This installment of The Blogshit features a writer we've not had a chance to feature on the podcast, Mr. Danger Slater. This guy is so bad-ass he skipped making his middle name Danger and went right for the throat. He is also from New Jersey like the Books, Beer and Bullshit boys so he earns bonus points right there.
He wrote a little ditty called LOVE ME from Jersey Devil Press. LOVE ME is a true gem. Very funny and very fun to read. It features an unnamed god-like being that has the world, nay, the universe at his fingertips and yet he can not find love. So he sets out on a hero's journey in search for the one elusive thing he can't have so easily. Do yourselves a favor and read it before his new book comes out.
The Blogshit: Welcome to Books, Beer and Blogshit Danger. It's not nearly as prestigious as the podcast but it's close. How's it feel?
Danger Slater: Oh, it feels pretty prestigious to me. Most of the time I’m just a normal kind of dude who likes to sit around in his underwear on a Tuesday afternoon and smear garlic hummus across his chest while porn blasts from the television set in the background as I fill my asshole to the brim with burnt popcorn kernels and audibly sob. So any attention I receive feels nice. Thank you for inviting me here.
The Blogshit: Typically people use Danger as their middle name. You've put it right up front. Can you talk about the name?
Danger Slater: Yeah. My middle name is Arthur. Not nearly as exciting.
I’m under the impression that it comes as no surprise to anyone that Danger isn’t my given name. Like I’ve said before, I have cool parents, but they’re not THAT cool. Mainly I wanted a name that would a.) be memorable, and b.) properly encapsulate what I’m trying to do with my writing. I don’t think anyone is picking up a Danger_Slater story and expecting The Sun Also Rises. At least I hope not. The danger is the writing itself. I try to keep it fast-paced, unpredictable. I try not to worry about things like decorum or taboos or even proper technique when I write. Just to be as entertaining and thoughtful as possible.
When I first started calling myself Danger a few years back, right around the time I got my first story published, I thought everyone was gonna make fun of me. I mean, I didn’t know if I earned the title. I never jumped a shark tank on a motorcycle or had sex with a blender or any daredevil shit like that. But everyone I talked to said they liked the name. That it fit. No one laughed at me at all. Even my family calls me Danger now.
The Blogshit: I've read your book, LOVE ME, and loved it. The protagonist, a nameless, hapless, god-like being who wears a viking hat is one of the greatest characters I've had the pleasure to read. How did you come up with this character?
Danger Slater: Thanks, man. That means a lot to me.
I just love to write in the voice of a pontificating moron with an overinflated sense of hubris. Like Ignatius Reilly in A Confederacy of Dunces. It’s a lot of fun to look at the world through those kind of goggles. The Narrator of LOVE ME is a patchwork of sorts. He approaches the world with a certain amount of innocence and naivety, but at the same time, he identifies himself as the most important person in it. It all revolves around him. I opted not to give him a name or any sort of bodily description (aside from the grandiose proclamations he makes about his own strength, good-looks, penis size, etc.) because I wanted the person reading to see themselves as this guy. Everyone has moments where they flip back and forth between confidence and humility, happiness and sadness, joy and fear, thinking you know everything and thinking you know nothing. Sometimes you can feel these conflicting emotions at the same time. So I tried to stuff it all into one guy who’s hyper-aware of his surroundings. Who’s hyper-aware of himself. Who is everyone and no one and understands everything and nothing, all at the same time.
It sounds more complicated than it is. He’s basically an egomaniacal idiot. Sort of like me.
The Blogshit: You have a new book coming out soon under Rooster Republic Press, what can we expect to find in between the covers of that one?
Danger Slater: SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS! Yes, a new book!
It’s going to be called DangerRAMA! (talk about an inflated sense of hubris) and it’s a collection of 3 unrelated novellas all packaged together under one cover. As for what to expect? The usual: time travel, blood and gore, deviant sex, hamburgers, science gone mad, pop culture, religion or lack thereof, body integrity identity disorder, outer space, art, whale songs, explosions, dinosaurs, and of course, plenty of tasteless jokes.
The three novellas are titled as follows: KNIGHTS OF THE WHITE CASTLE, SOMNAMBULANT, and ME & ME & ME & ME & ME & ME & ME & ME.
Rooster Republic is great. I thank them for reaching out and letting me be a part of their family.
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| Rooster Republic Will Be Showcased in Episode 18 |
Danger Slater: Well there are always pieces of sporadic short fiction coming out from time to time. Anyone interested in keeping up can friend me on Goodreads or Facebook or check out www.dangerslater.blogspot.com
As for big projects, I just finished a book, so I suppose I’ll be starting another one. I mean, what else is there to do?
I’ve also got a blog called Nicolas Uncaged, which I post on once every 1-2 weeks. The premise to that is I’m watching every Nic Cage movie in chronological order (there’s a lot of them) then, using the film as an inspiration, I write whatever I want. It’s incredibly asinine. You can find that at www.nicolasuncaged.blogspot.com.
The Blogshit: Books, Beer and Blogshit thinks you're a writer to watch rise to greatness, what young guns does Danger Slater think we should be keeping an eye on?
Danger Slater: For me, the Tall Tales with Short Cocks anthology series from Rooster Republic are an excellent showcase to find both emerging and established bizarro fiction. I’m honored I got to be in one of them. They are jam packed with funny, interesting, fucked-up and mind-bending stories. There’s this dude, Douglas Hackle...man, his short fiction is pitch-perfect. Such a simple and twisted point of view. I’m jells. Jells means jealous, as I believe the kids are saying. Anyway, he’s the shit. Check him out.
The Blogshit: We are thinking of opening a sub shop one day. What should we put on a Danger Slater Sub Sandwich?
Danger Slater: Dynamite and bananas.
| Danger Slater |
So there he is, Danger Slater. I can't stress enough how good LOVE ME is. Grab it. Hope you enjoyed Danger because he WILL be on Books, Beer and Bullshit when his new book DangerRAMA comes out this summer! Keep your ears peeled!
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