Applauding My Critics, Part 2: Bill Burman

A shot from one of Bill Burman's many plays.

In the movies, they have an expression called "meet-cute," generally the initiating event of all romantic comedies. Bill Burman and I had the artistic equivalent. I met him because his wife and my girlfriend worked together. Halfway through our first double date, Bill asked, "Are you the Michael Vaughn?"

It wasn't as flattering a question as it sounded. As it turned out, fourteen years previous, Bill assembled his first evening of satirical skits, titled A Prayer and A Fart. Bill was betting his future career - playwriting or perhaps something more reasonable - on the outcome of this first production. It was a success, owing largely to a review from a critic at Good Times magazine named Michael Vaughn. I had just condemned him to years of starving artistry. (It wasn't my fault - his skits are hilarious.)

My reward for this act was years of friendship and some of the most insightful reviews my books have ever received. Bill well knows the ins and outs of storytelling, and always delves into the technical challenges faced by writers. He is a particular fan of my dialogues, and coming from a playwright that's an especially flattering observation.

One could point out some definite conflict-of-interest here, but I don't think Bill would have expended so much care and energy if he secretly thought I sucked. I also get the feeling if I ever really went off the rails, Bill would be the first to say, WTF are you doing, Vaughn? That said, please enjoy these takes on my novels.

(See my author page at Amazon for all titles.)

Climies (four stars)

4.0 out of 5 stars A Disturbing but Rewarding Read

Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2020

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A novel in which self-proclaimed "patriots" react badly to a disaster is hardly comfort reading at this juncture in time, and I confess I had to stop reading this book several times because of certain recent events and go watch an old episode of Columbo to take myself out of the present and the dark future Vaughn portrays in "Climies" As the title implies, it is a politicized future where those of the pejorative nickname are sparring with "patriots" over the reality and consequences of climate change AFTER the disaster has already happened. Vaughn invites us to tour the likely results of our current equal time for science and deranged conspiracy theories free-for-all.

But of course Vaughn's writing is too refined to be a political screed. As usual, his latest novel is populated by complex characters such as Boss, the grizzled leader of the anti-climate science motor cycle gang menacing the Skyline community of "climies" struggling to survive in a world where the Pacific has swallowed up most of the Bay Area. And Vaughn doesn't allow a mere man-made catastrophe to dampen his joy in describing natural beauty in a transformed environment, luscious meals, futuristic technologies and the intriguing vagaries of human relationships. The plot is as imaginative as you'd hope from a science fiction novel, and though it is dark overall, it has a sort of pick-up-the-pieces hopefulness that takes the edge off a bit. My only complaint is that it seemed to end too soon for me.

A Painting Called Sylvia (five stars)

The Blessings of Beaux Arts

Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2019

In A Painting Called Sylvia, Michael Vaughn veers from his more familiar terrain of bohemians, outcasts, religious refugees and tormented lovers into the lives of the comfortable but secretly anguished bourgeoisie. Chris and Clarice, a well-heeled couple raising their talented and lovely daughter Sylvia, navigate a series of shocks precipitated by the chance discovery of a crayon-pen sketch in a coffeehouse. An intense but tender family drama, the story plunges us into the minds and souls of all its principal characters, and Vaughn's artistry makes us feel like we are sitting in a room with each one separately, listening to a flesh and blood individual relate their experience. The teen-aged girls seem as well realized as the middle-aged men. The characters seem somehow both fresh and familiar, and the arc of their relationships is unexpected and satisfying. The story seamlessly works through issues of parenting in the modern age, aesthetics, high school dating and domestic violence. A mysterious artist named "Marcello" looms large over the whole affair, and the healing power of art is in play. Oddly enough, this cynical reader in these cynical times finds Vaughn's hopeful novel itself a rejuvenating experience.

