Ask the Author: Matt Lapata
[admin / September 14th, 2010 / Interviews ]Matt Lapata’s dense and dark Absalomammon haunts the August issue and he talks with us about weaponcrafting, creating his own religion and more.
1. What edged weapon would you want to grow out of your arm?
A chainsaw with teeth of lightsabers and Andúrils. It vomits Black Sabbath like smoke.
2. What is the worst thing you have faked?
Being a writer. Also, being an adult.
3. What religion would you create? What would your position be in this new religion?
A friend once described to me a Religion of Uninhabitable States, with Asymptote Towards First Kiss or Mouth Closing On Forkful as gods and Awareness Of Mortality as a kind of demon. I could get behind that. And I’d probably lead dances as high priestess of The Shotgun Sneeze.
4. Have you ever pushed your self chemically to strange and interesting places? If not, how did you research the elements of this story to get them as accurate as possible?
The endeavor to represent the world as a chemical algorithm working itself out is called chemistry, or c. Supposing c, which I do with all due solemnity, understanding of the statement “everything is chemicals” is itself a chemical process. This is both a strange and interesting fact about the world. Each of the places which constitute the world, that is, all places, at least one of which I’ve visited, all places are derivatively strange and interesting in their capacity as world-constituents. All places are strange and interesting places as a function of their chemicality, so yes, I’ve pushed myself both with and for those delightful chemicals we so delightfully supposed.
5. What secret government experiment would you take part of? What would you hope to gain?
Virtual Reality. Virtual Reality.
6. What do you wish you could summon?
Mephistopheles. I hear you can get some rad shit out of that deal.