October 22, 2025 • 29 mins
Maggie Lynch interviews author David Starkey, a novelist, poet, and non-fiction writer. His most recent book is The Fairley Brothers in Japan. He is adept at combining humor along with deep emotional situations. He is most known for his poetry and served as Santa Barbara’s 2009-2011 Poet Laureate. David is also the Publisher and Co-editor of Gunpowder Press. Over the past thirty years, he has published eleven full-length collections of poetry with small presses and more than 500 poems in literary journals such as American Scholar, Georgia Review, Prairie Schooner and Southern Review. As an educator, he has written and edited a number of non-fiction books David is also a founding editor of the California Review of Books and the host of Santa Barbara’s Creative Community. You can learn more about him and his books on his website: https://davidstarkey.net/
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Maggie Lynch (00:14):
Hello. Welcome to Dust Jackets
authors. We speak with authorsacross many genres, about their
books, their creative process,and how they manage it all. I'm
Maggie Lynch, and today I'minterviewing David Starkey. Let
me read his bio from hiswebsite. David Starkey served as
(00:34):
Santa Barbara's 2009 to 2011Poet Laureate. He is founding
director of the creative writingprogram at Santa Barbara City
College, and the publisher andco-editor of gunpowder press.
Over the past 30 years, he'spublished 11 full length
collections of poetry with smallpresses and more than 500 Poems
(00:55):
in literary journals such asAmerican Scholar, Georgia
Review, Prairie Schooner, andSouthern Review. As an educator,
he's written and edited a numberof books, most recently, Hello
Writer and Creative Writing forGenres in Brief, the fourth
edition. Both are published byBedford St Martin's in 2021.
(01:17):
David is also a founding editorof The California Review of
Books and the host of SantaBarbara's online Creative
Community. He's a very busy guy.
David, welcome to the podcast.
David Starkey (01:30):
Well, thank you for having me, Maggie. I
appreciate it.
Maggie Lynch (01:32):
Thank you so much for making the time for us. So
that's quite a bio. I'd have tosay I'm impressed, particularly
with your poetry collections andthe number of publications and
literary journals. I've met alot of poets in my life, but
none have as many publicationsas you do. Would it be correct
to assume that poetry is yourprimary genre?
David Starkey (01:56):
Yeah, I think I that's true most of the time. I
feel like when I get off onanother project, that I'm that
other kind of writer. So forinstance, I just finished
writing a book about BruceSpringsteen. So for about five
months I was a music journalist,primarily, and I have a novel
(02:19):
that's just come out. And so forthe months that it took me to
write that I was a novelist, butI think, yeah, my default
setting as a writer is probablyas a poet.
Maggie Lynch (02:32):
Well, so I'm going to ask you, you know, recently,
some of my folks, my fans, whowatch this show have asked me to
ask more questions around whattype of reading ihas influenced
you in the past. So can you tellme, is there a particular book
(02:52):
or couple of books that stick inyour mind that may have
influenced you as a child, as anadult, and do they have any
relationship at all to what youwrite today.
David Starkey (03:02):
Yeah, you know, I think as an adult, the group of
books that's most interested ormost influenced me is probably
the Collected Poems of SeamusHeaney. And by collected, I mean
it's a little set of 11, 12, 13books. I was lucky enough as
(03:26):
several Santa Barbara poetlaureates and I went to Ireland
a few years back, and we werelucky enough to read at the
Seamus Heaney center in BellaghyNorthern Ireland. And on the
shelf in their gift shop wasthis book, you know, this little
collection. And I had read theknee, but I hadn't devoured him
(03:49):
in that way. So that was, Idon't know, maybe that was about
eight years ago, that really, Ithink, influenced my poetry a
lot in the time since then, as achild.
I was kind of a whoever orwhatever was available reader.
So I spent my summers. Myparents were public school
(04:10):
teachers in Sacramento,California, but their parents
lived in in Beaumont, Texas andLake Charles, Louisiana, and we
would go back there for most ofthe summer, every summer, from
the time I was a little childtill the time I graduated from
high school, and I read whateverhappened to be on the shelves of
my grandparents. So it could beJames Bond or, you know, I read
(04:37):
Endymion by Keats in long poem.
Struggled through it. I readThomas Mann's The Magic
Mountain, which is somethingthat most 14 year old boys don't
read. So, you know, whatever Icould kind of get my hands on,
because reading was the onlything when I was growing up
outside of my regular schoollife. I just I read what I
(05:00):
could.
Maggie Lynch (05:04):
Well, those certainly are pretty big tomes
to be reading as a child or ateenager. So I can kind of see
how that would influence you,especially with the poetry. You
know, the language and therhythms and I imagine are very
great. I didn't read poetry muchas a child. As a teenager I did
because they were very deep tome, but as a child I wasn't
(05:31):
really into that. So right now,things that are contemporary,
is there anything that youparticularly as an author or
poet, that you're always lookingfor their next work, or are you
just kind of, whatever you feellike is what you're going to
pick up tomorrow, the next day.
David Starkey (05:51):
You know, with with my friend BrianTanguay, I'm
the co editor of The CaliforniaReview of Books, as you
mentioned. And so we, you know,we'll get a lot of different
things. So most recently, overthe last week, I reviewed a
biography of John Prine, thegreat singer songwriter, and I
(06:16):
reviewed a biography ofChristopher Marlowe, the
Elizabethan dramatist. Then Ialso reviewed a book of
interviews with New York Schoolpoets like John Ashbery and
Kenneth Koch and people likethat. So I don't know. Whatever,
whatever lands on my desk thatlooks interesting to me. I'll
(06:39):
sit down and read it, probablygive it a review.
