My newest interview with Ben, who lives in Texas. He’s an author,educator, husband, father, and veteran. Tomorrow is Veteran’s Day, and this interview is for all of them and for Ben. He shares with me the rewards and challenges of serving in the military.
Ben has been writing for years and has one of the most creative minds I’ve ever interviewed. He’s working on a lot and shares with me his thoughts on possibly seeing one of his books being adapted to film.
Introducing Ben…
What do you love about your life right now?
I have plenty of things to love about my life right now. My kids are doing well in school. My wife and I have a great relationship. I love my job. I’m writing books. I’m a lucky guy.
You’ve served in our armed services in the Army. Thank you for your service in our country. Do you mind sharing with me about the rewards and challenges of having served our country?
Oh, there are plenty of awards and challenges in the Army. The challenges can range from managing soldiers to having to endure days without sleep. The reward comes when you overcome those challenges. You go into the challenge wondering if you’ll survive, but when you make it out the other side, you feel pretty damn proud of yourself. It’s a real confidence booster.
Who encouraged you to join the military?
No one “encouraged” me. It was really my choice. I had a friend who was already in and stationed at Fort Hood. He’d come down to San Antonio on weekends and he just made it sound so cool, so that was an influence in my decision. I grew up as Jehovah’s Witness, so serving was a no-no. I was no longer a Witness when I joined, but my parents still had their reservations, especially because there was a war going on.
Again, thank you for your service. What do you want civilians like me to know about your service and others who served in the military?
Civilians will never really understand that world. They just don’t get it. It’s so unique a life unto itself that it’s impossible to really fathom what we do. Even within the military, there’s a big difference between soldiers with combat-focused jobs, like myself, and support jobs. It’s the difference between wolves and dogs. You can have a bottomless respect for what combat soldiers sacrifice, but you’ll never get it. You have to do it to understand. That’s why only other combat soldiers often cite feelings of loneliness.
Shifting gears here. I want to know who inspired you to become an author? Or was it a book you loved reading?
Like becoming a soldier, the choice to write is pure me. I’m dyslexic with ADD, so reading wasn’t easy, but my parents really motivated us to read since I was young. I grew up loving it, so despite my setbacks, I just kept working on it. In fact, I often ignored schoolwork so I could write or read my own book. I’d write in church, at family events, and pretty much anywhere, anytime. It was just an outlet for my wild imagination.
You’ve written a total of 5 books. First, how do you come up with ideas for your books? Second, tell me about your latest book Choking on Plastic Jellyfish.
My imagination is almost its own person. It’s constantly working. Sometimes I can pinpoint when the idea came to me. Like with Choking On Plastic Jellyfish. My love of urban exploration and the book Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky inspired that book. When I was a kid, I would go with my dad to his office and sit there drawing hallway maps like those I’d find in Prima strategy guides for video games. That fed into my love for urban exploring and that brought me to Roadside Picnic. After a tough summer, I started writing Choking On Plastic Jellyfish to explore some of those things I was going through while bringing in these childhood fascinations I’ve carried with me my whole life. I’ve been wanting to write that story for a while. Other stories, like those in my horror collections- The Forest Around the Hill and American Monsters– come from just random ideas pulled from the aether.
Is there a particular software do you use to write your books?
Nothing special. I use my phone’s notepad for notes and ideas, then Google Docs to draft outlines and to write the actual draft of the book.
We all have experienced failure, and sometimes success follows it. Do you have a favorite failure?
I don’t think I have anything I’d call a failure. Art is art. You can’t really mess it up. It is what you create, flaws and all. However, I’ve failed as a person in life enough times to use that while creating my characters. Many of my characters experience the failures I’ve experienced. My failure as a human being is, I guess, my favorite because it’s a ceaseless well of inspiration.
Besides all your writing, you are an advocate for promoting literacy and writing. You visit schools and colleges to promote writing and literacy. How did it that start?
