Dark bleatings, my beautiful tribe! I’ve posted a few times about LOONEY! recently, which is the latest novel from Gavin Dillinger and Stephen Kozeniewski. I’ve reviewed it, I’ve interviewed Gavin about it (which you can find HERE if you’re interested), and after a lot of running around with a giant net, I finally managed to wrangle Steve. He did blow me up a few times with sticks of dynamite, but I’m quite relentless when I want to talk about books, so besides some singed eyebrows, we’re all good to go.
Before we get into the interrogation interview, here’s a little about the book in question:
When beloved cartoon characters come crawling out of her TV, army recruiter Gabriella Harman expects a zany romp instead of the hellish nightmare that follows.
One night, haunted by her memories of Iraq, Gabriella downs a stomachful of pills and booze. When her favorite cartoon characters, the Kooky Toons, start crawling out of the TV, she assumes she is hallucinating.
But soon Gabriella finds herself locked in a battle of wits and wills with Herman Hyrax, the world-famous, wise-cracking mascot of the Kooky Korporation. Herman is more than just a stinker, though. He may be a monster, a demon, a god, or something entirely more unwholesome.
Is Gabriella’s descent into a world of cartoonish violence and psychological torment real? Or has she simply gone…
LOONEY!?
Q1. Alright, ‘fess up. What do you have against cute little cartoon characters, and why did you do this to them?
I have watched an enormous volume of cartoons. In our host’s other life working with me at French Press Publishing, she knows this, because pay day (per our contract) is “when I’m watching the new Simpsons.” I mean, I don’t have to prove anything to you people, although I am a little jealous that Jeff Burk got to appear on an [adult swim] bump just for watching every [as] show ever because if I had known that I would have just told them that I’ve been in that same, apparently rarefied fraternity, for twenty-five years. Anyway, what was the question? Oh, right. I wanted to do something different with them. Can’t be too different, though, since Who Framed Roger Rabbit? already exists. Looney! surely won’t be that good or original, but at least it should be better than Cool World.
Q2. “Looney! surely won’t be that good or original” should be at the forefront of your marketing. What was it like working with Gavin Dillinger? I’ve heard things about that guy, crazy things. Is it true that he invented glitter?
I don’t know about glitter, but Gavin would womanize, he would drink, he would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. The collaboration was typical: summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we’d make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds. Pretty standard, really.
Q3. He pelted me with bubble gum once because I forgot to respond to a text from him, which was impressive considering we live on different continents. Anyway, whose idea was it to have Arty attempt death by diving into a human’s mouth? The image of that scene will never leave me.
Oh, that was me. However, it was an homage to Army of Darkness (much of the book is an homage to the Evil Dead series, really) so, in theory you’ve seen this scene before.
Q4. Herman, to me, feels like a parallel to Gabriella’s experience of PTSD: he’s obsessed with controlling the elements around him, determined to be known, and is relentless. Was it a conscious decision to use him as this type of metaphor, or did that just naturally emerge in the writing?
That’s a valid interpretation. My opinion is that every work of art is an empty vase. The creator makes the vessel, but the one experiencing it chooses whether to fill it with water or a flower or nothing at all. I can say that the authorial intent (mine, anyway, not necessarily Gavin’s) was more of a Shaun of the Dead-type situation. Where Shaun famously had to deal with the zompoc while hungover, my intent was for Gabriella to simply have to deal with this real and extant external madness while suicidal herself, leading to a possible dual interpretation of the title.) But it’s not wrong to interpret the cartoon characters as either literal or metaphorical manifestations of Gabriella’s own mental illnesses. Certainly, many of the characters are manic, violent, depressed, or otherwise representative of over-the-top depictions of mental illness, which would not be out of bounds as a Winnie-the-Pooh pastiche. Fill the vase as you like.
Q5. At what point did it occur to you to weave in the cosmic horror aspect? Great touch, by the way. Who knew that cosmic horror would be so fitting with cartoon madness…
When I hit upon the idea of making the cartoon characters latter-day avatars of ancient gods, I pondered where in the pantheon someone like Bugs (our most obvious real-world analogue for Herman) would fall. In terms of popularity he should be like Zeus or Odin, but realistically he’s more similar to a trickster god like Loki or Anansi. But really, he’s an upstart, right? The Urkel effect where minor characters take over the show after proving to be popular has a long history in animation. Taz was probably in two or three of the original Looney Tunes shorts, and now he’s on every mudflap in the country. So, I thought the only thing that makes sense would be if Herman came from outside the pantheon and was trying to weasel his way in. He would prefer to be seen as a trickster, but has taken over, cancerously, the entire pantheon in the background. The only thing more powerful than a god would be a Lovecraftian entity, and so we leaned into that.
Q6. What was the co-writing process like if you and Gavin didn’t agree on something (if that came up)? I’ve always wondered how co-writers navigate disagreements about characters or the narrative.
Oh, hmm. Well, there wasn’t anything very sexy like that. I know what you’re talking about, the idea that the co-authors really disagree on a point, but I think you need to settle issues like that before they come up by only working with a trusted colleague. There were a few occasions in this book where Gavin told me he disagreed with my choices and then I judged he was right (or right enough) and just changed them. He mentioned wanting to have a spanking manifesto in one of the chapters (you probably think this is a joke, but it’s not) and I just said, “Fine, whatever.” Probably should have put my foot down on that one, in retrospect, but I digress.
Q7. Who is your favourite character in the book, and why?
My favorite character is actually one who never appears on page, Jim Khuki, the ostensible creator of the Kooky Toons. We reveal Jim’s descent into madness through the interstitials before each chapter, which would have served as an excellent warning to Gabriella, and probably would have clarified everything that happened to her…except she, the character, never got to know any of it. Only the reader gets those glimpses.
Q8. Which cartoon (in real life) disturbs you the most, and why?
Probably Xavier, Renegade Angel. Mr. Pickles had its moments as well, but the difference being, Xavier immediately sprang to mind while Mr. Pickles came after I decided to google the subject, so it seems like the more authentic answer.
Q9. Your protagonist, Gabriella, is someone who finds comfort in the familiar, in particular, her favourite cartoon, which she comfort watches indefinitely. Why did you guys make the evil decision to twist her comfort show into a thing of chaos? If Gilmore Girls ever turns on me like this, I don’t even want to think about what that would mean (but I, for some reason, assume Kirk would be at the forefront if it turns nightmarish).
I mean, part of that was just practical. Gavin and I wanted to deal with the raw bigotry, violence, and problematic nature of the cartoons that we grew up watching in the eighties, which were made in the thirties and forties. The only way that makes sense is if someone is returning to that well by retreating into childhood comforts. I suspect when this happens to you it will actually manifest as Rory gleefully attending a book burning.
Q10. Firstly, kudos on knowing anything about Rory Gilmore, but she would never! And finally, the most crucial question of this whole discussion: Have you and Gavin ever hit each other with giant, boingy mallets?
Not boingy, no.
Well, that’s it. That’s the interview. You heard it here first, folks. I mean I don’t know exactly what you heard but if you hear tweeting around your head and feel confused, that’s normal.
If you’d like to check out Stephen Kozeniewski (just don’t sneak up on him with a net), Gavin Dillinger (watch out for that glitter!), or the book, I’ve popped some links below for you:
Bleeeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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