DEEP DIVE WITH THE AUTHOR
Posted on December 31, 2019
An interview to give new readers a better feel for this Brian Clopper chap in the hopes they will spread the imaginative Clopper gospel and launch him into new heights. (I sure am putting a lot of pressure on one measly, indulgent interview, aren't I?)
Tell us about your day job.
– I'm a fifth grade teacher. This is my 26th year of teaching, and I greatly enjoy it. The kids respond well to my dry humor, my cartoons, and my writing. In fact, I have a rep for turning reluctant writers into students who love writing.
Why is that?
– The curriculum is heavily slanted towards writing essays, responding to text, and penning opinions. We do all that, but we do a ton of original stories. My story prompts are highly motivational, centering on topics that work their imagination. For example, Tiny Trouble has them writing about waking up super tiny in their desks. They have to flashback to how they were shrunk down to Chapstick-size and then get their character home to nab the antidote. Another is called My Horrible Transformation. They awaken to find themselves trapped in a mad scientist's lab and then transform into a creature they have to describe. They have to escape. This prompt allows them to spend time describing setting, action, and character.
Does your career as a teacher feed your writing?
– It does. I find being around my students keeps me in touch with my inner child. It helps that I have a Peter Pan complex and have similar interests to my students.
What were your influences growing up? Start with writers.
– I devoured anything my Piers Anthony, Andre Norton, and Michael Crichton. I was really into the Dragonquest books for a time. Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steven Barnes were huge influences.
How about comics?
– I've been collecting comics since I was eight. In those 48 years, I've accumulated a huge collection. I used to go to a comic shop every week to grab the new releases, but went to mail order twenty years ago when my daughter was born. Westfield Comics delivers me my comics fix twice a month now. Creators I follow with a passion are: Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, Michael Golden, Ty Templeton, Chris Samnee, Jeff Lemire, Scott McCloud, Berni Wrightson, Alex Toth, Steve Rude, and Chris Sprouse. Watchmen, Stig's Inferno and Zot! are my top three comics of all time.
What was your first comic and what titles got you into comics?
– Star Wars #38 by Michael Golden was my first. Back then, I was devouring X-men, Micronauts, ROM, and Ka-Zar. I was also snatching up any independent comics I could find like First Comics and Pacific Comics.
Television and film?
– Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Quantum Leap, Lost, Buck Rogers, When Harry Met Sally, Some Kind of Wonderful, Space Ghost, Star Blazers, and all things Planet of the Apes.
Tell us about what kind of stories you like to write.
– All my books center on heart, humor, and the thrill of imagination. I work hard to infuse my novels with these three.
You've amassed an impressive catalog of novels in the last nine years. Tell us a little about how you did it.
– I write during my track-outs. I teach at a year-round school and work in the classroom nine weeks then get about three weeks off. During the three weeks at home, I write daily for two to eight hours a day. When my kids were younger, it was about two hours a day. Now that they are teenagers, I get about eight hours a day for about 12-15 days stretches. I can get about 60,000 words done in that time. That allows me to write about three books a year. I use the time in school to edit and save the heavy lifting of writing for the track out periods. It works incredibly well and keeps me from burning out on a story and on teaching.
What books of yours would you say are great starter novels?
– While a lot of readers go for the four-book Irving series first, that can be a daunting read simply because of its complexity. I'd steer a new reader to my done-in-one novels like: Arcana Creek, Here Is Where I . . . Wield a Really Big Sword, Bring On the Magic, Ghost Coast, The God Wheel, The Powers That Flee, and Ned Firebreak.
Your focus is a lot of fantasy and science fiction, but you've also branched out into the horror genre with your Turncoats series and even romantic comedies.
– Turncoats is a fun series. I love zombies and wanted to try doing one with a definite fresh take. When readers find out how the undead are changing in the second book, they'll see the series takes zombies to new heights.
Where did the rom-com books come from?
– I love a good rom-com. Sadly, I'm not seeing many of those these days, so I set out to write two that would tickle my fancy. We Three Meet is a meta-fiction romance where the characters know they are in a story and are aware of their author attempting to bring them together. It's a book that I've done a poor job of marketing. It's one that is deserving of a wider audience. Decisive Magic is its follow-up. It takes a couple and tells the tale of how an app on their respective phones manipulates their shared destiny.
So it sounds like even in your rom-coms you are still playing with quite wild ideas.
– Very much so. I wrote them under the pen name D. Spangler. I would like to write another, but really want to see the sales pick up on those before I do.
Speaking of pen names, what brought about writing under the guise of Landon Alspiret?
– Well, that novel, Burnt Jesus, was one I feared might be taken the wrong way. It's an attempt to look at religion not to tear it down but to examine it from a positive perspective. What if Jesus died in different ways in different alternate worlds from ours? I'm extremely proud of that book, but I don't hawk it because I don't want parents of my students to think I'm pushing an anti-religion agenda. I'm not. Readers of Burnt Jesus have told me it's got a great positive message and isn't as blasphemous as I thought it would be.
What is your goal?
– Writing excites me. It's a great creative release. While my readership is growing slow and steady, sales aren't what drives me. I need to tell these stories and I plan to keep doing just that. With 27 published so far, I have in mind to hit 50 novels in the next ten years. At my current pace, I might do it in eight. I am hopeful that 2020 will continue to bring me new devoted fans and more and more reviews.
Thanks for chatting with us. Have a great and prolific next decade.
– Thanks.