Nathan Slake's Dreamscape

Interview Series, Part IV

Hello, my friends. It’s time for another entry in our Interview Series.

This time, I bring you Nathan Slake, literary wizard, real-life magician, cat lover, and all around great guy.

On Substack, he writes

which he describes as

a place where I become a writer and post about my thoughts and all the weirdness that happens every time I sleep. These might be small things, or larger pieces, or excerpts from several novels I’ve been writing over the years. It’s an exploratory ground.

I’ve been enamored with Nathan’s work ever since I discovered him through Substack Reads last August, and his offerings have only gotten better. To my mind, his recently completed serial The Sernox is among his best work yet. And as I hear, another of his wonderful stories, Brae’s Meteorite, is about to get some brand new entries very soon. I can’t tell you how excited I am about that.

All this being the case, I would be remiss if I did not invite him over for a chat.

Enough from me.

I give you Nathan Slake.

Nathan! So glad to finally have you here, man. Let’s start with a classic question. When and why did you start writing fiction? Was there something you could call a catalyst?

Andrei! Hello. Thanks so much for the invitation. I feel a mixture of being special and not in any way worthy. When I started my little Substack (I’m skirting your question), I don’t think I ever imagined anyone would want to actually interview me. So, thank you. Truly.

OK, so … hmmm. You know, if I cast my mind back, I think the earliest dabblings were during my university years. I shared university halls and then a house with two guys who I just instantly clicked with, and one of them was as into books as I was—probably more so—and we shared a love of Stephen King and others and we dabbled a bit in exchanging little short stories. I’m sure they were terrible (mine would have been, anyway), so that was likely the first nibble. I didn’t think about writing for years after that. I did a PhD, I moved to Australia, I got married. All this stuff happened and the only continuity was that I kept reading fiction. And then—and this is my Murakami baseball field moment—I was walking down the alley near home and it was raining and I just had this image of a world and a place and a character racing through the rain. That was it. That was my catalyst. I scribbled down some words that night and it hooked me. The words were awful, but the seed was there. I don’t think I’ve stopped thinking about writing since, but my time spent with pen on paper, or fingers on keys, didn’t really start properly until SLAKE emerged back in January of 2023.

A writer’s first creation often holds a special place in their hearts. I know mine does; I’ve written about it here. What about you? Who was the first character you ever created? How did they come to be?

Oh, I should really read all of your questions first, haha. I think I started to answer this one already. It was Jisa. She was the girl in the rain. I don’t know where that inspiration came from. She was just there, suddenly, and a whole world and backstory started to fall into place. She’s probably pissed at me, though, because I keep neglecting her story.

You’re a wizard in more ways than one: a fiction writer and an actual magician! Does your background as a magician influence your approach to fiction?

This is a very cool question. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever thought about it. Magic and writing have felt like two separate domains of my life, but I’ve been consciously aware that the more I write the less I’m inclined towards magic. It’s like there’s only so much of my brain that I can devote to creative things and unfortunately magic has been pushed to one side. I hate that, now that I think about it, but I also think that the two are more closely related that I’ve appreciated. Magic (when done well) is an expression. Writing is an expression. They both come from my desire to create and express, which was likely repressed in my awkward youth.

Describe your perfect evening.

Ah, this one's easy. A meal in a cosy restaurant with my wife Josephine, along with a bottle of wine and enough time for us to slow down and talk and laugh together. (I won't lie: Melbourne has turned me into a pretentious lover of fine food and wine.)

If you were to write an autobiography, what role would cats play in the story of your life?

You remembered I have a cat! I’ve read a lot of Murakami. Close to everything he has written, I think. So if a cat had a role in my autobiography, it would be there to signify my adoration for my favourite author.

Seriously, though, I never had pets growing up but I've always had a special connection with cats. Our cat Clementine defaults to Jo for cuddles, so when she decides it's my turn it's a small special moment. Cats are a reminder to stop what you're doing and catch up on sleep.

You spend a lot of time in what I’d call your dreamscape. Somehow, you manage to extract coherent narratives from the weird, psychedelic world of dreaming. But are dreams ever more than just a story spun by one’s mind? Can they, for instance, be prophetic?

Dreams are fascinating things. They are wild, wild places you can visit every night. I’m always disappointed if I wake up not having had some weird, messed up dream. My mind likes to tow a fine line between rationale, scientific thought and a more spiritual connection to the things that are a little more intangible. I think dreams are subconscious expression and release, but whether they border on prophetic or not I don’t know. If they were, I’d have died a thousand deaths already. I’m happy for those experiences to remain bound within the confines of my skull!

While we’re on this subject, what’s your biggest writing dream?

The initial answer to this would be to succeed as an author so that I can devote my life to it. I’ve started to recognise the things that give me true value and a sense of being at peace (as much as one can be in this current world) and writing is me trying to distill something within. The romantic part of me holds to the dream of never stopping that process. The doubly romantic and hopeful part of me is to see something I’ve written in print. That’s probably everyone’s writing dream, yeah? Maybe not, I don’t know. Financial success would be a boon, of course, but so long as I keep pushing myself and don’t let go of the dream then I’m happy.

What are some plans for the remainder of this year? What can your readers look forward to in the coming weeks and months?

Not to burn out, haha. That’s my main plan. I have a strange relationship with my actual work sometimes most of the time, and I know it can be harmful to my creative side. If I can stay afloat, the major plan for the remainder of the year is to finish Brae’s meteorite, my novella that I started over a year ago. I like to intersperse with random things though, and that’s been part of my love of finding a writing groove—I’m never sure what’s coming next. So I hope that readers can simply look forward to not knowing what’s coming and enjoy the ride as much as I do.

Final question, Nathan. Who in your life is the most supportive of your writing?

This is going to sound a little cringe, but all the people who show up each week whenever I post something. Thank you, the person reading this, if you’re one of those. That’s more support than I could have imagined. Plus, of course, my wife Josephine. She’s the most supportive person I know and will push me down any path, even if it’s lined with prickly twigs of trepidation. Thanks, darling.

That’s it! If you enjoyed this little conversation, I invite you to like this post and subscribe to Nathan’s newsletter SLAKE here: