.
9.     On – BTS
10.  Secret Night – VIXX
11.  Exodus – EXO
12.  Baby Don’t Stop – NCT
13.  Trespass – Monsta X
14.  Manipulate – TVXQ!
15.  사랑했지만 (Thought I Loved You) – Chen
16.  Illusion – Ateez
17.  Bonamana – Super Junior
18.  Na Hago Nolja – Cross Gene
19.  Experience – Taemin
20.  Love Shot – EXO