Paul McComas: Planet of the Dates
Book Club Discussion

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Paul McComas

The very last page of the book mentions that "P.C. Productions," based on the films of Philip Corcoran, are actually films made by you. Should this lead us to believe that young Phil is based on you and his 16th summer based on the events of your life?

Yes and no—in that order! Or should I say: "yes," but increasingly, "no." You see, the novel breaks down into three "Acts" of five chapters each. Act I, which documents Phil's rather fumbling quest to obtain a girlfriend, is perhaps 75% from my life at that age; Act II, "OK, I have a girlfriend; what now?" is 50%; and Act III, "the complication," maybe 25%. So, it becomes more and more its own story as it goes—but hopefully remains grounded throughout in the, shall we say, "relative reality" of those early chapters. Plus, I made Phil nearly two years younger than I, which helped steer me clear of memoir: I was able to draw on my own memories of both the summer I was 16 and the Summer of 1980, which for me—unlike for Phil—were two different summers, two years apart. Of course, I also drew liberally from my imagination. . .with a dash or two of wish fulfillment thrown in for good measure! ;-)

As for the last-page mention of the real "P.C. Productions," that is, in fact the name of my "film production company" and has been since I started making movies at age 11; in the book, "P.C." stands for teenage Super-8 auteur Phil Corcoran, but in reality it stands for my own first and middle name, "Paul Corwin." Since the publication of Planet, I've raised over $700 for blood-donation services through the sale of the 2-hour DVD No-Budget Theatre: The Best (?) of P.C. Productions.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Paul McComas

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Paul McComas

The thing I liked most about Phil was that he was a little dorky, square as Cheryl called him, but cool at the same time. He actually seemed totally comfortable with himself. The story takes place during the summer but I wonder, where did Phil fit in the school's social hierarchy? Did it shape or affect him in any way?

Good question; haven't gotten that one before. To the extent that Phil is based on me, I'd guess that he neither belonged to, not really sought to belong to, any cliques; he wasn't particularly popular, but he thought himself superior to those who were, and so may well have rejected their approval anyway (a moot point, finally). He was founder and president of the school's Science Fiction Club, which turned out—surprise, surprise!—to be all-male. . .so, he also joined the Modern Dance Club, where he was one of just two boys, the other of whom was gay. There, Phil honed his disco moves and scoped out "the ladies" in the club.

Incidentally, thanks for mentioning Cheryl Jantz, who may well be my favorite of all the characters I've created in 30 years of fiction writing. The definitive "stoner girl," she was supposed to be a walk-on, consigned to Chapters 1 and 2 alone as one of "Phil's Phailures". . .but people who read early drafts of those chapters enjoyed her so much, and I enjoyed writing her so much, that she became the Act III complication. In the process, she quickly evolved out of her stock-character trappings to prove quite complex, in ways that surprised even me. The reviews have borne out my faith in Cheryl: everyone seems to recognize, enjoy, admire, desire, love, and fear her, in roughly equal measure.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Paul McComas

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Paul McComas

Life as a teenager in this era seems much more relaxed. There wasn't talk of rape, abductions, murder, or any of the other scary things we warn kids today against when on their own. As a matter of fact, Phil and company went just about anywhere they pleased without a care in the world. Is this because of the time or because the narrator is male and boys, in general, worry less about these things than girls?

Another good question, but I'm afraid it takes me into some tricky and, indeed, tragic, terrain. In truth, the girl on whom Phil's girlfriend, Stefanie, is based—my own first-ever girlfriend—was raped at age 20. This so traumatized her that, half a year later, she took her own life. In creating "Stefanie" nearly two decades later, I sought to honor and, in some sense, resurrect the unscathed, happy girl that I knew and (in my teenage way) loved.

This is all pretty heavy stuff, especially given the fact that Planet of the Dates is a comedic coming-of-age novel. But it explains why my previous novel, Unplugged (2002, Daniel & Daniel), is about a survivor of rape, depression, and attempted suicide—and why I'm a Leadership Circle member of the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN, www.rainn.org).

Let me return for a moment to the comedic nature of Planet. The preponderance of coming-of-age novels, novellas, short stories, etc. are, I've found, painfully earnest. Often written by 20-somethings who haven't yet gained much objective distance from their teen years, these books take teenagers just as deadly-seriously as teens take themselves! I've strived for a different approach: a largely comedic take on coming-of-age, related post-facto by a wry narrator (Phil, now age 36). Ironically, this approach permits me to bring a great deal of poignancy and pathos to the handful of moments that truly merit it; the earnestness and pain are rare, and thus, they stand out. The narrator's bemusement gives way to a re-living of those moments and all the attendant emotions. So, "old Phil" feels the pain anew—and the reader feels it with him.

But back to your initial question: Was 1980 a safer time than now? I'm not really certain. To be sure, then as now, it was safer for boys than it was for girls. That's why the work of RAINN and organizations like it is so vital.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Paul McComas

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Paul McComas

The Corcoran family is about just as normal and healthy as they come. Was Phil's family really so perfect or did their little idiosyncrasies not cause enough of a blip on the radar screen to change Phil's personality? Do families like this still exist?

Well, Desiree, I guess "normal" and "healthy" are in the eye of the beholder! You must acknowledge that Phil has, in Todd, a far-from-perfect big brother—though in fairness to Todd, guy's a mixed bag: yes, he mercilessly torments his younger sibling, but he also supplies Phil with condoms and a fake i.d. Also, their father is a bit formal and stern, as was my own back then. (My dad died after Planet was accepted by The Permanent Press, but before its publication, and never got to read it; I hope he'd have been flattered by my largely honorific depiction of "Dr. Corcoran.") Yeah, the mom's close to ideal—but then, so was/is mine!