Maggie Lynch (06:44):
I had forgotten already that you were a
reviewer, so you are reading alot,
David Starkey (06:48):
Yeah, yeah. And, you know, when I was younger,
when I started a book, I wascommitted to it, you know. I
think that's how I was able toread those books when I was a
youth. But now as a reviewer,and I have stacks and stacks of
books, if, if I'm not into it bythe first 20 or 30 or 40 pages,
then off to Planned Parenthoodbookseller.
Maggie Lynch (07:14):
Oh, okay, well, that's something to understand,
yeah, and, I think the samething works If you're trying to
get traditional contracts. Thepeople who are reading your book
from the slush pile, it's kindof like You better catch me
pretty quickly, within 50 pages,I would say.
David Starkey (07:30):
Well, you know, and I think it's interesting,
since we're both also writers,how do you get those reviews? I
think, you know, you can get areview on social media from a
friend or a book influencer thatyou you pay, but it's hard to
get a it's hard to get a seriousreviewer to look at a book of
(07:50):
serious writing. And so, youknow, we reviewers get pitched
all the time by people, byagents, by the marketing folks
at the big publishers, by thewriters themselves. And it's hit
and miss. You know, you neverknow when that one idea is
really going to resonate with areviewer, just as you don't know
(08:13):
when it's going to resonate withan editor or an agent,
Maggie Lynch (08:17):
Right exactly, and the reviews that you're doing, I
know so many review places nowcharge money, right? Sometimes
as little as $50 and sometimesas much as $500 and something.
So where you review is that acharge thing or...
David Starkey (08:35):
Absolutely not?
No. In fact, I just was having abeer with my co editor a couple
days ago, and we were talkingabout what horrible business
people we were, because all weget out of it is free books, you
know, which any reviewer gets.
But it also gives us a lot ofpower, because, you know, you're
(08:59):
not paying us $500 to reviewyour book, we wouldn't take it.
And so therefore, we don't haveto, if we don't like your book,
we're not gonna review it. And Ithink we're probably a kind of
getting to be a pretty rare birdright now in that we just are
looking for what we think arethe best books that we want to
(09:21):
pass on to our readers, thereaders of California Review of
Books.
Maggie Lynch (09:24):
Yeah, about the only other place I can think of
is Midwest book reviews. You canstill get a free review, but if
you pay them the $50 you'reguaranteed to get one.
Otherwise, you know, it could betwo years later before they get
to you.
David Starkey (09:41):
And you know, even, I think even when you're
paying, I think, like withKirkus, as you mentioned, it's
really expensiv. But if they aretrue to their word, that doesn't
guarantee you a good review, youknow, you could get allowed to
review, and then I think youhave the option of not
publishing it. Um, but you knowyou're, I think if you're paying
(10:05):
$500 and you know you're goingto get a great review, that
seems pretty sleazy to me.
Maggie Lynch (10:11):
Yeah, no, I think Kirkus is true to their word.
I've seen some bad reviews, orwhat I would consider bad
because they're like three outof five stars, right? After
you've paid 500 some dollars,that's not what you want in the
year.
So because you are both anovelist and a nonfiction person
(10:33):
and a poet, I wonder, did youset out to be a specific type of
writer, like a poet, and thenbranch out to to novels and non
fiction. Or did it just kind ofhappen based on whatever was
influencing you?
David Starkey (10:49):
Well, when I, you know, like I was saying I read a
lot as a kid, and I think thatsort of makes you want to be a
writer, because you admire thepeople who are who are producing
the books that you're reading.
And so my grandfather had givenme an old Smith Corona
typewriter, and when I was inhigh school, I just started
typing on it. And the thingsthat mostly came out were little
(11:10):
short stories. And so when Iwent to UC Davis, I was an
English major with a creativewriting emphasis, and it was
fiction. It was my emphasisthere, and then I somehow wound
up at UCLA getting a master'sdegree in literature, and my
(11:31):
roommate encouraged me to writepoetry. Somehow I wrote a poem
about Danny Bonaduce of thePartridge Family, with the line,
did you ever learn to play thatbass guitar? And my my friend
thought that was hilarious. Youshould write some more poems. So
I think that's kind of been myway of writing, is that I have a
(11:56):
dark humor, kind of runningthrough everything but there's
also a sense of sadness andloss, you know, even in a
subject matter like that. It'sthis child actor who was a
phony, even as he was pretendingto be something else, you know.
And so I think that's what yousee that, if you were to read
(12:20):
across my pretty broad, youknow, body of work.
Maggie Lynch (12:27):
Is that a kind of calling card for you, that even
if it's dark or sad, that youhave balanced it with some
humor?
David Starkey (12:35):
I think so, and vice versa too. You know, even
something, that if somethingseems purely silly, I probably
would avoid it. But if there'ssome humor lined with sadness,
then that would probably, youknow, my radar would be, ah,
that sounds that soundsinteresting.
Maggie Lynch (12:51):
I think it takes a talented person to do both of
those things well. So, one ofthe other things my listeners
really love to hear about isyour creative process, your
inspirations. Like, you know,where do you write? Is there
just one spot, or is it whereveryou are? And do you continuously
(13:13):
work on one project at a time?
Or do you go back and forthbetween multiple projects?
