Interview with author Mike Kupari

Hey all, Jack Wylder here. With Larry pushing hard to get Monster Hunter Siege out the door by Christmas he hasn’t had a whole lot of time to blog here lately so I figured the time was right to start a new thing- writer interviews!
This week we’re talking with Mike Kupari- author of Her Brother’s Keeper and co-author of the Dead Six Series with Larry. Questions in bold, responses in italics.

To start with, how should Kupari be pronounced?
KOO-pa-ree

What inspired the Dead Six series in the first place?

From 2004 to 2005, I worked as a security contractor at a US base in the Gulf Emirate of Qatar. I lived there for a year, and I actually lived in the city of Doha, not on base. It was a unique experience, and taught me a great deal about how the Middle East actually is vs. what you hear about in American media. Being over there got the creative juices flowing (it’s not as gross as it sounds), even though, at the time, I had no aspirations of being a novelist.

For those who don’t know, how did Larry get involved?

Way back in 2003 or so, I wrote a story on an internet gun board called The High Road. In 2006, having just moved to Utah, I wrote a sequel to it set in the Middle East. I didn’t have a plan or anything; I’d write a chapter, then write the next a day or so later, making it up as I went along. At the time, I didn’t really know Larry, though I’d transferred a handgun through his gun store.

Also at the time, Larry wasn’t the International Lord of anything. He was another aspiring wannabe with big dreams and a stack of rejection letters. He’d had absolutely no luck selling Monster Hunter to anyone, but wasn’t giving up.

Well, he was reading my story, and messaged me and asked if he could write scenes from the perspective of another character. That was how Lorenzo was born. The back-and-forth shtick, with two competing first person narratives, became the signature of the series. It’s still fairly unique, I think. I don’t know of a whole lot of other novels that have used this technique.

During this time, though, Larry self-published MHI, and heavily self-promoted it. He eventually got it accepted by Baen, it became a runaway success, and the rest is old news. After MHI, he was looking for another book to publish. We’d been planning a sequel to my last story online, and he did one of his binge-writing sessions and cranked out something like ninety thousand words (that was eventually mostly incorporated into Swords of Exodus). Not wanting it to go to waste, he started bugging me to agree to clean up the story we’d written together and submit it to a publisher.

This was 2008 or so. At first I told him no way. I thought it wasn’t fit to publish, and given that the POV character was originally intended for a not-at-all-serious first-person story, I was worried people would think the story was some kind of self-aggrandizement (TV Tropes didn’t exist back then, and “Mary Sue” wasn’t in widespread usage). Plus, I’d just enlisted in the Air Force and was beginning my career as an EOD Technician.

You know what finally convinced me? Larry read me a passage from a novel from a huge, big-name thriller author. I mean, this guy has books in airport bookstores and gets interviewed on TV. Larry read it, and I was like, “seriously? I can do better than that.”

Turns out, even the most successful guys in the industry don’t churn out Pulitzer material every time. Sometimes you just need a good story to tell. Besides, I told myself, writing seemed to be my only real innate talent. I seemed a shame to let it go to waste. Eight years later, here I am.

I owe Larry a great deal for talking me into pursuing this. But, to be fair, I paid him back by giving him the idea for Grimnoir and Tom Stranger. YOU’RE ALL WELCOME.

What was the most challenging part of writing it?

The hardest part of writing Dead Six for me was my own inexperience. Writing a novel can be an intensely frustrating endeavor, and often you’re your own harshest critic and worst enemy. At the same time, from June 2009 on, I was down at Eglin AFB, Florida, attending NAVSCOLEOD (Naval School, Explosive Ordnance Disposal). I’m not being hyperbolic when I say that EOD School was the most challenging and stressful thing I’ve ever done. It really put a damper on my productivity, and I’m pretty slow to begin with.

Working with friends can be difficult; did you and Larry have any problems working together and if so, how did you handle them?

Larry and I operate on pretty much the same creative wavelength. We had very few real creative differences along the way. The biggest frustration for him, I think, was waiting for me to catch up. Larry writes fast. I mean, he writes fast even amongst professional writers, and I write slow. Being in the middle of the hardest thing I’ve ever done, while working on Dead Six, certainly didn’t help matters any.

My life had its share of ups and downs over the next few years, while working on the sequels, and turmoil in real life really tends to stymie my creative process. I was gone a lot, too, for the Air Force, and was kept quite busy.

I’m fairly certain Larry has wanted to choke me sometimes. He’s even swore at me (it was adorable, I wanted to hug him). For my part, he’s so optimistic and happy that sometimes I want to punch him. I didn’t, because he’s way bigger than me, and really, he’s impossible to stay mad at. For all of the accusations of him being angry, hateful, judgmental, spiteful, or mean, he’s really one of the nicest people I’ve ever known.

He is also a very patient man, all things considered. One of the hardest parts of being a writer, the thing that discourages most people, is not believing in yourself. I know that sounds cheesy, but it’s true. Most people who have the inclination to be a writer don’t try because, like me, they assume they’re no good. It’s a balancing act, of course; you can’t get so up your own ass that you can’t take advice or criticism, because even the best can churn out a dud. That said, you’ll never get anywhere if you don’t try. Throughout the whole process, Larry was very encouraging, and helped me along when if, on my own, I might’ve given up.

