A.D. Thompson is an American writer and former Bangkok resident born in 1971 and reared (not bred) in Texas. In 2007 he published Diner Dharma – A Monk in Trouble in West Texas, a roman à clef considered by some his “enduring masterpiece.” In this interview, Dan talks about his books, his life as a writer and globetrotter, and his future projects.
Voicu Mihnea Simandan: We have met in 2008 at a writer’s meeting in Bangkok. It is here in Thailand where you’ve completed your first published book, Diner Dharma. When did you actually start writing this book?
A.D. Thompson: Some of the embedded stories in Diner Dharma I wrote in high school! Most were written while I worked as a forester in the Sahara in the late 90s. A few I wrote in New Mexico, those with a more American Indian style. Most of the editing I did in Thailand with the help of our wonderful writers group!
V.M.S.: Where did the main inspiration for the stories that make up Diner Dharma come from?
A.D.T.: My mother was born with the Celtic veil. My father was a sociopath. Storytelling is in my veins. I collected stories wherever I went, for example the hero twins of the Lacandon rainforest, or the snake maiden of Hangzhou’s west lake…
V.M.S.: Red, the narrator in Diner Dharma, is a writer who is struggling with a writer’s block. How much of the inquisitive Red do you see in yourself?
A.D.T.: It is interesting that I keep dividing myself in two in my books. In the book I just finished writing Notes from the Interior I am both the ‘listenary’ searching for the lost Peace Corps volunteer and the lost Peace Corps volunteer himself. In Diner Dharma I am Red as well as Monk. I wish their were more of me in farmer who ends up in a love triangle with two lesbians.
V.M.S.: You’ve travelled quite a lot and have spent a lot of time in different cultures. But, I suppose, in your years in Thailand you’ve had quite a few “new” experiences. Can you share the most relevant ones with us?
A.D.T: Thailand is like no other place on earth. On the one hand you can eat frog lop on the canal banks. On the other you can buy snowboards in some of the fanciest malls I’ve ever seen! I learned a lot from my students at Thammasat University. Many volunteered to host student athletes when our campus hosted the Universiad. I was saddened to learn that many of my female students, in general very naïve, were propositioned by the athletes. Thailand suffers from some of the worst expatriate behavior I have ever witnessed. It is unfair that my innocent students should bare the brunt of the resulting bad reputation.
V.M.S.: You were part of the Bangkok Writers’ Guild. What’s your take on the farang literary scene in Thailand?
A.D.T: Thailand has a rich literary scene in general with talented Thai authors and some talented foreign authors. I was very pleased to write a parody The Buzzard of Siam of Axle Ayleman’s excellent historical fiction Falcom of Siam. Thailand is a wonderful place to write and we have great authors from India (Gopinath), Europe (yourself), and the States (Gary Dale Cearly). We also have talented women authors who recently put out a collection Bangkok Blondes.
V.M.S.: In 2009 you went back to your home country. Why did you leave Thailand and what has the writer A.D. Thompson been up to ever since?
A.D.T: I have been writing religiously in both senses. I came to Berklely’s Graduate Theological Union to get a Masters in Divinity. This summer I am working as a chaplain comforting amputees, mother’s of dead babies, and suicidal patients. I first saw chaplains at work while I was doing Katrina relief. Read about that experience in my book Shoot the Wind.
V.M.S.: You have once told me that you have a ‘chest’ full of manuscripts. What are you working on right now?
A.D.T: When abroad one sometimes reads strange things that fall to hand in one’s reading language/s. I read a lot of business books in Thailand and even wrote a parody of them (lost alas). I am contemplating writing an Anti-Career Book. I believe a lot in avocation and question the professional ethic that seems to me to have replaced the code of chivalry. I am also editing Notes from the Interior. Unfortunately negotiations with my editor at Apocraphile Press are in limbo. Publishing is tough!
V.M.S.: Your first book was published by Imprint Lulu, a self-publishing service. What advice can you give to aspiring authors who want to go down the same road?
A.D.T: Get good technical support! I had help copy editing but still spent countless hours on draft after draft. If Diner Dharma sells enough I will use the meager profits (I get less than fifty cents per fifteen dollar book) to pay for professional editing on the next book. I am proud to report that the Berkeley bookstore picked up Diner Dharma and its library ordered copies. Yippie!
V.M.S.: How would you define your writing style? What’s the genre you’re most comfortable with?
A.D.T: My style is affirmative. I wish to write about positive outcomes for characters I care about and consider sympathetic. Although I enjoy literary experiment I have a bias for narrative. I’m a storyteller. Vive the story! As a literary critic I wrote on OuLiPo and theater of the absurd but I do not hold to the current Proustian/Joycean canon I consider self-indulgent like heavy metal musicians subjecting us to their jazz ballads.
V.M.S.: Tell us about your writing routine.
A.D.T: I write in great spurts. When I get excited about a project I cannot stand to stop to eat or sleep. I make exceptions for making love. My wife insists on it. Otherwise I am relaxed. Editing is a pain and endless. I’m still learning…
V.M.S.: What were the last three books that you have read and would strongly recommend to our readers?
A.D.T: I have been reading all the Literary Nobel Laureate’s. Magic Mountain was a let-down, like Death in Venice. Gao Xingjian can do not wrong in my eyes. His theater: Other Shore, Show in August is sublime. I also love his novel Soul Mountain. Oe also takes us inside the mind: Personal Affair. The poetry of American Indian Sherman Alexie deserves to be honored. He just wrote a great young adult book. I pastiche these and many classics worth reading on my blog.
V.M.S.: Thank you for your time.
A.D.T: It is a pleasure to stay in contact. I wish peace for all Thailand!
Voicu Mihnea Simandan
Bangkok, Thailand
April 26, 2010
