LiveWorld Transcripts

William Morrow Books presents

Michael Blaine
Author of "The Desperate Season"

September 13, 1999

Michael Blaine chats about his debut novel, "The Desperate Season," about a family dealing with the aftermath of a son's psychological break.

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Bookspeak: Welcome to BookSpeak! William Morrow Books and The Talk City Network are proud to present our special guest for tonight, Michael Blaine, author of "The Desperate Season." A visceral, relentlessly compelling thriller of true literary achievement, "The Desperate Season" captivates as it terrifies, with a psychological power that resonates long after its haunting conclusion. And now without further ado, please welcome Michael Blaine. Michael, welcome to Talk City!

Michael Blaine: I'm very happy to be on Talk City. I've just discovered what a huge community Talk City is, and I'm looking forward to the interview. (smile)

MysteryGirl: Michael, welcome to Talk City! Can you tell us a little bit about your book?

Michael Blaine: "The Desperate Season" is about a very human, very flawed family that tries to survive the violent breakdown of their son, Maurice. He's a schizophrenic and since this is America, he has very easy access to firearms. That said, it's really a novel of character and psychology. And very much about how different characters' views of each other conflict.

Queue Starry33: How have the reviews been so far?

Michael Blaine: There's a rumor that I wrote the Publisher's Weekly Review myself - this is completely untrue! (laughing) The reviews have been astonishingly good, and very gratifying. When you write for years at a time on a book, and are alone in a room, it's hard to conceive that other people will respond emotionally to the extent that you do yourself. Publishers Weekly in the review of July 12 had only positive things to say about it. Booklist raved, as did Library Journal, which is like Booklist but makes recommendations to libraries, so libraries are buying it, and the book has only been out for about ten days. There's a positive review coming out in the Orange County Register, but we are waiting for the Sunday Times Book Review to come through, and they are committed to reviewing it.

Sandy: Can you tell us about other books you've written?

Michael Blaine: This is my first published novel. If you know about what it's like to publish somewhat serious fiction, it's been a difficult period in American literature, but I am published extensively in American fiction magazines for my short fiction. I've won a number of prizes for my short fiction.

Astraea: Can you tell us about your background?

Michael Blaine: I come from a family that valued imagination and art. My mother is a little eccentric - she allowed my brother to paint murals all over our entire house! (despite the effect on the real estate values!) He became a writer, not a painter. (smile) We really were lucky in that way. Then I went to a creative writing program at San Francisco State at a time when it had a fabulous faculty including Wright Morris and Kay Boyle. I worked privately with Wright Morris, who had won a national book award. He's a real writer's writer, and not all that well known. It was like studying with Mark Twain. It was unbelievable, and really gave me the confidence to go on. The only other thing I'd add is that I've been an editor, and I had one hilarious period when I was editor of Twilight Zone Magazine in its second incarnation. It's a genre that I absolutely despise! I had sold a couple of pieces to them that were surreal and the editor really like my work. When he left, he managed to get me the job! I lasted for a year, and what I did was start publishing Latin American surrealists next to Stephen King. I published the Italian fabulist Dino Buzzati next to Peter Straub and everyone said the magazine would collapse, but during that year our circulation increased by fifteen thousand. It was a very strange company!

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