"To Hell with Dante" is a collection of cynical
afterlife stories, ranging from comedic genius to dark surrealism. To help kick off this fine anthology, I'll be
conducting interviews with many of the contributors. Today I'm interviewing Bruno Lombardi, the excellent
author who contributed the stories "A Company of Deaths" and
"Rendezvous." Thank you for
being here, Bruno.
BRUNO LOMBARDI: Thanks for
having me!
MTI: We've done this
before, but for readers who didn't catch our previous interview, why not tell
them a little about yourself?
BL: I’m a civil servant by day for the Canadian
government and a writer by night. I recently got engaged to the most awesome
woman in the world and we’re hoping to ‘pull the trigger’, so to speak, in late
2015 or early 2016.
MTI: You have the
unique distinction of having two separate stories in To Hell with Dante. First off, tell us a little bit about "A
Company of Deaths." What's the general idea behind it?
BL: The general idea behind it is that Death –
that’s the guy with the pointy farming implement -- is doing his usual thing on Earth’s first
interstellar spaceship when he runs into a unique problem – and one that
requires an unorthodox solution.
MTI: And how about
"Rendezvous." What's that one
about?
BL: I decided that if I go with a comedy for one
story, I might as well go for dark in the other. It involves a rogue angel and
the entity – one that turns out to be very familiar - tapped to bring the angel in for justice.
MTI: Do either of
these stories hold any special significance, perhaps seeking to provoke some
thoughts about the afterlife, or were they just a lot of fun fiction?
BL: A bit from column A and a bit from column B,
to be honest. There was the comedic aspect of "A Company of Deaths"
that I enjoy putting in many of my works and the flexing of one’s creative
muscles when you try something completely different in "Rendezvous" but
there was a bit of exploration of some common themes of the afterlife. What,
exactly, would it be like to be ‘Death’? What happens if you’re supposed to be
the ‘good guy’ but you’re forced to sit idly by while evil occurs? What are the
unintended consequences of doing good – or evil, for that matter?
MTI: Okay, on a
totally unrelated note, if you could meet and talk with any one deceased
person, who would it be?
BL: Oh – just one? That’s a tough out! If just
one, I’ll say Ray Bradbury. I inherited a massive collection of his works from
my sister when I was a kid and it influenced me to this day. I think I’ll love
to meet him and, aside from the usual questions all writers get asked (“Where
do you get your ideas?”) I’ll tell him “Thanks” as well.
MTI: Shifting back to
your writing, can you tell us a little about what you're working on right now?
BL: So much! I think I may have a bit of ADD when
it comes to story ideas! At the moment there’s a novel called “The Coin” that’s
about three quarters completed and which I hope to finish by spring 2015. I
also have, in no particular order, a steampunk story, a story about a domestic
couple – that just happen to be a superhero/supervillain duo, a dragon story, a
ghost story, a story involving a support group for all the ‘Last Man on Earth’,
and even a zombie story.
MTI: Other than your
piece appearing in To Hell with Dante, do you have any other stories being
published in the near future?
BL: Quite a few are appearing in other
anthologies by Martinus Publishing in 2015.
MTI: Speaking about
your other works, you have stories that appear in several other Martinus
Publishing anthologies. Why not tell us
about a couple of your favorite ones?
BL: Three in particular I like, for a variety of
different reasons.
‘A Thursday Night at Doctor
What’s Time and Relative Dimensional Space Bar and Grill’ in the Temporal Element anthology is on the list for two reasons; one, it’s my first published
story and two, it, in the words of one reader, ‘broke my homage-meter’ on every
single story involving time travel you may have heard or read. I had a blast
writing it.
‘The Road Was Lit with Moon and
Star’ in the Altered America anthology is on the list because it explores an
interesting ‘what if’; what if Apollo 11 crashed on impact and Neil Armstrong
never took that first step? I’m a big space enthusiast and I was a bit
surprised to discover how few stories there are out there based on such a
premise.
The third is ‘Gold Fever’ in theQuests, Curses and Vengeance anthology. It’s a short but creepy horror story
set during the Klondike Gold Rush. I always wanted to try my hand at straight
up horror and that story was the result.
MTI: You also have a
novel out there, Snake Oil. Here's your
chance to pitch that to the people. Tell
them why it's a must read!
BL: It’s a fantastic story and one that everyone
should read!
The basic premise is quite
simple: aliens show up on Earth in the near future. But these aliens are not
here to destroy us or bring us into the Federation or to enlighten us or any of
that nonsense. Instead they’re here to…sell us their crap!
Basically – what if humanity’s
first contact with aliens turns out to be the used car salesmen of the galaxy?
MTI: Writers are
often voracious readers. Have you run
across any good literature lately that you'd like to recommend? You know, other than your own great work.
BL: A good friend of mine gave me a copy of
‘Under Heaven’ by Guy Gavriel Kay as a present. It is a staggeringly amazing
and beautiful book. It’s, literally, every type of book in one: historical,
speculative fiction, love story, war story, intrigue – it has it all.
MTI: Other than
writing, what would you call your favorite hobby or pastime?
BL: I’ve had an off-again, on-again fascination
with photography. It’s now back into its on-again phase.
MTI: Once again, you
have the attention of potential readers.
Do you have any words of wisdom to share with them, or possibly a sales
pitch to encourage them to read more of your writing?
BL: Neil Gaiman said it best and I’ll repeat his
words here:
“Go and make interesting mistakes,
make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave
the world more interesting for your being here. The one thing you have that
nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So
write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can. The
moment that you feel that just possibly you are walking down the street
naked…that’s the moment you may be starting to get it right.”
Words to live by, indeed.
MTI: Thank you again
for a fantastic interview, Bruno! Those
who want to check out his latest pair of published stories can pick up "ToHell with Dante."
