"...WE DON'T LIVE IN A SINGLE GENRE.": AN INTERVIEW WITH THE COUNTRY UNDER HEAVEN'S FREDERIC S. DURBIN

Frederic S, Durbin follows the travels and adventures of Ovid Vesper, a saddle tramp whose near death experience in The Civil War may have brought a Cthululike being, The Craither, that brings monsters and the supernatural on the western landscape he roams. Mr. Durbin was kind enough to take some questions about the book and mixing the western and horror genres.

SCOTT MONTGOMERY: Did The Country Heaven come from an idea, an interest in melding genres, or something else?

FREDERIC S. DURBIN: It came from a voice. It's the first time it's ever happened to me. Usually, my books and stories grow from places, from settings. But with this one, I just heard this calm, contemplative cowboy's voice speaking to me; the character had a story he wanted to tell, and I pretty much dictated it.

S.M.: The structure is very episodic, yet there is a feel of a connected whole. What did did you keep in mind to pull that off?

F.S.D.: Mainly, I stayed aware that things are in motion. As people move through their stories in life, they're constantly changing—hopefully for the better, but not always. Characters, like people, exist through a period of time that is the story. Like us, they're carrying more by the end. They've got more scars and maybe more wisdom. The character at the end had better not be the character that s/he was in Chapter One. In this book, it helps that Ovid's encounters with the Craither are increasingly intense, and that his visions are leading him somewhere—the action is building to a crescendo near the end.

S.M.: I was really impressed with the western side of the story. It held  an authentic feel, and the gunfights and characters were engaging. Were you influenced by any western authors?

F.S.D.: First, thank you, and second . . . um, no, I admit with embarrassment. The western is a genre that I hope now to read a lot more of. I am a huge fan of western movies, though: the Coen Brothers' remake of True Grit, High Noon, The Magnificent Seven, 3:10 to Yuma, Appaloosa, Open Range, Lonesome Dove . . . One could certainly say that I was influenced by Charles Portis and Larry McMurtry, in that their famous novels were made into films.

S.M.: What did you enjoy the most about mixing  genres?

F.S.D." Well, it's like getting to have your cake and eat it, too. I enjoyed having fun with several genres I love and putting them together—monsters, ghosts, folklore, and other worlds combined with the classic western. I took great delight in putting a cosmic Lovecraftian monster in a chapter about a grand cattle drive. I actually think such blending is like life itself: we don't live in a single genre. We live in literary fiction—human stories—but the same day might also bring us horror, romance, adventure, and maybe a little fairy tale.

S.M.: Ovid is a hero we are immediately inclined to take this decade-long journey with. How did you go about constructing him?

F.S.D.: Again, I don't think I did. He came to me and started talking. I had to "excavate" and listen for certain parts of his background. But he was like a real person who came looking for a scribe. I'm glad he took a chance on me. I always just knew what he would say or do, or how he would think about something. It's like how we know our best friends, right?—"If Bob were here, he would say . . ." or "I can just hear what Grandma would say about that!"

I'm not a writer who develops characters in advance. I learn who they are by following them through a story, watching what they do, and writing it all down.

S.M.: The Craither seems like something that could pop up in other places, times, or genres. Do you have further plans for him?

F.S.D.: Well, not as such, though I'm sure there will be other "Craithers" somewhat like him, whatever forms they take. That said, there is a sequel to The Country Under Heaven, which is finished and hopefully will be published soon. I hope fans of this book will snow my publisher under with requests along the lines of: "Publish the sequel! Publish the sequel!"