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Congratulations to Christian McPherson for attaining a spot on the CBC Books list, “9 Canadian comics we’re excited about this fall”!
Read more here.
Christian McPherson was interviewed by Shallom Johnson——in Beaver Magazine—-regarding his demented doodles, eclectic inspirations, his humour taking life in his art, and more ... And you can see many of these interview questions showcasing answers in this very book, Screaming Obscenities at the Sky!
Read the full interview here.
McPherson: So, are we really doing this?
Christian: Seems like it. And I know what you’re thinking, like duh, that this is a gimmick to sell books, show how clever you are by being all funny but really, only famous authors do this, for the likes of the Globe & Mail or The New Yorker. Like who do you think you are?
McPherson: True. However it was my editor’s suggestion and my publisher went along with it, so here we are. I think you should just suck it up and quit stalling and face yourself.*
*(Editor’s note – Both editor and publisher suggested nothing of the sort.)
Christian: Introspection isn’t always fun. Self sabotage, lying to yourself because you don’t want to face the truth.
McPherson: Okay, but you’ve never really have had a problem with this. Your work tends to be personal, highly personal. Can you tell us why?
Christian: Write what you know. I’m sure that comes from laziness. Research is time consuming. If I wanted to write a fictional story about a pilot for example, I know nothing about it, or close to nothing. However, I know what it’s like to be a passenger and I can write that without having to do any research at all. I can imagine what it’s like to fly a plane and so long as I don’t get into the details of which buttons need to be pushed, I could probably fake it. Writers are good liars. Liars aren’t always good writers though.
McPherson: Where do you draw the line between what you share with your readers and what you hold back?
Christian: I often don’t hold back and write stuff which is maybe is too personal to the point where a reader might think, this guy is a jerk. My editor and publisher save me from looking bad.*
(*Editor’s note – Neither could possibly save him.)
McPherson: Can you give me, I mean you, I mean me, an example?
Christian: Well, for this collection I wanted to include a poem about my step-father’s last dying days, about his final shit. I think my step father would have loved the poem but if you didn’t know him and you didn’t know our relationship, it might put me in an unflattering light. And I get that. I don’t think you ever want to turn the reader against you. I have done that with other stories. In my collection “Going Fly” I wrote a story from the perspective of a misogynist alcoholic painter. My invitation to a book club meeting was rescinded. True story.
McPherson: So tell oodles of fans how Screaming Obscenities at the Sky came to be.
Christian: Well I always have a book of poetry on the go. I write poems and add them to a growing stack. Eventually I will have enough for a new collection. However, I don’t always work this way. My collections, My Life in Pictures (a poetic autobiography) and One Poem (if you could only write one poem, what would it be? I wrote a ton of them, all entitled One Poem) where very much planned collections. Screaming, which marks my sixth collection, is an accumulation of years worth of poems. About half, maybe two thirds, were written before the pandemic and the rest during. When the pandemic hit, I also pulled out my drawing pad and started drawing a daily doodle. I called them, Demented Doodles. I did this every day for over a year.
McPherson: Have you always been into drawing?
Christian: Well if you read our introduction to the book, we talk about all that, all this. But yeah, I love drawing. Ink pens, black, that’s what I love the most. I can paint but I’m not very good at it.
McPherson: So, how did the book happen then?
Christian: Well I suggested it to my publisher, doing a book of drawings and poetry and he said yes*. It’s something I always wanted to do. I thought I had enough drawings to do a book before the pandemic hit. I was nowhere close, or at least not for the book we ended up with. I think in the end I handed in close to five hundred drawings and there are close to four hundred in the final book. It’s truly amazing.
(*Editor’s note – After speaking with McPherson’s publisher, he confirms that he never liked the idea at all and that mounting gambling debts and numerous unscrupulous business decisions left little choice but to throw mud at the wall. McPherson’s editor also hasn’t been seen or heard from in months.)
McPherson: Are you pleased with how it turned out?
Christian: Dude, are you kidding me? It’s bloody amazing. I’m as excited about this book as it was my first. I can’t believe it exists.*
(*Editor’s note – Upon careful investigation, the book doesn’t appear anywhere, in fact, it seems quite obvious this whole thing is a ridiculous hoax. A hoax that everyone in McPherson’s camp is in on, as some kind of not-so-funny inside joke.)
McPherson: What are your expectations for the book? Does your pathetic track record of no awards and low sales haunt you like a monster under the bed and prevent you from sleeping well?
Christian: Excuse me?
McPherson: You heard me bitch. What do you want out of this book?
Christian: Man, no need to get mean. Well, like any writer I suppose, I would like to sell a million copies and end up on some sort of best seller list. Right? Poetry is a tough sell. Always. I think comics, graphic novels, I suspect that’s a hard sell too. So I don’t know. I mean, you want your work to be received well. If I can blow somebody’s hair back, that’s really the goal. There are so many pieces of art, and when I say art I mean, drawings, paintings, sculptures, music, books, novels, poems, movies, plays, dance productions, architectural designs, food creations, etc. that have moved me. These WOW art moments make my life worth living, I hope I can be one of those artists for somebody else. That to me is success. If somebody says, “Wow, that was something else.” I will be happy.
McPherson: What’s the obsession with death? You seem to talk about it a lot. Little boring and repetitive, no?
Christian: So maybe. If you’re an atheist like I am, this is it. There is no coming back. So it’s motivational, for me. Get it done now, while you can. And to me, art is reflecting back the world to itself – much like this silly interview. So the big picture of my own morality and the human race’s mortality becomes part of the art.
McPherson: Sounds a little pretentious.
Christian. Whatever. Anything else?
McPherson: What are you working on next?
Christian: A novel. Horror novel. I don’t want to give anything away, but I’m excited about it. And more poems, piling up. Drawings too. *
(*Editor’s note – I would be shocked if this nitwit is working on anything worth a damn.)
McPherson: Thanks for you time. Nice chatting with you.
Christian: I mean, sure. Whatever. I think it could have been funnier and the questions could have been better. A tad dry. Canned answers. Something with a little more feeling.
McPherson: Do you feel like you’re your own worst critic?
Christian: Dude, come on. However, your ego is out of control so much so that you can override your own self-hating doubts and press on while the house burns down around you. That’s what I like about you. Never give up.*
(*Editor’s note – The author knows for giving up all the time.)
McPherson: Ah, geez, thanks.
Christian: You’re welcome, loser.
McPherson: There you go again.
Christian: Who gives a flaming F? Did we win an award yet?
McPherson: Why don’t you write something worth a prize, then we’ll talk.
Christian: Fair.
Guess what ... Christian McPherson, author of Screaming Obscenities at the Sky, has been featured in his local community paper, VISTAS!
Christian McPherson, author of the highly innovative graphic novel, Screaming Obscenities at the Sky (At Bay Press 2025), was featured on CKCU FM 93.1! Here, he speaks at length about his publication with At Bay Press, wherein we learn about how this book came to be, the drawing & writing process, and other authorial idiosyncrasies!.
✏️ DID YOU KNOW that the artwork on the back of ‘Screaming Obscenities at the Sky’ took three months to draw?
To listen to this interview, click here.