Figment (five stars)

5.0 out of 5 stars Michael J. Vaughn's "8 1/2"

Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2017

"Figment" is Michael J. Vaughn's 20th novel, but in a way it's his "8 1/2." Like Fellini in his classic, Vaughn's fictional self parties with a menagerie of his own characters, and takes on society's attitudes about struggling artists, his critics, and a world where only the vapid thrive. Certainly he could be accused of self-indulgence, but as Michelangelo argues in the famous Monty Python sketch where he is confronted by the Pope over his interpretation of the Last Supper, which features 28 apostles, a kangaroo, and three Jesuses, "It works, Mate!" Vaughn explores the tenuous line between creator and creation/reality and fiction with a wild, sexy, road trip up and down his beloved Pacific Coast, through dive bars and funky cafes, and the crazy heart of Left Coast bohemia. As always, the dialogue and descriptive writing are a joy to read, although occasionally, the hipster banter becomes tiresome. And Vaughn's ability to write strong, well drawn female characters has never been more apparent. His protagonist, Channy Adams, while apparently suffering a mental breakdown, refuses to stop pulling the thread that may unravel her whole existence or reveal its ultimate source. Vaughn took some huge risks in "Figment," and for me, they paid off.

Double Blind (four stars)

Double Blind a New Vision of Love and Family

Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2007

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In Double Blind, Vaughn fearlessly confronts the nagging ambiguities of love, monogamy, sex, and family in the age of the Internet. And has a hell of a time doing it. His protagonist, Hopkins Grinder, a sexually adventurous geneticist, endures a moribund marriage for the sake of his kids. His ill-advised experiment to placate his unhappy wife launches a series of sexual misadventures that have both comic and dramatic effects. Grinder's dilemma is achingly human, and Vaughn makes us feel it so keenly that we can identify with Grinder in his most extreme moments. His relationship with his kids, who are particulary well drawn characters, gives him even more depth. The struggle with his seemingly neurotic wife leads to astonishing revelations and a truly original resolution. Vaughn offers no palliatives but rather a fresh and bracing look at love and family life in the 21st century. Oh, and did I mention it is also a fantastic love story.

The Monkey Tribe (four stars)

4.0 out of 5 stars A stony, eccentric pleasure

Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2010

A marvelous romp through yet another California subculture. An inspiring story of rejuvenation, renewal, and random breat grabbing. Vaughn's contagious exuberance for life comes through in his fine literary depictions of everything from opera arias to Peruvian coffees. The book also features the best description of being stoned in English prose. I felt like I was high, and I haven't touched the stuff for years. Bravo

Slow Children (four stars)

The Price of Genius

Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2016

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A gripping tale of the emotional costs of artistic achievement, tempered by Vaughn's passion for road trips through the Pacific Northwest, playful romances, and all things sensual. In "Slow Children," Vaughn does for Rock and Pop music what he did for opera in "Gabriella's Voice," giving us an fascinating insider's view of the intricacies of songwriting and performing. His comic take on the maddening frustrations of band dynamics makes one relieved not to be a musician. The larger question the book poses, however, is does the quest for artistic greatness imply the fraying of human bonds? Is musical genius a tornado that lays waste to relationships on its way to masterpiece? "Slow Children" is a thoroughly absorbing exploration of that topic, with many a delightful side trip along the way.

Frosted Glass (four stars)

 Escape from Silicon Valley

Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2003

"Frosted Glass" is a marvelous tale of romance and escape from the Silicon Valley. Michael Vaughn brings his characters and various west coast locales to life with linguistic brilliance and a gentle wit. Vaughn's gift for description is evident in everything from his delineation of his characters' interior lives to his rendering of sumptuous meals and fantastic seascapes. His characters have personal mythologies every bit as fascinating as the main story and their romance manages to be both playfully sexy and soberingly existential. Their struggle to discover the realities of love and work outside the narrow parameters of Silicon Valley culture is by turns heartrending and hilarious. This is truly one of the best novels I have ever read about creative people in the micro-chip metropolis. It gives one hope that authenticity can survive in a world dominated by cellphones, pagers, laptops and SUVs.