Truthfully, Phil's family, and even his friends, don't play that large a role in his life during the Summer of '80, as he is inhabiting the Planet of the Dates. Notice that, throughout that summer, Phil's closest male friends, Avery and Craig, are only shown on the phone, not presented in person, for Phil is busy trying—and trying, and trying—to fill up his time with female companionship.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Paul McComas

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Paul McComas

I won't give away the ending because it was a surprise but just wanted to say, bravo! I liked the twist because I wasn't expecting it. It really showed that Phil's 16th summer shaped him as a person, and a good one at that. So why was he still unmarried at 36 even though he is definitely a sucker for love?

Thank you for the kind words. I'm proud of the ending—and of what it suggests about our country and our culture—and in general, I feel the novel gets better and stronger and funnier and truer with each successive chapter.

Why, you ask, was Phil still unmarried at 36? I guess because he came out of his early romantic experiences stung, self-doubting (a bit), and with very high standards. So, he went on to spend two more decades on the Planet of the Dates, trying like hell to find Ms. Right. . .and a Ms. Right who thought he was right for her, too (always the tricky part!). So, no early, ill-advised marriage for Phil. He never saw himself as being on a deadline; instead, he was intent on getting it right. That said, how delighted he was to finally rocket off of that by-now-tiresome planet, in the company of just the right female crew mate (metaphorically speaking).

By the way, I first wed at 35—and that marriage only lasted six years. There are no guarantees, even if you wait. But this Sept. 27 marks my first anniversary with my second wife, Heather, the love of my life and a craftswoman of stellar fiction in her own "write." Planet of the Dates is dedicated to her, "for everything we've been to date and everything yet to be."

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Paul McComas

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Paul McComas

Finally, us girl readers have to know, are all 16 year old boys only questing for the same thing?

No—and this gets to the key element that separates Planet of the Dates from, say, Porky's and American Pie. As a nearly-17-year-old boy, Phil is, of course, horny as hell—but that's not all he is: he's also a hopeless, and rather hapless, romantic. His Holy Grail is twofold: hot sex and true love, in whichever order he can get 'em. In fact, partway through, he realizes that as much as he wants to experience physical intimacy, he actually wants a girlfriend—a soulmate—even more; that even more compelling than the possibility of intercourse is the prospect of pillow talk afterward. (Of course, all of this high-mindedness on his part goes straight to hell in the final act, for—as he discovers—life is messy, and love even more so.) So, Phil's lust is tempered by a sweetness and heart that make him, I think, much better company than the Porky's boys. In that sense, he's more like a quirkier and more-assured version of 15-year-old "Hermie" from Herman Raucher's own largely-comedic—but, ultimately, quite moving—semi-autobiographical coming-of-age novel, Summer of '42 (a beautiful book that was made into a beautiful movie—both written by Raucher in, I'd point out, his middle age).

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Paul McComas

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Paul McComas

Can you tell us anything about your current writing projects?

Love to! And, by the way: go to www.paulmccomas.com for more info on all of these:

First, Planet has been optioned by Hollywood producers Jason Koornick (Next) and Michael Henry (Years in Your Ears), so everything thing I have two of is crossed right now, and man, does it hurt! Here's hoping they bring me onto the writing team at some point—and, regardless, here's hoping they go on to make the movie; this piece would work so well on the big screen!

I just finished co-authoring the novel Logan's Journey with William F. Nolan, 81-year-old author of the original dystopian-sci-fi classic Logan's Run (and author/editor of nearly 90 other books, to boot!). This was a teenhood dream come true, as I was avidly reading Nolan's work back in high school (as did Phil; both Nolan and Logan's Run get shout-outs in Planet—along with Bill's having written the book's Foreword). Don't look for Journey any time soon; it won't be published till Warner Bros.' big-budget remake of Run is released, hopefully by 2011. The story of how I became Bill's friend and, ultimately, his co-author is well-documented in “Man of Many Worlds,” my Foreword for his terrific short-story collection Ships in the Night (2005, Capra Press).

I'm also editing an anthology, Proving Grounds, slated for publication in 2010. These are stories in which setting is key; place is not a background to the action, but rather an instrument of it, driving it forward. Working on Unplugged highlighted the importance of setting for me; based in the South Dakota Badlands, it really couldn't have taken place anywhere else, and most of the plot points emerged from the time I spent out there doing research for the novel. Similarly, Planet of the Dates is very much "of Milwaukee" (my hometown)—the book's Manhattan section providing a stark contrast. Proving Grounds will be a virtual world tour, through fiction, from the comfort of your armchair! All proceeds will go to The Sierra Club.

My 2-CD, 50-song set AMATEUR is about to come out; it includes all of the original songs I've written over the past 30 years, most of them performed by different iterations and incarnations of my now-27-year-old (and still charity-gigging) punk-pop band The Daves. All proceeds go to RAINN.

Finally, I'm working on No-Budget Theatre Episodes 8, "Time Trek," and 9, "Don't Punk in the Basement." Episodes 2, 3, 4, and 6 have all won festival awards—remarkable, given that I shot most of the footage as a callow youth. Phil Corcoran would be so proud!

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Paul McComas