by Nadine Coderre
the Carillon

Anyone who has ever read Kinsella would recognize the special magic that appears in his stories. He is quick to point out the difference between the magic in his books and the real world. Kinsella spoke at length to us about the real world in which he lives.

CARILLON: When we last spoke you said you had not paid for a game since the strike, but that situation might change some day. Has the excitement in the last two seasons been enough to draw you back into the game?

KINSELLA: Thatıs still the case - I have not been to a game, but I watch it carefully [on television]. Iım an Atlanta fan so I get all the Braves games. This has been a good season. Sosa hitting 60 home runs two years in a row - thatıs an amazing accomplishment. I suspect theyıve doctored the baseball a little bit, because weıre also getting guys whoıve never hit home runs before who are hitting them. But itıs good for baseball.

CARILLON: Youıve done a fair bit of work in Hollywood, most notably Field of Dreams, but have never really had anything positive to say about the experience. What is the status of the last script on whivh you were working?

KINSELLA: They all die in preproduction. This new show, Action, I donıt know if youıve seen it yet or not, but it captures Hollywood pretty well. The creepy guy who is the head of the studio in Action is dead on. These Hollywood guys that would all sell their mother for 49 cents and 29 on an off day. Theyıre an odd group.

CARILLON: Your latest novel, Magic Time, was published six years after it was written and received mixed reviews. How happy were you with the finished product?

KINSELLA: Itıs not one of my best, but you canıt hit a home run everytime. The publishers got interested in it, because it was optioned by Hollywood and I think the Hollywood option is still kicking around somewhere, but you never know what is going to happen to these things.

CARILLON: How did the form of the book - a novel comprised of various short stories - affect the writing process?

KINSELLA: Well, itıs nice when you can do that, because it suddenly adds thirty pages to your story. If you can work another story in, itıs thirty pages less that you have to write. Iıd like to do that every time. Itıs hard to be able to work a small story into a larger story, but itıs good if you can do it.

CARILLON: Do you have a favorite character or a favorite book out of everything youıve written?

KINSELLA: Let me turn around and look at my bookshelf here to see what... hmmm... my favorite story is called ³K-Mart² and itıs in The Further Adventures of Slugger McBat. That is my favorite story of everything Iıve written. I think The Winter Helen Dropped By is my favorite book of everything Iıve written. My favorite character? Maybe Gideon of The Iowa Baseball Confederacy, who is probably the most complicated of the guys that Iıve created.

CARILLON: Your published subject matter seems to be restricted to baseball and Indians. Are these the only things you write?

KINSELLA: Well, I write other things, but this is what the readers want. My other work, Red Wolf, Red Wolf, which may well be the best book Iıve ever written and Shoeless Joe Jackson comes to Iowa andThe Alligator Report - they donıt sell as much as the other books. Iıd love to write other stuff, but I know from the get go that itıs not going to have the readers that the baseball and Indian stories have.

CARILLON: What is your opinion on those who question your appropriation of voice in regards to the Silas and Frank stories? How do you get your voice for those stories?

KINSELLA: Well, there is no issue. These are my stories. Theyıre not anyone elseıs stories. I write my own stories. Their simply isnıt an issue at all. Itıs from my imagination. I just imagine what the world would be like for an 18 or 20 year old boy like Silas and then I write from that point of view.

CARILLON: You have always used Indians in your writing as opposed to the more politically correct term First Nations. What sort of feedback have you gotten for that?

KINSELLA: Thatıs something that has only come in the last five years or so - this First Nations crap. Silas is an Indian. So is Frank.

CARILLON: Do you feel that your writing about Indians plays any sort of political role in Canada?

KINSELLA: I hope not. Iım an entertainer and a storyteller and I donıt want to get involved in political stuff.

CARILLON: You were taking legal action against the publication Vancouver regarding an interview with former lover, Evelyn Lau. Why did you drop your libel lawsuit?

KINSELLA: Financial reasons. We discovered that we were not just suing individuals and the magazine. We were dealing with a libel insurance company from the U.S. that had extremely deep pockets. We were going to have to spend up to $100,000 to take the case all the way. We were certain of winning a number of points, but you can win a point and only get a few thousand dollars for it. There was a good possibility that though we might win the case we would end up losing a lot of money. These people have endless resources. And were willing to go to them. The justice system is so totally skewed against the individual that itıs absolutely frightening. If you donıt have a million dollars there is no point in trying to sue a corporation because these people just have endless resources and theyıre willing to make you waste hours and hours of time through paperwork. Theyıll paper you to death. It was a very distressing situation because we were right and we deserved money and we couldnıt take it ahead because we didnıt have the money to finance it.

CARILLON: Your name appears on most lists of Œfamous atheists.ı As an atheist, where do you find the magic that appears in so many of your stories - Shoeless Joe, The Iowa Baseball Confederacy, If Wishes Were Horses, Magic Time, etc.

KINSELLA: Well, magic has nothing to do with religion. I think itıs just a freedom, thatıs all. I mean, from the time I was five years old, I was coming in contact with religious stuff and I just said you got to be kidding. I mean, no-one that has more than a grade three education could possibly believe this stuff. We get over the Easter Bunny at 5 or 6 and Santa Claus at 5 or 6 and the Tooth Fairy at 6 or 7. I mean, surely we can get over religion at the same age. Itıs just as implausible. Life is hard, then you die. Thatıs my theory. I write about all sorts of stuff but thatıs fiction. You see, Iım inventing all that stuff. I mean, Iım not a spiritual person although my writing would certainly give that impression and I have to bring people up very short sometimes. They read a lot into what I do that isnıt there.

CARILLON: What does it mean to you to be a famous Canadian as opposed to a famous American?

KINSELLA: It means you donıt sell as many books. I would much rather be a successful American author, because I would sell a lot more books. I think that has hurt my sales in the U. S. Especially with the Indian stories, with them being set in Canada. They have never done really well in the U.S. When they were first bought, I wanted to take six weeks and change the setting to Montana. The publishers wouldnıt hear of it. I think it has cost me a lot of sales over the years. Americans simply arenıt interested in anything that isnıt American.

CARILLON: What do you think of the state of Canadian authorship today?

KINSELLA: The publishing industry is probably in the worst shape itıs been in for many long years. The publishers are owned more and more by conglomerates and their bottom line is, ³is it going to sell a million copies?² and if it isnıt, they donıt want it. The midlist authors are being cut right out of the publishing business and Iım really glad Iım getting toward retirement age, because itıs very, very difficult to get published.

My last successful book in the U.S. was Box Socials, but I think it sold about 70,000 hard cover copies which is pretty darn good. Itıs not Stephen King, but thatıs enough to make money for the publisher and make money for me. When my next book was ready, not only did they not want to buy it, they didnıt even want to read it because I wasnıt selling enough copies.

When I started out back in the late 60ıs you couldnıt sell a short story if you held a gun to an editorıs head and then along in the mid 70ıs, the short story became a hot item. My Dance Me Outside has sold 60,000 or 70,000 copies over the years. Now the circle has come around again to where publishers simply donıt want short stories at all. That on top of the demise of the midlist author has really hurt people like myself.

So. Iım not very optimistic about the publishing scene at the moment. Iım real glad Iım going to be 65 next year and that Iım not forty and trying to make a living again at writing. Itıs becoming more and more difficult to make a living as a fiction writer.