The Popcorn Girl (four stars)

4.0 out of 5 stars Religion and Identity

Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2012

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As a Catholic school veteran turned Agnostic, I found "Popcorn Girl" fascinating on a number of levels. The story says a lot about the impact of religious upbringing on identity. Can we ever really escape the iconography and the theology embossed in our young minds? Even rebelling against it somehow ties you to your religious background. People, like the characters in Vaughn's book, can wrestle with it their whole lives, sometimes without being aware of it. And the people in "Popcorn Girl" are dealing with religious baggage that made mine feel very light indeed. I loved the main character, Paul, a recovering Jehovah's Witness and vigorous Atheist whose knowledge of religious history would put a holy roller to shame. His efforts to help the tormented Jasmina sort out her murky past while carrying on a fairly torrid romance makes for a great story, with many a shock along the way. As always with Michael Vaughn, the characters are well developed, the story is rewarding, and the dialogue is fluid and clever. I need to reread it, because I think I read the book it in two hours.

Applauding My Critics, Part 1: Tess Ailshire

It's a shame that the word "critic" is so identified with the word "criticize." It's more accurate to relate it to "critique," an art form in which the writer uses observations both positive and negative to report what they witnessed. As a veteran of thirty-plus years of critiquing in the world of theater, opera and literature, I am more equipped than most to handle whatever reviews come my way.

Still, many of today's reader reviews can be childish and lame, as if the author has failed if they didn't anticipate the exact thing the reader wanted to read. One particular assassin gave me one star out of five and reported, "I didn't read it." For some reason, a lot of this came from the Goodreads site, so I have made a habit of avoiding it. Recently, I went back there for a different reason and stumbled upon a lovely, insightful review for my best-seller, The Popcorn Girl. I then discovered that the reviewer had decided to read several of my books and had given each the same kind of beautifully observed, well-written critiques.

I have been fortunate to enjoy a handful of reviewers, some of them writers themselves, who have followed my career in this fashion, leaving beautifully crafted critiques in their wake. And so, I thought it was time that I expressed my gratitude. That recently discovered reviewer is a Virginia resident named Tess Ailshire, and these are her reviews You can find my books on my Amazon author page.

The Popcorn Girl (five stars)

A joy of a story, but a story that is not joyous. The characters are flawed, complex, multi-faceted, and unexpected. One feels there is so much more to these people and their lives, which makes them very real.

I'm not generally a fan of books where one has to know which character is narrating a chapter, but this works.

It made me want to read other Vaughn books.

Gabriella's Voice (four stars)

I've become a fan of Vaughn since I read Popcorn Girl without knowing the first thing of his writing style, his peccadilloes, or his themes. Vaughn has a knack for description that reflects a love of words and an awareness of the universe -- perfect similes that leave cliches choking on dust and gasping. He then goes on to wrap a silken scarf around most of the most hideous of human traits, revealing it only slowly, making the reader realize life is not all apple pie and ice cream, but not thwocking him over the head with truth either.

That said, Gabriella's Voice was not my favorite.

In this story, I felt I was being hit over the head with the similes. It seemed descriptions were overdone. Do I really need half a page to describe a foggy ferry crossing? What I normally like about Vaughn seemed too much in this novel.

Perhaps I understand enough Italian that I don't need *every* lyric to hold a parenthetic translation; it seemed to interrupt the flow of the paragraph, as if the narrator were stuttering. The sense of the paragraphs could easily have remained using only the English or only the Italian.

The Monkey Tribe (five stars)

This is the fourth Michael J. Vaughn book I've read in the last four to six months (The Popcorn Girl; a Painting Called Sylvia; Gabriella's Voice). Vaughn again shows his mastery of mindfulness - of describing both scenery and emotion vividly and without cliche. He again tackles the character who is different, and slowly reveals to the reader that character's passions and failings.

This novel, like Gabriella's Voice, shows a deep understanding of music as a natural part of the human experience, and explores the theme of giving as a way of receiving. Like A Painting Called Sylvia, it explores chaos in human experience, but in a controlled manner. Like The Popcorn Girl, it shows a character who is so much more than a surface.

