ISSUE #9 | An Interview with David Busboom
David Busboom is an Illinois-based writer with work appearing in such publications as Shock Totem, Heroic Fantasy Short Stories, The Norwegian American, and The Saturday Evening Post. His debut novella, “Nightbird,” was published by Unnerving in 2018. More about him and his work can be found at davidbusboom.com.
PLANET SCUMM: Whatcha reading?
DAVID BUSBOOM: At the time of this writing (late October, 2020), I'm reading:
My Sweet Audrina by V. C. Andrews (Pocket Books, 1982) - My partner and I both decided to give Andrews a chance this year by reading this and Flowers in the Attic; I read Flowers at the beginning of the month and found it neither as bad or as good as many people had led me to believe.
Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales by Ray Bradbury (William Morrow, 2003) - Bradbury resonates with me more than any other writer; I started this in August just after his 100th birthday, and have been savoring it slowly.
The Nightside Codex edited by Justin A. Burnett (Silent Motorist Media, 2020) - I'm also savoring this one, as I can sometimes burn out with theme anthologies if I read them all at once; this one is all about forbidden documents, and I'm really digging it so far.
Ghost Story by Peter Straub (Coward, McCann, and Geoghegan, 1979) - I first read this classic several years ago, and I'm rereading it now for the Halloween season.
PS: What was your first favorite book?
DB: Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time by James Gurney (Dorling Kindersley, 1992). My opa gave me a first-edition copy of this when I was a baby, and I was obsessed with it (and dinosaurs) for years after. My cousins and sister and I even made up a stupid little "song" about it that we'd sometimes sing on family road trips, because you'd better believe I always had Dinotopia with me on those Griswaldesque out-of-state vacations. I went on to read all of the main books by Gurney and most of the spinoff novels. I still love dinosaurs, and the Dinotopia series remains one of my all-time favorite fantasies.
PS: Do you look at your Issue 9 story, “Ahead of Dragons,” differently now than when you first wrote it?
DB: It started as a fun pulp adventure story and I think it still is that first and foremost, but in subsequent drafts I simplified the plot, paid more attention to worldbuilding details, and tried to emphasize the darker bits. I would really like to write more stories in this setting, maybe about someone who's learned to communicate with the alien dragons and tries to understand them, or about an electro-sword-wielding ronin-type character wandering a midcentury North America without guns, cars, airplanes, or World War II.
PS: How are you coping with the pandemic?
DB: My partner and were in the process of buying a house when the pandemic started. We considered backing out of the deal, but decided it would be better to go through with it and see what happens than to remain beholden to our landlords another year with an uncertain future. Then the basement of our new house flooded as we were moving in, so we ended up having to do much more renovation much earlier than we'd originally planned. Maybe that's for the best, though, since it certainly kept us busy and now our home is nicer than it was when we first moved in. We've also settled into a weekly Zoom call with a small group of friends that often involves a lot of drinking and has gradually become an indispensable balm for the dread and stress of daily life in 2020. Please, everyone, wash your hands, wear a mask, and social distance responsibly! Let's work together to make this nightmare at least a smidge more bearable for everyone.