David Starkey (13:19):
Yeah, you know, I like to kind of write around
until I zero in on somethingthat I really want to do, you
know? So that's what makespoetry so great. It doesn't take
that long to write the draft ofa short lyric poem. But I do, I
will start to think, Okay, thisis what I'm working on now and
(13:42):
then, when I do that, then Itend to just push everything
aside. You can ask my wife inthe other room, like everything
just I get kind of obsessed withthe work until I finish it. So,
yeah, I work at my computer, Ido take notes in a little
(14:03):
notebook, especially when I'mout and about traveling, or when
I know that I'm I'm going towrite about something. I do try
and take handwritten notes, butmostly I write in silence in,
you know, my study, a littlecorner of the room, and that's
where most of what happens.
Maggie Lynch (14:25):
Did you say, you write primarily in a notebook or
on your computer?
David Starkey (14:29):
Yeah, only taking notes. I only take notes by
hand. My handwriting is prettybad, so frequently I can't read
that. I have to make stuff up.
Maggie Lynch (14:41):
It'd be a bad reporter, like doctor
handwriting? Well, I hear youabout obsessiveness. I can get
that way myself, particularlywhen I'm past the halfway part.
You know my husband will peekhis head in and say, Are you
eating? I say No, not right now.
No, it's like, see you tomorrowmorning. No, you're right.
David Starkey (15:05):
And I think that is something about that halfway
point where you can say, I'm onthe downhill slope, you know?
And I, you know, I got to keepgoing,
Maggie Lynch (15:14):
Right? Yeah, I don't want to lose it. That's
kind of the way that I feel. Soboth of your novels are about
musicians, and though it appearsthat they're very different in
terms of the themes and thegenre, and you also have a
(15:34):
nonfiction book about a musiciangroup. So my first question is,
are you a musician yourself? Andwhat interests you about
creating music and sharing peeksinto the lives of musicians?
David Starkey (15:46):
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I've been playing in bands
since I was in high school, andI still play in a couple bands
now at age 63. So I put inplenty of decades of work doing
that. I mean, I think that thecreative process of making
music, writing songs, popularsongs, is not unlike you know
(16:06):
what we do when we're writing anovel or writing poems or
essays, but when you're workingwith other people, there's just
that dynamic of competition andcollaboration. And I think the
way, in most bands, those twothings are always kind of in a
tension that makes for adramatic situation. So yeah, I
(16:30):
wrote a book about the TalkingHeads, and there was a ton of
conflict there, because DavidByrne was writing nearly all the
music and the lyrics, but therest of the band wanted to have
credit. So they were kind ofalways just, you know, on edge.
So I've just finished this bookabout Bruce Springsteen, and,
(16:53):
you know, he calls himself theboss for a reason. He calls all
the shots so there's lesstension, although, clearly, you
know, people have been kind ofhurt and dissatisfied along the
way, as he's sort of, you know,moved in his own directions.
Maggie Lynch (17:10):
Yeah? So it sounds like you, whether you're writing
fiction or nonfiction, thatyou're also doing a lot of
research.
David Starkey (17:18):
Yeah, I think so.
I mean, the the two novels I'vewritten, one of them is about a
band, a kind of pretty famousband, that crashes into
someone's backyard, and thatbackyard just happens to look
exactly like my backyard. Thatmade it really easy to write,
because I could imagine, youknow, where the plane was and
what the people were doing. Andthen I have a bunch of fans kind
(17:40):
of swarming over the place overthe course of a couple months
because they want to commemoratethe band. And then my second
novel is about these two kind ofwashed up folk rock musicians
who tour Japan because one oftheir songs becomes a part of a
commercial for Honda. And thatis based on my own travels in
(18:01):
Japan. My son lives there, andI've visited, I guess, eight or
nine times over the last 10years. So I have a pretty good
sense of that, at least enoughto write a novel where two, you
know, Americans are wanderingaround the country.
Maggie Lynch (18:20):
I can't even imagine how crazy that is,
because, in my experience, it'ssuch a homogenous culture with,
you know, really kind of wellset ideas about how you interact
with people, and Americans tendto be kind of all over the place
(18:40):
and definitely feeling thatthey're the superior.
David Starkey (18:44):
You know, it's also a culture that embraces
idiosyncrasies. So, you know,there's like, there's a cult for
just about everything. I mean,use the word cult loosely, but
you know, the people who dressup like Elvis and dance in the
streets of Tokyo or whatevergenre of music. So the first
rock band in Japan that sang inJapanese was actually a folk
(19:08):
rock band. So that, that was anice little piece of information
I dug up along the way. So thisis my first, it's just a fish
out of water story, which areone of my favorite types of
stories, is to see people kindof trying to navigate a world
that they're not super familiarwith.
Maggie Lynch (19:30):
I agree. I love fish out of water. I think a lot
of authors do, because that'show they feel themselves.
David Starkey (19:39):
You're right.
Yeah.
Maggie Lynch (19:43):
So many writers, even if they're writing cross
genres, you know, or whatappears to be very different
genre types of books, they tendto have, at some point, kind of
an overriding theme that becomesa part of every book, whether
they planned it that way or not.
Is that the case with you? Or doyou work completely unique? No
(20:05):
crossovers?
David Starkey (20:08):
No. I think there's crossovers. I mean, I
think I've always beeninterested in what it's like
when people are close to death,you know. My own parents both
passed away in the last fewyears, and that just being
there, you know, when my dad wastaking his last breath, I think
(20:29):
that's there's something reallypowerful about that. And so I
think, even when I was in my20s, I was writing about people
who were dying or had died. ButI was, I think I was often
really don't. So you were sayingbecause you had two novels, and
looking at it kind of at acanted angle. Maybe a little bit
of that dark humor that we weretalking about earlier, and
(20:51):
that's probably still in theresomewhere. I'm not somebody
who's only writing about death,but they're in both my novels.