Oh, I actually don’t quite remember how it started. I think a former English teacher of mine invited me to my old school. After that, it all really took off. I started getting more and more invites and the next thing you know, I’ve done dozens of visits trying to get kids and even college students to stop being intimidated by reading and writing. It’s an art and too often people forget that and think of it as something pretentious or strictly academic.
What is it exactly that you do when you visit a school or college? How do you promote writing and literacy?
I just share stories of my world travels and a wide array of experiences. I’ve lived a very eventful life- good and bad- and that has helped my creativity immensely. I try to show that writing can inspire people to be more adventurous, because people often think of writers as introverted shut-ins who stay locked in their houses. Not all of us are like that, though.
Just curious,have you ever thought about adapting one of your books into film? If so, which one?
Of course, of course! I’d love to have my books made into movies. I think Choking On Plastic Jellyfish is my best one so far for adaptation because it’s pretty straightforward. It’s a cat-and-mouse chase with sci-fi elements. The setting and limited amount of characters would make it a cheap film to make.
Are you currently working on anything right now?
I’m always working on new books. I have nine outlined so far. Right now I’m working on the sequel to Choking On Plastic Jellyfish. It’s called The Devil Threw a Stone and will take place in the Middle East. I’m also working on a Necronomicon-styled grimoire/bestiary titled Book of the Bloody Kingfisher which will have two books attached to it following this Bloody Kingfisher character. These books are all linked to my horror collections. It’s a very massive project with art involved, so it’s taking me some time to finish it, but it’s coming, I promise that.
Who are your biggest supporters?
My mom and grandma. They’ve seen my creativity since I was a kid and always knew I’d do something with it. They always have my back and are always pushing my book to people they meet. I also have some wonderful friends who’ve had my back for years-some since childhood. My wife is also a great supporter for putting up with it all. Living with an artist is not easy.
If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it, what message would you want to convey to millions? What would it say and why?
Be Chill. The reason is because no one is chill nowadays. Heck, even me. I think a friendly reminder is to not take everything too seriously. Right now, the world is just too wound up, and it needs to take a breather.
I read you love tacos. I do too! What’s your favorite joint you eat at in Texas?
I love breakfast tacos. I love birria and other types, but breakfast tacos are solid. My usual order is bean and cheese, potato and egg, bacon and egg, and barbacoa. I don’t have particular favorites because I live in San Antonio and there are too many good places to count, but I have a few around my house I really like.
Describe yourself in one word.
Curious.
Alright, alright, Ben, I’m trying to sound like one of your famous Texans, Matthew McConaughey. Alright now, this is one of my favorite parts of the interview. Tell me three fun facts about you. Live a little wild and share a secret if you dare.
- I grew up a Jehovah’s Witness. Serving in the military meant no holiday celebrations as a kid, but today I’m a veteran who just celebrated Halloween.
- I’m an anarchist and a bright-green futurist. I think one day humans will advance enough to no longer need government entities for regulation and that’ll only be possible with technological innovations that blend with the natural world. I mean, imagine trees that are actual trees but whose cells can also function as semiconductors. Of course, we’re a long way from that point.
- I have a tattoo on the bottom of my foot. It’s a broken little stickman (ya know, from stepping on him) giving the middle finger. I got it in Iraq during my second tour there, alongside the whole platoon. It’s the closest thing I have to a military tat.
I love ending the chat with a quote. Do you have a favorite quote or saying that has inspired and motivated you in your life that you can share with my readers?
I have many, but one comes from someone I hold in high esteem. His name is FM-2030. No, that’s not his birth name. He was a futurist, and this is his quote that I really connect with: “I am a 21st century person who was accidentally launched in the 20th. I have a deep nostalgia for the future.”
Thank you for reading my interview with Ben. Just to give you some info, FM-2030 was a Belgian born Iranian-American author and Olympic athlete. I’ll be checking out his writing this week.