Rob Dean On Tuesday, August 16, 2011 at 5:15PM Rob Dean On Thursday, June 9, 2011 at 3:30PM The thing about good pulp is that you trust the reader and you know that the mind is a machine to process metaphors so of course all those connections will be there. But you've also granted the fantastic its own dynamic and allowed that awe. There's no contradiction. So I want to have monsters as a metaphor but I also want monsters because monsters are cool. There's no contradiction.
Rob Dean On Tuesday, March 30, 2010 at 1:40PM DC Pierson's debut book, The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To, explores both the promise and pitfalls of insomnia along with the power and problems of imagination. Pierson's novel looks at the world of two high school outcasts, united through the fake worlds they create, who quickly find themselves in situations that are rapidly getting out of control. And while there's a lot of humor in Pierson's book - particularly in his (through the narrator, Darren) observations on human behavior - the book itself isn't just a lark: it's about regret, stupid drama, hormones, first experiences and finding out about who you really are - even when that answer isn't exactly to your liking. In short, it's about growing up.
Insomnia is a helluva thing. Your mind rattles on, refusing to let you slip away into the land of fantasy and confusion promised by falling asleep. And while you may find yourself pursuing some random tangent or another - like finding out everything you can about the long forgotten cartoon show Kissyfur - you rarely get up to anything really productive. You may read more, or watch more television or movies, but you're not working diligently on a cure for disease or a practical version of the flying car.
Rob Dean On Wednesday, December 30, 2009 at 1:05PM The greatest tragedy of my life is that I’m not a figment of someone’s imagination.
My mind constantly exists in the world of fantasy, a world filled with adventures and daring deeds. I desire larger than life scenarios divided along black and white lines of good versus evil. I long to look out my window and see the skies peppered by brave men and women in capes and tights righting wrongs and beating the bad guys. I wish to read newspaper headlines about some nefarious organization that doesn’t mean harm for ideological reasons based on religious fanaticism. I prefer my shadowy groups lead by a man with a predilection to reptile themes and bungled attempts at global domination. I want to find treasure maps, destroy ancient cursed relics, encounter creatures that exist beyond our planet, our dimension, or simply beyond the ken of our understanding.
But that’s not the way this world works, nor the way my life has gone thus far.