There is a significant death,you know, in each one. So I
guess that is something thatcarries over.
(21:24):
the one about Japan is the mostrecent one. Is that correct?
Just, just out this month.
Maggie Lynch (21:29):
Yeah, okay. And are all your books in paperback?
Hard book, ebook, audiobook, youknow?
David Starkey (21:40):
Yeah. I mean, most of my I would say the,
well, definitely the novels andthe nonfiction I've written is
available, you know, as an ebookand paper copies, hardback and
paperback. The books of poetryare generally just a paperback.
You know that they're notusually in a digital form. I am
(22:03):
going to do the recording for mytwo novels. I got the go ahead
to do that, so I just need tofind a quiet place in the house
to sit down and read througheverything. But I'm looking
forward to that. I, you know, Ithink a lot of people do listen
to audio books now that don'tread paper, you know, or even
digital books, so I'm lookingforward to having that in my
(22:28):
arsenal.
Maggie Lynch (22:30):
Well, I'm really happy you're reading your books
yourself, just because I thinkthat a lot of listeners love
hearing the author read unless,of course, they're really lousy.
A lousy reader. I can't imaginethat you are just in talking to
you, but I think they like itbecause they figure that the
(22:52):
author knows where to put theemphasis, and the author knows
what the rhythm was, whetherit's a poem or a line of
description, and it's just somuch more rich that way when
they listen. So I wish you thevery best. That is an onerous
process.
David Starkey (23:12):
Yeah, it is. I mean, I wish Brad Pitt was going
to be doing the reading instead.
Maggie Lynch (23:20):
Yeah, it can be. I have not narrated anything
myself. I keep telling myselfI'm going to, but it's hard to
find the time. You know you'retalking, sometimes 10 to 15,
hours.
David Starkey (23:35):
For sure, yeah.
Maggie Lynch (23:35):
So it's, but I wish you the very best for that.
David Starkey (23:40):
I appreciate that.
Maggie Lynch (23:40):
So what are you working on next? I know you have
something just out, but do youhave another project you're
planning to get into soon?
David Starkey (23:50):
Yeah, so I actually had finished, just
before I wrote that BruceSpringsteen book I had been
working on, a novel where ElvisPresley is elected president in
1968 and Robert Kennedy Sr isnot assassinated, and he becomes
(24:11):
Elvis' vice president. And thenElvis turns out to be a really
horrible president. So the firstpart of the book is getting
Elvis elected. And the firstpart is Elvis kind of destroying
America. And that soundsfamiliar. And then, yeah, and
(24:36):
then I have a kind of surpriseending.
Maggie Lynch (24:40):
Wow, that's, I want to read that, yeah, because
that's so unique, and I can seehow it might have some parallels
in our political situation, justbecause when people are living
in an environment whereeveryone's waiting on them and
(25:02):
listening to them and doingwhatever they say, sometimes
they don't have the practice atsituations where there's
disagreement.
David Starkey (25:15):
And Elvis was used to getting his own way. I
mean, in my novel Sam Phillips,you know his manager who took
50% of everything that heearned, is pushed out of the way
pretty early in the novel. SoElvis suddenly has this power
that he's never had before, andit turns out that he's not great
(25:38):
at handling it.
Maggie Lynch (25:40):
Yeah. Wow. I'm sure there's going to be humor
as well.
David Starkey (25:45):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Maggie Lynch (25:50):
Well, that's just amazing. So, um, where can
people find your books? Is itjust at your publisher, or are
they distributed?
David Starkey (25:58):
Well, I mean, you know, they're wherever you buy
books, I think kind of aroundthe world. I think my publishers
have been pretty good aboutmaking sure that it's not just
on Amazon. You know thatwherever you buy books? So,
yeah, you know, occasionallyI'll toss up in a local
bookstore, but mostly, I thinkpeople buy my work online?
Maggie Lynch (26:22):
Yeah, I think that's true, pretty much. But
speaking of tossing up in abookstore or somewhere else, you
know, are there any events orplaces you plan to be, let's say
over the next couple months?
Should people listening to thissay hey, Should you, you know,
if you said San Francisco, forexample, people who are from
there might want to show up.
David Starkey (26:45):
Well, if people are in the central coast of
California, I'll be launching mybook at Chaucer's Bookstore on
September the 28th at 3pm.
That's a Sunday, and they're oneof the finest local bookstores
certainly in California,probably in the country. It's a
magnificent place. I'm reallyexcited. And then I will be at
the Louisiana Book Festival onthe first of November, along
(27:09):
with a lot of other writers. AndI'm still kind of just, you
know, looking around for places.
So if somebody watches orlistens to your podcast and
says, Oh, I want to meet DavidStarkey, just head on over to my
website. davidstarkey.net andshoot me a line and I'll be
Maggie Lynch (27:29):
Oh, that's great.
Well, maybe someone from Japanthere.
will say that. So, and just toremind my listeners, you know, I
always put in the show notesyour website information and
contact information and anythinglike that, so they they'll know
how to get your website assometimes spelling becomes a
(27:51):
problem with different names.
Well, I really thank you forbeing my guest today, David. And
a reminder to all my listenersis, you know, share this podcast
with other people you thinkwould be interested. It sounds
like David is the kind of authorthat has both some deep things
happening in his books, but alsohumor. And I know a lot of you
(28:13):
asked for humor, so this is yourchance to read someone and check
the show notes to be sure thatyou can contact him if you want
to. Or just check out hiswebsite, because he has a whole
lot of other books besides theones that we've been discussing.
