Author Q&A

How do you pronounce your last name?
Must – chen, like “question.”

When did you know that you wanted to write?
Not until I was thirty-five or so. My wife was doing an internship in another city and I was spending a lot of time on the road, and I decided I wanted to try and do three things besides being a lawyer: to teach, to run for political office and to write a novel. Eventually, I did all three.

Do you still practice law?
I do. I represent cities and counties and school districts and hospitals that are borrowing money. I’m a “bond lawyer”—I draw up the contracts for financings for these entities. It sounds incredibly dull (perhaps that’s why I’m a fiction writer), but actually it’s more fun and challenging than you’d think.

And you were an elected official?
I was elected to the Tallahassee City Commission in 2003, re-elected in 2004 and 2008, and decided not to run again when my term ended in 2012. I enjoyed it, particularly after representing local governments for so long. I figure I’ve probably sat through more public hearings than most other humans. The beauty of local government is that if you really want to make something happen as an elected official, you can do it. Plus, I love Tallahassee, which is one of the most beautiful places on earth.

What made you think you could write a novel?
Naivete. I’ve always read a lot, and I had this feeling that I could just sit down and write a novel, which I’ve seen later described as the equivalent of a sudden decision to begin practicing thoracic surgery. Hopefully, I’ve learned a lot since then.

Do you still read a lot now, and what do you like to read?
I read widely, mostly fiction; I try to read forty novels a year and usually do so. I alternate between classics and contemporary literary fiction, sci-fi, and an occasional thriller or mystery. I try to read things I should have read but haven’t—for instance, I recently read The Sea, The Sea and Stoner, which were excellent. For a time after I became a lawyer, I didn’t read much for pleasure. I would tell myself I was too tired after reading documents all day, but one of my law partners got me back into it. Now I feel like a kid let loose in the library, with all this great literature out there that I haven’t read yet (or re-read).

What inspired you to write “Boy With Wings”?
I’ve thought about writing this book for quite some time. I’ve started it, stopped it, begun again, made revisions. I wanted to dig into what it means to be different, and how that truly feels. 

Although there are no “freak shows” today as there were in the 1930s, do you believe there’s a contemporary equivalent
There actually are still a few traveling freak shows, but oddities today are shown mostly on the Internet and TV. Just as in the 1930’s, there’s much that is fake, and some that is real.

What is the significance of ignorance and superstition in this book?
Ignorance and superstition are related in certain ways to belief (and religion). We tend to equate anything we don’t or can’t understand to God, but at the same time we fear it. Human oddities seem a perfect example—we’re fascinated even as we’re repelled.

What role does spirituality play in the book?
The main character, Johnny, struggles with his body and his belief. Is it God he believes in, or the Bible, or even something else? He struggles also with the role society seems to want him to play. I think those struggles are there for all of us, and spirituality is the path (with its many branches) that can lead us through.

How Was Word of South Started?
With the publication of The Gendarme, I was invited to speak at a number of literary festivals, and began to think: why couldn’t we do this in Tallahassee? I was on the City Commission at the time and needed to wait until I got off to try it, but after I was no longer a commissioner (and after a lot of thinking about “do I really want to do this?”) a group of us decided to give it a go. Rather than being just like every other book festival, though, we decided to try and be something different, and to combine books with music. The first festival was held in Tallahassee’s newly renovated Cascades Park in 2015, unfortunately partly in a downpour, but even with the rain it was a great success. We’re now in our eleventh year of putting on what we believe is one of the country’s most unique festivals, where we talk about music and sing about books and do everything in between. The festival has become known for its “mu-au-shups”—combinations of writers and musicians who are left to do whatever they want to do—and we’ve paired Julia Reed and Eden Brent, Paul Beatty and Matthew Shipp, Rick Moody and Rob Roberge, Robert Olen Butler and Bruce Cockburn, to name a few. We’ve also featured a number of musicians who have written memoirs or other books: Sheila E, Rita Coolidge, George Clinton, Loudon Wainwright III and more. It’s all a great, big time, with tremendously talented artists.