Vaughn can keep writing. I'll keep reading as long as he does. 

A Painting Called Sylvia (five stars)

I think I'm about to become a huge fan of Michael J. Vaughn. I read "The Popcorn Girl" because "the owner of an atheist bookstore" in the description intrigued me, and found I truly loved the work.

So I picked up this volume when it was available for free on Amazon. This one was even better, I think. I was more able to relate to these people - a couple with a teenage daughter, an artist, a few others - than in "The Popcorn Girl".

Both works I've read seem to me to be paintings of emotions, rather than words on a page. Not too much on the logic or concrete details, but a complex image of the character's thoughts and feelings. I found myself marveling at how complete a seemingly minor observation seemed to render the character. 

The Girl in the Flaming Dress (five stars)

Like so many of the Vaughn novels I've read, the style is lighthearted and action-filled, with descriptions so far from cliche that I often stop, consider, and even read them aloud. That is a mark, I believe, of a good writer.

I like the fact that it's often a complete surprise to find out where his novels end up. The characters reveal themselves more and more as the novel goes on, and the endings may or may not be what you expect. I was amused to see the popcorn girl included.

This one hasn't the depth of Gabriella's Voice, nor the complexity of The Popcorn Girl, but is no less an enjoyable read.

Mascot (five stars)

I'm a big fan of Vaughn's writing style. The present-tense prose evokes an importance that might not work in past tense, and Vaughn has a knack for describing scenery and ambiance in a decidedly original and evocative manner. Vaughn's characters are decidedly human and absolutely unique. I find difficulty in predicting the ending of a story, much less the plot line that gets us to that ending.

Mascot does it again. Complex characters whose timelines show them different from what we originally see, with enough left unsaid that the reader has no choice but to be involved and to look beyond the words on the page.

Mascot is another that does not end at all as I expected, nor as I would have wished it to. That makes it no less a picture of life.

Climies: A Handmaid's Tale Meets Climate Change

By Naomi Bolton, Manybooks.net

Michael J. Vaughn is the author of twenty-three novels, including the award-winning The Popcorn Girl and his latest, Climies. He is also a professional painter and drummer, the latter with the San Jose rock band ECRB. Vaughn's novels have won prizes in the San Francisco, New England and Hollywood book festivals. He is a regular competitions judge for Writer's Digest. Vaughn is also a widely published poet and opera critic. He graduated from San Jose State with a journalism degree and a classical voice minor. He was born in Brunswick, Maine, and spent much of his childhood shuttling around the country, courtesy of his father Harold's career as a pilot with the US Navy. As our author of the day, Vaughn tells us all about his latest book, Climies.

Please give us a short introduction to what Climies is about.

A young man, mysteriously deprived of his memory, ventures into the world to discover that the sea levels have risen 500 feet. He finds a small mountain community that has adapted exceedingly well to the situation and settles in as a born leader.

What inspired you to write a Handmaid's Tale meets climate change type of story?

I began writing by placing a character (Russell) in a situation (a garden labyrinth) and literally writing my way out. When he came out to a rooftop beach to discover a town underneath the water, I knew that I was going to write a speculative novel about climate change. It was an excellent way to tap into my subconscious and find out what I really wanted to write about.

Tell us more about Russell Peppers. What makes him tick?

Despite his amnesia, he is a very capable young man. One of the running jokes is how he keeps discovering things that his body knows how to do, like playing a guitar, riding a jetski, and playing basketball (and unintentionally hustling his opponents while he's at it).

What inspired you to set this story in the survivor community of Skyline?

It's based on Skyline Drive, a road that follows the tops of the Santa Cruz Mountains from San Jose to San Francisco. It's an area I know well. It was also morbidly fun placing so much of the Bay Area under water. At one point they're sailing past what looks like a long metal fence, and it's actually the top of the Golden Gate Bridge. Many of the survivors are actually tech workers from Silicon Valley; their ingenuity allows them to create a surprising kind of utopia, and also to cope with the weather, which fluctuates between hard snows and 120-degree days.