This has been dust jacketsconversation with authors. Our
(28:33):
guest today was David Starkey.
You can get more Dust Jacketauthor interviews on your
favorite podcast app. Pleasecheck back on past interviews
and stay tuned for new ones.
Thank you.
Hello. Welcome to Dust Jackets
authors. We speak with authorsacross many genres, about their
books, their creative process,and how they manage it all. I'm
Maggie Lynch, and today I'minterviewing David Starkey. Let
me read his bio from hiswebsite. David Starkey served as
(00:34):
Santa Barbara's 2009 to 2011Poet Laureate. He is founding
director of the creative writingprogram at Santa Barbara City
College, and the publisher andco-editor of gunpowder press.
Over the past 30 years, he'spublished 11 full length
collections of poetry with smallpresses and more than 500 Poems
(00:55):
in literary journals such asAmerican Scholar, Georgia
Review, Prairie Schooner, andSouthern Review. As an educator,
he's written and edited a numberof books, most recently, Hello
Writer and Creative Writing forGenres in Brief, the fourth
edition. Both are published byBedford St Martin's in 2021.
(01:17):
David is also a founding editorof The California Review of
Books and the host of SantaBarbara's online Creative
Community. He's a very busy guy.
David, welcome to the podcast.
David Starkey (01:30):
Well, thank you for having me, Maggie. I
appreciate it.
Maggie Lynch (01:32):
Thank you so much for making the time for us. So
that's quite a bio. I'd have tosay I'm impressed, particularly
with your poetry collections andthe number of publications and
literary journals. I've met alot of poets in my life, but
none have as many publicationsas you do. Would it be correct
to assume that poetry is yourprimary genre?
David Starkey (01:56):
Yeah, I think I that's true most of the time. I
feel like when I get off onanother project, that I'm that
other kind of writer. So forinstance, I just finished
writing a book about BruceSpringsteen. So for about five
months I was a music journalist,primarily, and I have a novel
(02:19):
that's just come out. And so forthe months that it took me to
write that I was a novelist, butI think, yeah, my default
setting as a writer is probablyas a poet.
Maggie Lynch (02:32):
Well, so I'm going to ask you, you know, recently,
some of my folks, my fans, whowatch this show have asked me to
ask more questions around whattype of reading ihas influenced
you in the past. So can you tellme, is there a particular book
(02:52):
or couple of books that stick inyour mind that may have
influenced you as a child, as anadult, and do they have any
relationship at all to what youwrite today.
David Starkey (03:02):
Yeah, you know, I think as an adult, the group of
books that's most interested ormost influenced me is probably
the Collected Poems of SeamusHeaney. And by collected, I mean
it's a little set of 11, 12, 13books. I was lucky enough as
(03:26):
several Santa Barbara poetlaureates and I went to Ireland
a few years back, and we werelucky enough to read at the
Seamus Heaney center in BellaghyNorthern Ireland. And on the
shelf in their gift shop wasthis book, you know, this little
collection. And I had read theknee, but I hadn't devoured him
(03:49):
in that way. So that was, Idon't know, maybe that was about
eight years ago, that really, Ithink, influenced my poetry a
lot in the time since then, as achild.
I was kind of a whoever orwhatever was available reader.
So I spent my summers. Myparents were public school
(04:10):
teachers in Sacramento,California, but their parents
lived in in Beaumont, Texas andLake Charles, Louisiana, and we
would go back there for most ofthe summer, every summer, from
the time I was a little childtill the time I graduated from
high school, and I read whateverhappened to be on the shelves of
my grandparents. So it could beJames Bond or, you know, I read
(04:37):
Endymion by Keats in long poem.
Struggled through it. I readThomas Mann's The Magic
Mountain, which is somethingthat most 14 year old boys don't
read. So, you know, whatever Icould kind of get my hands on,
because reading was the onlything when I was growing up
outside of my regular schoollife. I just I read what I
(05:00):
could.
Maggie Lynch (05:04):
Well, those certainly are pretty big tomes
to be reading as a child or ateenager. So I can kind of see
how that would influence you,especially with the poetry. You
know, the language and therhythms and I imagine are very
great. I didn't read poetry muchas a child. As a teenager I did
because they were very deep tome, but as a child I wasn't
(05:31):
really into that. So right now,things that are contemporary,
is there anything that youparticularly as an author or
poet, that you're always lookingfor their next work, or are you
just kind of, whatever you feellike is what you're going to
pick up tomorrow, the next day.
David Starkey (05:51):
You know, with with my friend BrianTanguay, I'm
the co editor of The CaliforniaReview of Books, as you
mentioned. And so we, you know,we'll get a lot of different
things. So most recently, overthe last week, I reviewed a
biography of John Prine, thegreat singer songwriter, and I
(06:16):
reviewed a biography ofChristopher Marlowe, the
Elizabethan dramatist. Then Ialso reviewed a book of
interviews with New York Schoolpoets like John Ashbery and
Kenneth Koch and people likethat. So I don't know. Whatever,
whatever lands on my desk thatlooks interesting to me. I'll
(06:39):
sit down and read it, probablygive it a review.
Maggie Lynch (06:44):
I had forgotten already that you were a
reviewer, so you are reading alot,
David Starkey (06:48):
Yeah, yeah. And, you know, when I was younger,
when I started a book, I wascommitted to it, you know. I
think that's how I was able toread those books when I was a
youth. But now as a reviewer,and I have stacks and stacks of
books, if, if I'm not into it bythe first 20 or 30 or 40 pages,
then off to Planned Parenthoodbookseller.
