2020-09-08 Interview CA Davis

 

2020-09-08 Interview CA Davis



There are 2 ways to receive this special access written interview with

CA Davis

On horror writing, motivation, Black& Asian scifi, spreading truth & more

 

1.  Click on link below for the pdf

 

***Click HERE to download the 2020 09 08 CA Davis Interview PDF***

OR

2.  Read the interview below


Welcome to Write Volumes: Behind the Volume presents Shades of Writers 8 at 8 Author Interview series. Our goal is to give diverse voices an outlet for expression and to bring attention to diverse writers and our thoughts.  In this monthly newsletter we are featuring interviews of our wonderful writers to help people like you to get to know them better.

 

This month’s interview features CA Davis.  CA is a writer, a filmmaker, a podcaster, but above all, a storyteller. CA's films and his podcast, a LATTO thought, center on the convergence of race and identity, whereas his flash fiction serves as a testbed for stories and characters. You can listen to his latest podcast at https://lattothought.com/. He wrote “Lucky” in Shades of Horror & Strangeness

 

WV:  What motivated you to write this piece?

CAD:  I was thinking a lot about Tsutomu Yamaguchi, a man who survived both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings at the end of WWII. Would I want to survive such a thing? What about today, where our nuclear bombs can literally wipe a city clean off of a map; who would want to survive such a horrific event? The real horror isn't the travesty of war, but what war brings out when fear and panic and the aftermath of destruction leave us withered and decayed.

 

WV:  Did you write horror before? If no, What genres do you typically write? And would you write horror again?

CAD:  No! Hah, I haven't. However, when I wrote my 'strange tale,' it wasn't long after I edited a horror short film, so maybe the two were tonally related. Would I again? Yes, but in the same vein as what my story was—more like taking something that is rooted in history and recontextualizing the horror of it into the contemporary.

 

WV:  Where do you pull inspiration from?

CAD:  My life, the lives and endurance of my people. The world we live in is rife with injustice, contradictions, and pain. We can use all of those things to find better ways of living in our fictional worlds. Or, in the case of horror, making the atrocities of our world so painful that it infects how you think of, say, McDonald's, and can then only see the destruction such things cause.

 

WV:  What is the importance of writing about horror?

CAD:  Horror, much like sci-fi, is about reflecting a part of humanity back at your readers. So, it's about introspection. In the case of horror, it's about looking at our ids—both collective and individual—and relishing in the ugliness of ourselves so that we don't have to witness it in reality. But that's just my take.

 

WV: There are always outside factors in life. With the Pandemic, riots, unemployment, family, friends, quarantines, etc. What motivates you to keep writing during this time? 

CAD:  Well, I write prose (very rarely) to test ideas for possible screenplays. Recently, however, I've been writing heavily for a podcast I'm developing, a LATTO thought, and so the motivation there is to spread truth & knowledge in order to help others think more clearly about race and racism and how it affects everyone. So, I write to find truth and to spread truth.

 

A few more questions for CA:

 

WV:  What are you currently reading or what is your favorite book and why?

CAD:  Just finished Parables of the Sower by Octavia Butler. I'm trying to catch up with sooooo many others who already well-caught up on their POC sci-fi classics. Reading different (non-white) perspectives is incredibly enriching, and I'm ashamed that I haven't done so earlier in life. So, catching up there and loving it.

 

WV: Who are some of your favorite authors?  Why are they important to you?

CAD:  Ted Chiang, Octavia Butler; both offer perspectives and incredibly inventive futures that challenge and critique our world and the systems that run it. Incredibly valuable and much needed to read Black and Asian American sci-fi. Turns out perspective drastically shapes the world, characters, and take-aways from such stories. Who woulda known? (*sarcasm*)

 

WV:  Why did you choose to be a part of an anthology?

CAD:  I was actually peer-pressured! Hah, that's okay though—I need that pressure at times. Really it was because of my ambient connection to this group. They responded well to my ideas and helped me shape them, so, it just fell into place.

 

WV: Why do you think it is important for people to read anthologies?  How do you feel people can benefit from reading anthologies?

CAD:  Anthologies give a very fast and comparative analysis of perspective, tone and style. I used to read a lot of flash fiction for that reason. It's an interesting genre/medium. Helpful to learn your own voice as a writer or creative.

 

WV: What’s next for you?

CAD:  Currently working on a film essay for Northwestern University's Michelle Huang (Associate Prof of English and Asian American Studies www.michellenhuang.com/about) — going to be a mix of analytical narration, exemplary excerpts from film and TV, and animation. Also working on episode one of a LATTO thought podcast (https://lattothought.com/)— sign up for the mailing list! Finally, in the formations of writing an animation series about the coming of Maitreya in the distant future, except not at all in the style or prophetic vision of the Mahayana scriptures—the 'Woke' (the Buddha) is Black, non-binary, and enables the stoppage of existence. Pretty radical stuff.


MORE INFO ON CA DAVIS 

WV: Where can readers find you if they would like to connect with you more?

CAD:  https://lattothought.com/

https://www.instagram.com/_cadavis/

https://www.facebook.com/ca.davis.77

https://twitter.com/_cadavis

 

THANK YOU for your time and thank you so much for your writing, CA. We also want to thank everyone for reading.

 

This is Behind the Volume a look at Write Volumes in the making. Please continue to check out www.writevolumes.com for our latest book info and links to our video series.  You can also find us on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram.

 

And remember together we can write volumes!






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