Give us three "Good to Know" facts about you.

I am also a professional fine arts painter. I play drums and sing in a classic rock band, ECRB. I worked for thirty years as an arts journalist, and have interviewed celebrities including Ray Bradbury, Molly Ringwald and Barry Manilow.

Your novel poses the question "what could happen if we don't pay attention or believe in climate change"? Why did you find this an important topic to explore?

It could be THE topic. I am afraid we're already on the road to some level of sea rise and extreme climates. It was important to me to devise a plausible worst-case scenario, both politically and environmentally. I have always done a lot of reading on the topic, and I have a colleague, Jeff Goodell, who writes amazing books and articles on the subject for Rolling Stone. You have to be careful with issues-oriented novels, however. No one likes to be preached at. You have to stick to the story and be true to the characters. Some of the more surprising characters are Patriots, the extremist climate deniers who call their rivals "climies." A pack of them ride into town, and the results are not always predictable.

Do any of your characters take off on their own tangent and refuse to do what you had planned for them?

Ha! Constantly. Russell's love interest is Shandhra Basu, a beautiful Indian-American (literally the daughter of a rocket scientist) who is always dragging Russell off into one bit of trouble or another. I always say, When you reach a point where you're asking not "What should I have Shandhra do next" but "What would Shandhra do next?" you have created a real live person, right there on the page.

When working on a novel, how do you immerse yourself in the main characters' lives?

I think you have to do it your whole life, really. You have to pursue lots of different experiences so you can apply them to characters later. There is much room, however, for empathy and imagination. This is especially helpful when your timeline is circa 2050!

Additionally, I think it's greatly helpful to read good non-fiction. And also, San Jose is a beautifully diverse place. I am surrounded by so many cultures. The Indian presence here is very strong.

Is there an underlying message you wish to relay about basic human nature in this book?

I think there is a way to be a hard-nosed scientific realist and yet retain some optimism for humanity. Perhaps the key is humor. This book sounds dystopian, but there are many funny scenes and situations.

In this book you’re dealing with so many difficult themes – as a writer, do you feel a sense of responsibility? If so, how do you deal with this?

Venturing into my first speculative book, I did feel a lot of responsibility. And I did back up the searise with a plausible worst-case scenario. But obviously this is only one vision of what could happen. I actually believe we will find our way out of this. But as The Handmaid's Tale served as a warning against theocracy, perhaps a good climate nightmare will provide us with some extra incentive.

When working on a new book, what is the first thing you do?

I have a "brewing period" where I let various ideas drift in. My current book had to wait a little longer as we sat through the early stages of the pandemic.

Do you have any interesting writing habits? What is an average writing day like for you?

I write three drafts, in this thing called a spiral notebook, before it goes into a computer. I write completely at coffeehouses.

What are you working on right now?

In 2018, I served as the officiant at two weddings. It was such a remarkable experience that I'm using the settings as the background for the novel. One of them took place in Malibu, in John Larroquette's old house.

Where can our readers discover more of your work or interact with you?

I post many peripheral works at blogspot.writerville.com. I have a good author page at amazon.com (Michael J. Vaughn). And they can check in at my Facebook page, which is also under Michael J. Vaughn.

A final note: an underlying message to Climies is that scientific issues should never be politicized. I never could have dreamed how powerfully that point would be made by our viral situation.

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Immortals' Requiem

Induction

Michael J. Vaughn - A World Where Sea Levels Have Risen 500 Feet

FEATURED AUTHOR - Michael J. Vaughn is the author of twenty-three novels, including the award-winning The Popcorn Girl and his latest, Climies. He is also a professional painter and drummer, the latter with the San Jose rock band ECRB. Vaughn's novels have won prizes in the San Francisco, New England and Hollywood book festivals. He is a regular competitions judge for Writer's Digest. Vaughn is also a widely published poet and opera critic. He graduated from San Jose State with a journalism degree and a… Read more

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