Maggie Lynch (07:14):
Oh, okay, well, that's something to understand,
yeah, and, I think the samething works If you're trying to
get traditional contracts. Thepeople who are reading your book
from the slush pile, it's kindof like You better catch me
pretty quickly, within 50 pages,I would say.
David Starkey (07:30):
Well, you know, and I think it's interesting,
since we're both also writers,how do you get those reviews? I
think, you know, you can get areview on social media from a
friend or a book influencer thatyou you pay, but it's hard to
get a it's hard to get a seriousreviewer to look at a book of
(07:50):
serious writing. And so, youknow, we reviewers get pitched
all the time by people, byagents, by the marketing folks
at the big publishers, by thewriters themselves. And it's hit
and miss. You know, you neverknow when that one idea is
really going to resonate with areviewer, just as you don't know
(08:13):
when it's going to resonate withan editor or an agent,
Maggie Lynch (08:17):
Right exactly, and the reviews that you're doing, I
know so many review places nowcharge money, right? Sometimes
as little as $50 and sometimesas much as $500 and something.
So where you review is that acharge thing or...
David Starkey (08:35):
Absolutely not?
No. In fact, I just was having abeer with my co editor a couple
days ago, and we were talkingabout what horrible business
people we were, because all weget out of it is free books, you
know, which any reviewer gets.
But it also gives us a lot ofpower, because, you know, you're
(08:59):
not paying us $500 to reviewyour book, we wouldn't take it.
And so therefore, we don't haveto, if we don't like your book,
we're not gonna review it. And Ithink we're probably a kind of
getting to be a pretty rare birdright now in that we just are
looking for what we think arethe best books that we want to
(09:21):
pass on to our readers, thereaders of California Review of
Books.
Maggie Lynch (09:24):
Yeah, about the only other place I can think of
is Midwest book reviews. You canstill get a free review, but if
you pay them the $50 you'reguaranteed to get one.
Otherwise, you know, it could betwo years later before they get
to you.
David Starkey (09:41):
And you know, even, I think even when you're
paying, I think, like withKirkus, as you mentioned, it's
really expensiv. But if they aretrue to their word, that doesn't
guarantee you a good review, youknow, you could get allowed to
review, and then I think youhave the option of not
publishing it. Um, but you knowyou're, I think if you're paying
(10:05):
$500 and you know you're goingto get a great review, that
seems pretty sleazy to me.
Maggie Lynch (10:11):
Yeah, no, I think Kirkus is true to their word.
I've seen some bad reviews, orwhat I would consider bad
because they're like three outof five stars, right? After
you've paid 500 some dollars,that's not what you want in the
year.
So because you are both anovelist and a nonfiction person
(10:33):
and a poet, I wonder, did youset out to be a specific type of
writer, like a poet, and thenbranch out to to novels and non
fiction. Or did it just kind ofhappen based on whatever was
influencing you?
David Starkey (10:49):
Well, when I, you know, like I was saying I read a
lot as a kid, and I think thatsort of makes you want to be a
writer, because you admire thepeople who are who are producing
the books that you're reading.
And so my grandfather had givenme an old Smith Corona
typewriter, and when I was inhigh school, I just started
typing on it. And the thingsthat mostly came out were little
(11:10):
short stories. And so when Iwent to UC Davis, I was an
English major with a creativewriting emphasis, and it was
fiction. It was my emphasisthere, and then I somehow wound
up at UCLA getting a master'sdegree in literature, and my
(11:31):
roommate encouraged me to writepoetry. Somehow I wrote a poem
about Danny Bonaduce of thePartridge Family, with the line,
did you ever learn to play thatbass guitar? And my my friend
thought that was hilarious. Youshould write some more poems. So
I think that's kind of been myway of writing, is that I have a
(11:56):
dark humor, kind of runningthrough everything but there's
also a sense of sadness andloss, you know, even in a
subject matter like that. It'sthis child actor who was a
phony, even as he was pretendingto be something else, you know.
And so I think that's what yousee that, if you were to read
(12:20):
across my pretty broad, youknow, body of work.
Maggie Lynch (12:27):
Is that a kind of calling card for you, that even
if it's dark or sad, that youhave balanced it with some
humor?
David Starkey (12:35):
I think so, and vice versa too. You know, even
something, that if somethingseems purely silly, I probably
would avoid it. But if there'ssome humor lined with sadness,
then that would probably, youknow, my radar would be, ah,
that sounds that soundsinteresting.
Maggie Lynch (12:51):
I think it takes a talented person to do both of
those things well. So, one ofthe other things my listeners
really love to hear about isyour creative process, your
inspirations. Like, you know,where do you write? Is there
just one spot, or is it whereveryou are? And do you continuously
(13:13):
work on one project at a time?
Or do you go back and forthbetween multiple projects?
David Starkey (13:19):
Yeah, you know, I like to kind of write around
until I zero in on somethingthat I really want to do, you
know? So that's what makespoetry so great. It doesn't take
that long to write the draft ofa short lyric poem. But I do, I
will start to think, Okay, thisis what I'm working on now and
(13:42):
then, when I do that, then Itend to just push everything
aside. You can ask my wife inthe other room, like everything
just I get kind of obsessed withthe work until I finish it. So,
yeah, I work at my computer, Ido take notes in a little
(14:03):
notebook, especially when I'mout and about traveling, or when
I know that I'm I'm going towrite about something. I do try
and take handwritten notes, butmostly I write in silence in,
you know, my study, a littlecorner of the room, and that's
where most of what happens.