We do have very different personalities, though, and I think I make a good foil for him. Between his excessive optimism and my dreary cynicism, between us we make a fairly well-rounded individual.

What part are you most proud of?

My time as an EOD tech. Getting my Crab pinned on me was the proudest day of my life. I got to do some really cool stuff over the next few years, too: I traveled all over, I blew a lot of things up, I rode around in helicopters, and I shot all kinds of guns. I went through some of the best and worst days of my life with some of the finest, bravest men and women I’ve ever known.

My own EOD career was fairly short, and I only deployed once. Even still, I got to work with people I consider heroes, people who are among the very best in the world at what they do. Not to diminish how amazing and humbling being a writer has been, but being part of a community like that has been hard to top.

Oh, you meant of the books? I knew that. Um…I like how different the Dead Six series is compared to other novels in the genre. Valentine and Lorenzo aren’t your typical cookie-cutter, almost interchangeable action hero archetypes. Both of their story arcs are tales of redemption, albeit in different ways, and both of them grow as people throughout the trilogy.

For me, Valentine was partially an exploration of loss, depression, anxiety, and self-doubt. He’s been through hell and has lost almost everyone he cares about. Some readers have said that he comes across as mopey or whiny, and this was (mostly) intentional. (I think some readers are just being a little harsh on a guy who’s seen that much death.) He’s a reluctant, unlikely hero. He doubts himself. He fails. He makes mistakes. He has regrets. He has to move on with his life, unable to change the past, and having to live with all of that. He also had to come to grips with the fact that he’s an innately talented killer.

Lorenzo is a man on the edge of the abyss, and he gets pushed and pushed while trying to in some way be a good person. He was raised by Mormons and has worked for some of the worst people in the world, doing terrible things, usually rationalizing it to himself. That dichotomy, the conflict of impulses, the struggle with the monster he knows he can be, is central to his character. Eventually, he figures out who he really is.

Both of the walk difficult paths, and both of them suffer mightily along the way. But they also grow, adapt, and evolve, learning to deal with what they can’t change and working through the violence and chaos around them. Despite the dark tone of the stories, I think there’s a positive message in there, and I’m proud of that, too.

If they made a movie of this, who would you cast?

Oh hell, I’m so bad at this. When I first created her, I imagined Ling as resembling a young Lucy Liu, or Gong Li from the Miami Vice movie, but I don’t know of any actresses that match her age and character now, in 2016. Idris Elba, Larry’s unabashed man-crush, should play Antoine. He’d be perfect for the role, in terms of demeanor, screen presence, and physical appearance. I imagine Lorenzo as having the voice of the guy that did Roger Smith and Spike Spiegel, but I couldn’t pick an actor to play him.

I don’t think Dead Six should be a movie. I think it should be one of those violent anime series, where they pay close attention to all the technical details of the guns and gear. Larry and I could fly to Japan to be advisors (hint hint, Funimation). The original soundtrack would have to be in English, though, and possibly dubbed into Japanese.

Dead Six would also make a great first person shooter, in my opinion. License the Frostbite engine they use in the Battlefield series, but make the campaign missions more open-ended. Let the player try different strategies for completing the mission vs. making the whole thing a rail shooter like most Call of Duty games. Plus, having a left-handed FPS protagonist (Valentine) would make me happy.

What’s something most people don’t know about Larry?

He’s not an animal person. I don’t get it, either, but if I had to guess? He grew up on a dairy farm. I think having animals that you don’t eat is just weird to him. He thinks it’s crazy and dumb that I go on road trips with my dog and my bird. I say he doesn’t know how hilarious it is to pull up to a toll booth and have a Conure shout “hello!” to the attendant. (A Colorado county sheriff’s deputy didn’t think it was so funny one time, though.)

A lot of his detractors would probably be shocked to learn just how charitable he is, too. I’m not going to get into any specifics, but he really pays it forward. He’s personally helped friends, family, and fans alike when they fell on hard times, sometimes in big ways. It’s easy to talk about helping your fellow man when your idea of “charity” is voting for politicians who will raise taxes or vote for social spending. It’s another thing altogether to pony up your own money, take a chunk out of your own budget, and use your success to help another human being.

The petty, jealous, small assholes who tear him down in virtual effigy probably don’t see it that way, but they’re probably all terrible people, too.

With this trilogy finished, what’s next for you?

In the works is the sequel to Her Brother’s Keeper, tentatively titled Heirs of Ithaca. I’m under contract for more books after that, including story of a father-son team of post-apocalyptic bounty hunters who pursue mutant collaborators of a failed alien invasion, and something I can only describe as retro-futuristic, noir adventure inspired by the look and feel of Alien, Blade Runner, and Cowboy BeBop. I also have a short story in the upcoming Monster Hunter anthology.

I'm Glad That's Over With!
MHI Leatherbound Special LIMITED edition, Available for Preorder Now

20 thoughts on “Interview with author Mike Kupari”

  1. Great to hear from the inestimable Mike Kupari! You keep writing them, I’ll keep reading them. Marquette, MI and NMU Alumni greetings from the not-yet-frozen north.

