WBM Do you already have fiction book
ideas?
MB I’m trying to write a novel about an
incident that happened in Pennsylvania
in the 18th century, which has always
been interesting to me. I love historical
fiction, so it’s kind of an interesting transition
for me. I just can’t go interview the
participants.
WBM What’s the most outrageous thing
you’ve ever had to do to get the story?
MB I was on an anti-poaching patrol in
Zambia one time — this is probably the
only time that I’ve ever voluntarily put
myself in a potentially dangerous situation
— and it was because, again, I’d
gone so far. I’d gone out on this
anti-poaching patrol and these anti
poachers would sometimes get in
gunfights with poachers. My photographer
chickened out. He left.
And the great thing about being a
writer is you don’t actually have to
get right in the middle of things;
you can reconstruct. But photographers,
they have to be there.
So he gave me his camera and he
went home. I’m not a really great
photographer, but they cornered
what they thought were a group
of poachers at the top of this knoll
and they all had their weapons out
and they’re going to rush this hill.
Ordinarily, I would stay right here
behind this rock and ask them all about it
when they were done, but now I’ve got a
camera; I’ve got to go to get pictures! So
I ran up the hill with these guys knowing
there were known poachers. I know I’m
not an abject coward because I did go.
WBM Is there a favorite character out
there, person, small or large, real or fiction,
that sticks in your head?
MB In my own work there’s just so many.
I just find people to be endlessly fascinating.
Joey Coyle has long been a favorite
character of mine. He was the unemployed
longshoreman that found a million dollars
in a sack lying by the side of the road that
had fallen off the back of an armored car.
I wrote a book called “Finders Keepers”
about it. This guy did everything wrong;
if you find a million dollars and you want
to keep it, don’t tell anybody. Joey told
everybody. He just could not contain himself.
To me, he was hilarious, but also a
tragic character so it was very interesting.
Randall Cunningham is one of my
favorite characters of all time — the
quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles
— because he was such a complete dimwit.
When you’re in his position people
‘“Joey Coyle has long been a favorite
character of mine. He was the
unemployed longshoreman that
found a million
dollars in a sack
lying by the side of the road.”
are always trying to get you to talk,
and Randall loved to talk, but he never
thought. He would just go on and on and
on, and he would very frequently say one
thing and then contradict himself in the
same sentence. It would be a long involved
sentence.
Say you want to ask Randall a simple
question like, “Does your knee still hurt?”
You could come away from your interview
with Randall with, “Yes, my knee is crippling.
I’m crippled with pain,” and, “No,
it feels 100 percent,” all in the course of
56
WBM june 2012
the same conversation because Randall
was just sort of free associating. If you ever
read my book “Bringing the Heat,” I try
to capture Randall, because I interviewed
him many times, and I have recordings of
Randall going on and on.
My description of Randall’s wedding in
that book, he ultimately said, “The one
thing that you can say about my wedding
is that it was very tasteful,” with the most
over-the-top extravaganza in the history of
Las Vegas, complete with smoke that his
wife emerged from. It was just the most
ridiculously over-the-top wedding. Randall
ends up saying that he was convinced that
it was really tasteful. I love ’em. You can’t
invent characters like these.”
WBM Who are you reading
now?
MB I’ve kind of rediscovered
John Updike. I read years ago
the Rabbit books when they
came out, loved them. The
Library of America published
all four Rabbit novels in one
big fat book. I decided, I guess
two summers ago, that I was
going to read that. It was so
much better the second time
through. My appreciation for
Updike’s skill just went way
up.
The other thing that was
so fascinating about those
books is that he wrote them in 10-year
intervals. He would pick up the story of
Rabbit Angstrom, the main character 10
years later. The first book is in his 20s; the
second book is Rabbit in his 40s, and the
next book is Rabbit in his 50s, and then
his 60s, and in the last book he dies. So
you would see his progression as a writer
but also the life of his character picked
up in 10-year intervals. I think it’s one of
the greatest accomplishments in American
literature. I love that. I also love David
Foster Wallace’s nonfiction.
author interviews
Can’t get enough of Mark Bowden? We can’t!
Visit www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine to read the rest of our candid interview.