by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
It’s comical how fucking bonkers the story of ROKon Magazine is. I knew it was a special story when I was at a restaurant in Seoul a few months after it was all over and it took a participant in the story 30 minutes to tell the whole story to a uninvolved third party.
The late Annie Shapiro.
The characters involved in what was little more than a club — that was run like a cult — that put out a monthly zine were so over the top and their interactions so dramatic that to this day I think you could probably write a pretty good movie based on what happened.
But rather than do that, I’m drawing upon all those experiences as the basis of my first novel. A lot, maybe much, of what goes on in this novel is greatly inspired by and influenced by what happened to me in Seoul between 2006 and 2008.
And, let me tell you, some pretty fucked up shit happened during that period of my life.
But, if nothing else, I’ve FINALLY figured out a way to explain to a third party how unique the late Annie Shapiro was in life. Man, that chick was weird. I stil have a ways to go, but the general vibe of who Annie was I feel I’ve come to convey in one of the characters in the novel.
It has taken me far, far, far longer than I could have possibly imagined to get to this point, but I’m finally here. And the process isn’t over yet. If I get a professional editor to look over the manuscript, he or she may try to get me to amp up the weirder elements of the character inspired by Annie. There is a lot to work with, is all I gotta say.
But, over all, I’m very pleased with my first novel at the moment.