    1. I’m moderately estimable, in my estimation.

      I’d say greetings from a fellow NMU Alumnus, but since I dropped out after my junior year and never went back, I’m not technically an Alumnus.

      I did spend plenty of cold mornings shuffling back and forth across campus, though.

  2. Excellent interview. The Dead Six series has been one of my all time favorites. I love the anime idea but I think I would prefer a Netflix 3 season series with mostly unknown actors and a really awesome director.

  3. I like it. I’ve wanted to know a little bit more aabout Mike Kupari. I enjoyed “Her Brothers Keeper” and am looking forward to more of the same.

  4. Thanks to Mike for giving us a peek at the man behind the curtain, and to Jack for stepping up to post it. (That leaves Larry more time to write, which is what we all really want.)

    A left handed character in a shooter game? I would be such the suck if I tried to play that. But I think it’d be a cool option.

  5. I just have to say that this sounds awesome: “…story of a father-son team of post-apocalyptic bounty hunters who pursue mutant collaborators of a failed alien invasion…”

    Greetings from another (part-time) yooper! (MTU class of ’05)

  6. I think author interviews are a fun addition to the blog. 🙂

    Glad you asked about pronunciation. All this time I’ve been putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable.

    You know, if Larry’s not an animal person, it’s probably best if he doesn’t follow Jim Butcher’s advice of adding a dog. A non-animal-person writing an animal is like a colorblind person painting a sunset. (Unless, in this case, it’s in the context of dairy/butchery.)

    1. Oh, and I’ve got Her Brother’s Keeper on my TBR list. Have it on my Kindle already. Just trying to work it into the reading list.

  7. Hey this looks like a perfect place to drop my Kupari Filk in! Set to “Long Way To Tipperary”.

    Up to mighty Baen Books
    Came and Authorman one day
    For the streets are paved with gold
    As Toni’s want to say!
    Writing books of Mercenaries,
    Space with savouir faire!
    ‘Till Mikey got annoyed
    And he shouted to them there:

    It’s the Wrong Way To Say ‘Kupari’!
    It’s the wrong way to go!
    It’s the Wrong Way To Say ‘Kupari’!
    And I think that I should know!
    Goodbye Reputation!
    Hello tears in beer!
    It’s the Wrong, Wrong Way To Say ‘Kupari’!
    But the Checks Cash, And Clear!

  8. I don’t think Dead Six should be a movie. I think it should be one of those violent anime series, where they pay close attention to all the technical details of the guns and gear. Larry and I could fly to Japan to be advisors (hint hint, Funimation). The original soundtrack would have to be in English, though, and possibly dubbed into Japanese.

    Ooooh yes. Honestly, it would be better that way.

    Wonderful interview. ^_^ And thanks for reinforcing that mental image I have of Larry being very much like his ‘International Lord of Hate’ cartoon self-drawing (The one that has a smile and says ‘hi’.)

    From my online-only interactions, Larry, and Jack Wylder are seriously good people.

    This looks like it’ll be an interesting series ^_^

    1. It would be kind of awesome if you could find the guy who did Gunsmith cats to do it. He was massive guns and american fanboy(in a good way) The only thing in the ova I heard he got wrong was that Illinois hadn’t had bounty hunters/bail enforces for decades. I heard people who lived in Chicago could tell by the accurate landmark in that OVA EXACTLY what year the man did his research.

      Though Rally(lol in the original manga I believe it was Larry as she was pretending to be a dude so people would take her seriously enough to talk to her and meet her before they buggered off and found a dude) was a bit dumb having a gunstore near Chicago, where she had full autos on the wall either for sale or display and the kind of slimey(but well meaning despite) that ATF agent blackmailed her into helping him with a case of tracking down a gun running ring by pointing out she doesn’t have the proper FFL licences and registrations to have all the full autos and such she did, and that if she helped he could get her one and if not… well…. her partner pointed out she was a dumbass for not getting one and having them up to see. Granted said partner also liked using freaking concussion grenades to get bail jumpers so… not a lot of common sense to go around there.

      Also inexplicably she had a freaking Shelby Cobra, and her favorite gun was a CZ-75. One of the earlier models I believe . I have heard a lot of good things about those though I’m too poor to afford one.

      Oh and in case anyone is interested I stumbled across this site oen time which is fun to look at sometimes.

      http://www.imfdb.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

      It’s like internet movie database but for guns instead of actors, and the guys there seem to know there stuff even for guesses of fictional guns that seem inspired by real ones.

    2. The Dead Six setting really reminds me of Black Lagoon, to be honest. An anime version done that way would be perfect. Get the weapons and scary people right, and it will be epic.

    1. That particular mega-hit bestseller will remain a secret forever, because I actually know and like the author. 🙂

  9. Dead Six anime series with character and technical design by Kenichi Sonoda, art production by Studio Madhouse, director from Black Lagoon, music by Larry Correia’s CD rack. Make it, make it now.

Leave a Reply to Christopher M. Chupik Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *