he writes like an angel, Harlan Ellison once said of Nebula Award-winning, World Fantasy Award-winning, Philip K. Dick Memorial Award-winning, Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award-winning author Pat Murphy. Appropriately enough, her latest novel is titled Wild Angel, but is she angelic or devilishly clever?
Science Fiction Weekly recently spoke with Pat Murphy about her writing, her alter egos and her shameless self-promotion.
Who is this Max Merriwell guy? He's supposed to have written a lot of books but I can't find any of them on Amazon.com.
That's a simple question with two possible answers--one simple and one not-so-simple.
Here's the simple answer. Max Merriwell is a pseudonym, a pen name under which I have chosen to write a space opera.
Here's the other answer: Max Merriwell is a well-known science fiction writer who published his first novel at age 18. A prolific writer, currently in his mid-fifties, Max publishes a science fiction novel each year under his own name. He also writes fantasy novels, which he publishes under the pseudonym Mary Maxwell and mysteries, which he publishes under the pseudonym Weldon Merrimax. Max is a delightful man with a wild imagination and a somewhat cavalier attitude toward reality and its restrictions on his fiction.
The second answer seems like the more accurate one to me. But that answer leads people to go to their bookstore and search for some of Max's other titles, and that's frustrating. You see, Max doesn't happen to inhabit the world in which you and I live. You could think of him, I suppose, as inhabiting some alternate time line. That's kind of how I think of him. I figure he's out there writing and every now and then a book of his leaks through into this reality.
Whatever answer you prefer, you should be warned that Max's books have just begun to leak through into this reality. There and Back Again is the first in a series of books involving Max Merriwell. This novel is, as you probably guessed from the title, based on The Hobbit. Basically, it's The Hobbit, retold as a space opera, with worm holes and space pirates and pataphysicians. (Every space opera needs pataphysicians, after all.) There and Back Again is a rollicking adventure to the center of the galaxy.
Wild Angel, the second book in this admittedly bizarre project, has just come out from Tor Books. Wild Angel was written by Max Merriwell under the pen name Mary Maxwell. This novel borrows its premise from Tarzan of the Apes. In Wild Angel, a young girl is adopted by wolves in Gold Rush California. This is an action/adventure novel of the old school: there are daring rescues and dramatic escapes; there's a stage coach robbery and a traveling circus; there's a Temperance lecturer who runs away with the circus. So that's the novel that Mary Maxwell (or Max, masquerading as Mary) has written.
Finally, I'm in the middle of writing a novel about Max Merriwell. That book is Adventures in Time and Space with Max Merriwell. It takes place on a cruise ship. On this particular cruise, the events of the novels that Max is writing begin to bleed through into the reality of the cruise ship. There are UFO sightings and wolves on the recreation deck. Max's pseudonyms begin to show up and make trouble. Adventures in Time and Space with Max Merriwell is about the nature of reality and the nature of identity--and some of the confusions of being a writer.
This is the point in the story when people usually back away, looking at me as if I were mad. But I'm not mad, you see. Or if I am, I'm not alone. Tor Books has contracted to publish all three novels: There and Back Again, Wild Angel, and Adventures in Time and Space with Max Merriwell.
Now Beth Meacham, my editor at Tor Books, tells me that publishing these novels under different names will just confuse everyone. Much as I hate to admit it, I've come to agree with her. So the books are all coming out with my name on the cover--but the title page of each book will list the proper pseudonym. Which means that There and Back Again is by Max Merriwell by Pat Murphy. And Wild Angel is by Mary Maxwell by Max Merriwell by Pat Murphy. And Adventures in Time and Space with Max Merriwell is by Pat Murphy.
Each of the books can be read independently of the others. But I think that those intrepid enough to read them all will get a bit more than those who read only one.
When I was teaching at Stanford University, I told this story to a group of students. When I reached the end, I asked if there were any questions. A very bright and articulate young woman raised her hand and said plaintively, "Pat, I haven't understood a word you've said for the last five minutes." I guess it's a little complex. If you're confused, I recommend you start over again at the beginning. And wish me (and my imaginary friends) luck. You just have to read about it. We're trying to do it!
Some people ask me if I plan to write a novel by Weldon Merrimax as well. To which I reply--do you think I'm crazy? This is tough enough as it is.
So, in writing as "Max Merriwell," you are in a sense playing a role. Do you consciously "get into character" while writing as Merriwell? Does adopting a male persona change the way you write?
While I was writing There and Back Again, I had a sign posted above my computer: "THIS IS NOT A PAT MURPHY NOVEL. THIS IS A MAX MERRIWELL NOVEL."
Max is a different writer than I am. It's not so much a male/female thing--though that may be a part of it. Max doesn't give a damn about literary values. What he cares about is telling a rollicking good story. In some ways, he's much more confident than I am. He's much less self-conscious about his work. His attitude is sort of: "Hey, we just landed on another alien planet. So what's this one like?"
In a funny way, I'd say Max is a true innocent. He reminds me of The Fool, a character in the Tarot deck, who walks on the edge of a cliff without fear. Max believes in himself with a certainty that borders on arrogance. He's quite capable of saying "This is a really great book," about one of his novels. And he has a wonderful time when he's writing. I have fun writing, but I also tend to be extremely critical of my own work. I look at a something I've written and say, "That part could be better." Whereas Max looks at something he has written and says, "Hey, that part's really keen!"
I started playing with pseudonyms after a convention where I read my story "A Cartographic Analysis of the Dream State." Someone came up to me after the reading and said, "That was a good story, but it wasn't a Pat Murphy story."
"Yes it was," I said. "I wrote it."
He shook his head. "But it wasn't like your other stories."
I was startled by this comment, since my work ranges through many subjects and approaches. My Nebula Award-winning second novel, The Falling Woman, is a contemporary psychological fantasy set in the Yucatan. My third novel, The City, Not Long After, is a post-apocalyptic novel leaning toward magic realism. My fourth novel, Nadya--The Wolf Chronicles, is an historic, feminist, werewolf novel. Each very different from the others.
But I came away from that encounter feeling very uncomfortable that some people might expect certain types of stories from me. I felt that if I wasn't careful, I could find myself restricted by people's expectations of me. It was after that encounter that I started experimenting with pseudonyms and realizing the possibilities that this offered.
In "Mary Maxwell"'s afterword to Wild Angel, you--that is, Mary--write that the book is not meant as "an historically and biologically accurate account." Even so, did you do any research into real-life feral children?
I always do research. I love research. Research always unearths material that is much stranger than anything I could make up. I've done research into feral children in the past. I didn't end up using much of that here--I was operating on the Tarzan model, which holds reality at more than arm's length.
My favorite research find when I was working on Wild Angel was the Clampers, members of the secret society of E Clampus Vitus. Their motto is Credo Quia Absurdum, "I believe because it is absurd." Their meeting hall is designated the Hall of Comparative Ovations. Their symbol is the Staff of Relief. Upon initiation, all members are given "titles of equal importance." Their avowed goal is to assist widows and orphans, particularly the widows. Their primary activity is initiating new candidates in extravagant and drunken rituals. They are reputed to also do good works, but the truth of that is difficult to ascertain. Since no Clamper can ever recall the events of a meeting on the following day, the activities of the society are assured of remaining secret.
Some people think I made up the Clampers. Not so! Visit California's Gold Country and you'll see historic plaques, put in place by E. Clampus Vitus. They are, according to historical documents and contemporary accounts, exactly as I described them.
In Wild Angel there's a Pinkerton detective named Patrick Murphy. Any relation?
Ah, yes--and in There and Back Again, the Curator of alien artifacts is also named Pat Murphy. Pat Murphy is also a character in Adventures in Time and Space with Max Merriwell. I suppose I'm just admitting to something that the astute reader already knows: the author is always in the book.
You also wrote about wolves in a previous novel, Nadya--The Wolf Chronicles. What motivates your special interest in wolves?
Hey, I could talk about symbolism here. For me, wolves and werewolves are symbolic of the wilderness and the wild side of human nature. Nadya deals with the westward expansion and with attempts to subdue the wilderness. In this battle, I'm on the side of the wilderness.
But my interest in wolves exceeds and predates any thought of their literary symbolism. Wolves are amazing predators, well suited to their environment. The social structure of the pack is fascinating; their ability to observe and interact with humans is remarkable.
Sarah McKensie, the main character in Wild Angel, learns to communicate as wolves communicate, in a subtle language of gesture and implication. I found researching wolf communication particularly interesting.