Maggie Lynch (14:25):
Did you say, you write primarily in a notebook or
on your computer?
David Starkey (14:29):
Yeah, only taking notes. I only take notes by
hand. My handwriting is prettybad, so frequently I can't read
that. I have to make stuff up.
Maggie Lynch (14:41):
It'd be a bad reporter, like doctor
handwriting? Well, I hear youabout obsessiveness. I can get
that way myself, particularlywhen I'm past the halfway part.
You know my husband will peekhis head in and say, Are you
eating? I say No, not right now.
No, it's like, see you tomorrowmorning. No, you're right.
David Starkey (15:05):
And I think that is something about that halfway
point where you can say, I'm onthe downhill slope, you know?
And I, you know, I got to keepgoing,
Maggie Lynch (15:14):
Right? Yeah, I don't want to lose it. That's
kind of the way that I feel. Soboth of your novels are about
musicians, and though it appearsthat they're very different in
terms of the themes and thegenre, and you also have a
(15:34):
nonfiction book about a musiciangroup. So my first question is,
are you a musician yourself? Andwhat interests you about
creating music and sharing peeksinto the lives of musicians?
David Starkey (15:46):
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I've been playing in bands
since I was in high school, andI still play in a couple bands
now at age 63. So I put inplenty of decades of work doing
that. I mean, I think that thecreative process of making
music, writing songs, popularsongs, is not unlike you know
(16:06):
what we do when we're writing anovel or writing poems or
essays, but when you're workingwith other people, there's just
that dynamic of competition andcollaboration. And I think the
way, in most bands, those twothings are always kind of in a
tension that makes for adramatic situation. So yeah, I
(16:30):
wrote a book about the TalkingHeads, and there was a ton of
conflict there, because DavidByrne was writing nearly all the
music and the lyrics, but therest of the band wanted to have
credit. So they were kind ofalways just, you know, on edge.
So I've just finished this bookabout Bruce Springsteen, and,
(16:53):
you know, he calls himself theboss for a reason. He calls all
the shots so there's lesstension, although, clearly, you
know, people have been kind ofhurt and dissatisfied along the
way, as he's sort of, you know,moved in his own directions.
Maggie Lynch (17:10):
Yeah? So it sounds like you, whether you're writing
fiction or nonfiction, thatyou're also doing a lot of
research.
David Starkey (17:18):
Yeah, I think so.
I mean, the the two novels I'vewritten, one of them is about a
band, a kind of pretty famousband, that crashes into
someone's backyard, and thatbackyard just happens to look
exactly like my backyard. Thatmade it really easy to write,
because I could imagine, youknow, where the plane was and
what the people were doing. Andthen I have a bunch of fans kind
(17:40):
of swarming over the place overthe course of a couple months
because they want to commemoratethe band. And then my second
novel is about these two kind ofwashed up folk rock musicians
who tour Japan because one oftheir songs becomes a part of a
commercial for Honda. And thatis based on my own travels in
(18:01):
Japan. My son lives there, andI've visited, I guess, eight or
nine times over the last 10years. So I have a pretty good
sense of that, at least enoughto write a novel where two, you
know, Americans are wanderingaround the country.
Maggie Lynch (18:20):
I can't even imagine how crazy that is,
because, in my experience, it'ssuch a homogenous culture with,
you know, really kind of wellset ideas about how you interact
with people, and Americans tendto be kind of all over the place
(18:40):
and definitely feeling thatthey're the superior.
David Starkey (18:44):
You know, it's also a culture that embraces
idiosyncrasies. So, you know,there's like, there's a cult for
just about everything. I mean,use the word cult loosely, but
you know, the people who dressup like Elvis and dance in the
streets of Tokyo or whatevergenre of music. So the first
rock band in Japan that sang inJapanese was actually a folk
(19:08):
rock band. So that, that was anice little piece of information
I dug up along the way. So thisis my first, it's just a fish
out of water story, which areone of my favorite types of
stories, is to see people kindof trying to navigate a world
that they're not super familiarwith.
Maggie Lynch (19:30):
I agree. I love fish out of water. I think a lot
of authors do, because that'show they feel themselves.
David Starkey (19:39):
You're right.
Yeah.
Maggie Lynch (19:43):
So many writers, even if they're writing cross
genres, you know, or whatappears to be very different
genre types of books, they tendto have, at some point, kind of
an overriding theme that becomesa part of every book, whether
they planned it that way or not.
Is that the case with you? Or doyou work completely unique? No
(20:05):
crossovers?
David Starkey (20:08):
No. I think there's crossovers. I mean, I
think I've always beeninterested in what it's like
when people are close to death,you know. My own parents both
passed away in the last fewyears, and that just being
there, you know, when my dad wastaking his last breath, I think
(20:29):
that's there's something reallypowerful about that. And so I
think, even when I was in my20s, I was writing about people
who were dying or had died. ButI was, I think I was often
really don't. So you were sayingbecause you had two novels, and
looking at it kind of at acanted angle. Maybe a little bit
of that dark humor that we weretalking about earlier, and
(20:51):
that's probably still in theresomewhere. I'm not somebody
who's only writing about death,but they're in both my novels.
There is a significant death,you know, in each one. So I
guess that is something thatcarries over.
(21:24):
the one about Japan is the mostrecent one. Is that correct?
Just, just out this month.
Maggie Lynch (21:29):
Yeah, okay. And are all your books in paperback?
