riter, 'zine publisher and activist Jim Munroe lives in my hometown of Toronto, Canada, but it's been tough to catch up with him recently. He and I spoke via email while we were both on the road; me attending Wiscon, a feminist science fiction convention, and he traveling to conduct "information sessions" about his new novel, Angry Young Spaceman. (See the review in this issue of Science Fiction Weekly.) The novel, Munroe's second, smartly takes on megacorporations both in its content and in its creation; Munroe has become a company of one to get his book published and distributed. At the back of the book and on his Web site, Munroe gives information on how anyone can do the same.
Your first novel, Flyboy Action Figure Comes with Gasmask, met with a fair bit of success. A large publisher in Canada picked it up, then one in the United States; it garnered decent reviews, and you received a film option offer. Did any of that cause performance anxiety when it came to writing Angry Young Spaceman?
Munroe: Luckily, I was more than halfway through AYS before the media attention to Flyboy started up, so I was already committed and focused. It was a little distracting to have to deal with interviews for a project I had finished (it seemed to me) long ago, and it did mean that it took almost twice as long to finish AYS. That was difficult because I kept forgetting what had happened at the beginning of the novel, which wasn't a problem with Flyboy [because it had been] done in six months.
The "future" described in Angry Young Spaceman feels shiny and impossible. It's like watching a Jetsons cartoon. What were you trying to achieve with this technique? Any preliminary responses from the science fiction community?
Munroe: The idea was that it is the future as imagined in the '40s and '50s--rocket ships and boxy robots. I did it like that because it was fun, and also because I didn't have to litter the narrative with painful explanations of how the litecollar was a personal levitation unit that came into daily use in blah blah blah. ... Most SF fans seem to "get" it, though it's been beyond a few mainstream reviewers, and I think they appreciate that I'm playing with the genre without out-and-out spoofing it.
Sam Breen, your protagonist, belongs to a subculture that is being co-opted and commercialized for popular consumption; do you think that's the inevitable outcome of any anarchist or radical movement?
Munroe: Any movement that's large and dynamic enough to create change will also be a lucrative market.
Your writing is linked with your activism: tell us about the Science Friction Action Heroes.
Munroe: I did a workshop in '98 at a Toronto anarchist gathering called "Breeding a New Visionary: Splicing Together Radical Politics and Science Fiction." That led to a small group of us getting together and deciding to write stories about gentrification in the neighborhood where many of us lived: one-page dystopian visions of that area in 20 years. When we'd done that, we each made copies and posted our "Kensington Market: 2020" stories all over the neighborhood. It was a bit of ephemeral urban magic-making, and it was fun. We subsequently postered other 2020 stories in other areas that needed commentary, like the university and the hipster drag.
Has the English language on this continent become a "virus" that infects other countries with North American homogenized consumer culture?
Munroe: It's kind of ironic that the people who are most excited about exploring and living in diverse cultures are going there through jobs that actively homogenize the natives. That's a little too pat, and maybe it's more of a paradox than a contradiction, but it's not something the ESL teachers I've met seem to struggle with.
Your first novel was published by HarperCollins. In a very public "Dear John" letter to the CEO of HarperCollins, you explained your reasons for choosing to self-publish your second novel. Any concerns about being blacklisted in the publishing industry?
Munroe: No. Most editors I know are all too aware of the impact of media gluttons like Rupert Murdoch and what a creativity inhibitor the corporate environment is--I've met with much more admiration than hostility. There are sympathizers everywhere.
Do you think it's possible for a self-published novelist to make a living?
Munroe: It's hard to tell at this stage, but it breaks down that I make $4 a book instead of $2 with a corporate house. Even if I sell less than I did through HarperCollins, I'll make more. My goal within Canada is to sell 1,800 books; that pays for all the costs and leaves $10,000 for me. I have a pretty frugal lifestyle, so that'll support me for a year.
Did you have an editor for Angry Young Spaceman? How are you accomplishing distribution of the novel? And how does touring work for a freebooter novelist?
Munroe: Editing: I had 13 content editors who gave me feedback on the second draft, people gifted at critiques whom I'd met through doing 'zines. I had two more copy editors, one of whom I paid. Distro: I arranged a distribution deal through a mid-sized press. Touring: I called up the places I wanted to do my launches at and pitched the idea to them, then promoted the event in the weeklies and by sending batches of invites to bookstores and friends. For more detail on these things, check out the DIY (Do It Yourself) section at http://www.nomediakings.org.
Being published by a recognized house often means bigger distribution and more publicity, but the biggest advantage arguably is "imprimatur"; that undeclared statement that someone other than (and perhaps more objective than) the author has read the manuscript, and found it to be good. Lack of imprimatur is often why readers are reluctant to buy self-published work. Do you have a strategy for addressing that reluctance?
Munroe: There's never a guarantee that it's gonna be a good book, or even entertaining. I think that the average person will assume (unless it says, "This Book Is Self-Published") that anything with a logo is somewhat legit, as long as it looks and feels as appealing as a book from a corporate house. So I did make sure that my new book, production-wise, was as attractive as my first one with HarperCollins.
What projects are currently exciting you? What topics is your future work likely to tackle?
Munroe: I'm currently researching the feasibility of making a video game where four very different people fight back against corporate rule. Lots of cool weapons and exploding heads. I might approach companies to sponsor the game so they're not in it: Product dis-Placement.