Has your work at the San Francisco Exploratorium (www.exploratorium.edu) inspired any of your fiction?
For those who don't know the Exploratorium, it's a museum of science, art, and human perception, founded by Frank Oppenheimer back in 1969. It's the grand-daddy of all the interactive science centers and it's the sort of place that changes the way you see the world. I've been working there for around about 16 years, so the Exploratorium has played a significant role in warping my perception of things.
This is probably most obvious in my third novel, The City, Not Long After, which deals with a group of artists in a post-apocalyptic San Francisco. The artists are remaking the city as an art project when they are invaded by an army from Sacramento. They fight back using art. The sensibilities and some of the artworks in that book come from the Exploratorium.
I also consulted extensively with two physicists at the Exploratorium while writing There and Back Again. Though the book is a space opera, Max and I were determined to get the physics right. No faster than light travel allowed. Everything that happens in that book is possible. Not probable, perhaps, but possible.
I understand you took a year's leave from the Exploratorium to write the trilogy. Was that so you could write three books in one year just like Max Merriwell?
Even writing full time, I can't manage three books in a year. But in that year off I did complete There and Back Again and Wild Angel and I got a good start on Adventures in Time and Space with Max Merriwell. If only I could get Max, Mary, and Weldon to write while I slept, I could be more prolific. Alas, I haven't managed that yet.
There and Back Again recasts The Hobbit as a space opera. Wild Angel is a distaff Tarzan set during the California Gold Rush. Will the third novel, Adventures in Time and Space with Max Merriwell, also have a literary antecedent?
Nope. This one is all mine.
The third novel is going to be a Pat Murphy book, with Merriwell as a character in the story rather than the supposed writer. But will it be anything like Merriwell's "Weldon Merrimax" mysteries?
Nope. It's possible that I might write as Weldon one of these days, but this book isn't it.
Has channeling Max Merriwell taught you anything as a writer?
Writing as Max reminded me that I write my best work when I'm really enjoying myself. I'd always been baffled by those writers who seemed to suffer while they wrote. Yes, writing is a lot of work, but there's a great deal of joy in it as well. On this, I like to quote Henry Miller: "Don't be nervous. Work calmly, joyously, recklessly on whatever is in hand."
Max also reminded me of one of my old rules to live by: Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
Tell us about the Brazen Hussies.
I've teamed up with two other award-winning women writers--Lisa Goldstein and Michaela Roessner. Together we are struggling to overcome our natural modesty and self-promote our books like brazen hussies. So we've put together a little grassroots marketing effort--Brazen Hussy Promotions--with Web pages and mailings and such. You can check out our interconnected Web site: http://www.brazenhussies.net/.
If anyone wants to be on the Brazen Hussies mailing list, they can stop by the Web site and sign up. We send out emailings every few months to let people know what we're up to, what new books are coming out, where we are appearing, and such.
Just how brazen do you get? Have you ever trashed a hotel room on tour?
We have far too much sympathy for the maids who have to clean up the mess to ever trash a hotel room. There was, however, an unfortunate incident at a recent signing at Booksmith bookstore, in which the Brazen Hussy Blimp (a remote control airship suitable for indoor flight) re-enacted the Hindenberg Disaster. But we don't like to talk about that ....
The Brazen Hussies manifesto says that part of your mission is to bring lapsed science fiction readers back into the fold, kind of like Jesuits. Have you been successful in converting readers who thought science fiction and fantasy is just for kids?
We've had some success in that regard. I've had folks tell me that they use The Falling Woman to convince people to give science fiction a try. They report that people read it and say, "But that's not science fiction." Well, it's not science fiction with rocketships and rayguns, but it certainly is science fiction.
I'm also interested in keeping kids who are currently reading fantasy and science fiction interested in the field. I was tickled that There and Back Again appeared on one list of "Books to Read While You Are Waiting for the Next Harry Potter Book to Come Out." I've received some great fan mail from 12-year-olds about There and Back Again.
After the Merriwell trilogy, what comes next?
Hard to say. I always have half a dozen projects on the back burner. I don't know which one I'll tackle after I finish Adventures in Time and Space with Max Merriwell. Whatever novel I tackle next, I plan to write a few short stories first.