Hard book, ebook, audiobook, youknow?
David Starkey (21:40):
Yeah. I mean, most of my I would say the,
well, definitely the novels andthe nonfiction I've written is
available, you know, as an ebookand paper copies, hardback and
paperback. The books of poetryare generally just a paperback.
You know that they're notusually in a digital form. I am
(22:03):
going to do the recording for mytwo novels. I got the go ahead
to do that, so I just need tofind a quiet place in the house
to sit down and read througheverything. But I'm looking
forward to that. I, you know, Ithink a lot of people do listen
to audio books now that don'tread paper, you know, or even
digital books, so I'm lookingforward to having that in my
(22:28):
arsenal.
Maggie Lynch (22:30):
Well, I'm really happy you're reading your books
yourself, just because I thinkthat a lot of listeners love
hearing the author read unless,of course, they're really lousy.
A lousy reader. I can't imaginethat you are just in talking to
you, but I think they like itbecause they figure that the
(22:52):
author knows where to put theemphasis, and the author knows
what the rhythm was, whetherit's a poem or a line of
description, and it's just somuch more rich that way when
they listen. So I wish you thevery best. That is an onerous
process.
David Starkey (23:12):
Yeah, it is. I mean, I wish Brad Pitt was going
to be doing the reading instead.
Maggie Lynch (23:20):
Yeah, it can be. I have not narrated anything
myself. I keep telling myselfI'm going to, but it's hard to
find the time. You know you'retalking, sometimes 10 to 15,
hours.
David Starkey (23:35):
For sure, yeah.
Maggie Lynch (23:35):
So it's, but I wish you the very best for that.
David Starkey (23:40):
I appreciate that.
Maggie Lynch (23:40):
So what are you working on next? I know you have
something just out, but do youhave another project you're
planning to get into soon?
David Starkey (23:50):
Yeah, so I actually had finished, just
before I wrote that BruceSpringsteen book I had been
working on, a novel where ElvisPresley is elected president in
1968 and Robert Kennedy Sr isnot assassinated, and he becomes
(24:11):
Elvis' vice president. And thenElvis turns out to be a really
horrible president. So the firstpart of the book is getting
Elvis elected. And the firstpart is Elvis kind of destroying
America. And that soundsfamiliar. And then, yeah, and
(24:36):
then I have a kind of surpriseending.
Maggie Lynch (24:40):
Wow, that's, I want to read that, yeah, because
that's so unique, and I can seehow it might have some parallels
in our political situation, justbecause when people are living
in an environment whereeveryone's waiting on them and
(25:02):
listening to them and doingwhatever they say, sometimes
they don't have the practice atsituations where there's
disagreement.
David Starkey (25:15):
And Elvis was used to getting his own way. I
mean, in my novel Sam Phillips,you know his manager who took
50% of everything that heearned, is pushed out of the way
pretty early in the novel. SoElvis suddenly has this power
that he's never had before, andit turns out that he's not great
(25:38):
at handling it.
Maggie Lynch (25:40):
Yeah. Wow. I'm sure there's going to be humor
as well.
David Starkey (25:45):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Maggie Lynch (25:50):
Well, that's just amazing. So, um, where can
people find your books? Is itjust at your publisher, or are
they distributed?
David Starkey (25:58):
Well, I mean, you know, they're wherever you buy
books, I think kind of aroundthe world. I think my publishers
have been pretty good aboutmaking sure that it's not just
on Amazon. You know thatwherever you buy books? So,
yeah, you know, occasionallyI'll toss up in a local
bookstore, but mostly, I thinkpeople buy my work online?
Maggie Lynch (26:22):
Yeah, I think that's true, pretty much. But
speaking of tossing up in abookstore or somewhere else, you
know, are there any events orplaces you plan to be, let's say
over the next couple months?
Should people listening to thissay hey, Should you, you know,
if you said San Francisco, forexample, people who are from
there might want to show up.
David Starkey (26:45):
Well, if people are in the central coast of
California, I'll be launching mybook at Chaucer's Bookstore on
September the 28th at 3pm.
That's a Sunday, and they're oneof the finest local bookstores
certainly in California,probably in the country. It's a
magnificent place. I'm reallyexcited. And then I will be at
the Louisiana Book Festival onthe first of November, along
(27:09):
with a lot of other writers. AndI'm still kind of just, you
know, looking around for places.
So if somebody watches orlistens to your podcast and
says, Oh, I want to meet DavidStarkey, just head on over to my
website. davidstarkey.net andshoot me a line and I'll be
Maggie Lynch (27:29):
Oh, that's great.
Well, maybe someone from Japanthere.
will say that. So, and just toremind my listeners, you know, I
always put in the show notesyour website information and
contact information and anythinglike that, so they they'll know
how to get your website assometimes spelling becomes a
(27:51):
problem with different names.
Well, I really thank you forbeing my guest today, David. And
a reminder to all my listenersis, you know, share this podcast
with other people you thinkwould be interested. It sounds
like David is the kind of authorthat has both some deep things
happening in his books, but alsohumor. And I know a lot of you
(28:13):
asked for humor, so this is yourchance to read someone and check
the show notes to be sure thatyou can contact him if you want
to. Or just check out hiswebsite, because he has a whole
lot of other books besides theones that we've been discussing.
This has been dust jacketsconversation with authors. Our
(28:33):
guest today was David Starkey.
You can get more Dust Jacketauthor interviews on your
favorite podcast app. Pleasecheck back on past interviews
and stay tuned for new ones.
Thank you.
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