Born and bred in the troubled tourist town of Centerville on Cape Cod, Patrick Dacey is one of the most exciting young voices in literature today. His debut, We’ve Already Gone This Far, a collection of 13 short stories that touch on war, cosmetic surgery and the conflicts of alcoholism, among other topics, is about to be released this month, with a novel set for publication next year. Dacey is a strong, intelligent voice in fiction — hardened by a difficult past and an intense competitive nature. The star high school football player was sidelined by an injury and drank himself into oblivion. At Syracuse University, he took an elective English Literature course taught by the acclaimed short story writer George Saunders, who recognized a spark in Dacey’s writing and encouraged him to fan the flames. Today, he rises every morning at 4 a.m. and writes until 10 a.m.
With the help of another renowned writer also teaching at Syracuse, Mary Karr, Dacey enrolled in the school’s M.F.A. program and graduated in 2007. He confesses that through hours of rewrites, he has been able to reach the dark, haunted heart of the American spirit. CityBeat recently spoke to Dacey about the inspiration for his stories.
CityBeat: It seems like it was a bit of kismet that enabled George Saunders to recognize your gift.
Patrick Dacey: There was one story I wrote for that class about my brother dying and coming back as a ghost. I thought it was awful but there was something in it that George Saunders saw. He sort of took me aside and asked me what I had read, which was about 10 books. He told me to start with Hemingway and pick up a copy of Denis Johnson’s Jesus’ Son and go from there. I was 21 and was without much direction, drinking far too much. But his encouragement changed everything for me.
CB: How bad was your drinking at that point?
PD: I drank for six straight years and got arrested six times. I thought I was the next Charles Bukowski and could write stories about the drinking life and I would just pass out on my computer every night. I knew it was a problem and I got sober when I was 23. That was the best thing that ever happened to me.
CB: But you still were at loose ends after graduating with a master’s degree in English Lit from Syracuse.
PD: After graduation, I drove cross-country and then moved to China. When I was over there, my mother got ovarian cancer and passed away. Two weeks after she died, I woke up one morning and said, “I’m done with living irresponsibly.” I feel it was something very spiritual.
CB: What drew you to write about war?
PD: I think there’s an internal war and an external war. The internal war is about wanting to love and be loved as deeply as when we were younger. And the external war is the reality we’re now inundated with every day when we wake up, whether it’s news of war overseas or in our communities — politically, economically, socially — that’s where the struggle takes place. So we’re forever searching for authentic love.
CB: There’s a huge disparity between the romantic vision of Cape Cod and the reality of a place where crime and drug addiction are soaring.
PD: A lot of businesses in coastal tourist towns spend three months working to keep themselves afloat year-round. There’s also not much to do in the off-season. That’s why we’re seeing 85 percent of the crime opiate-related. I think my stories become a character as much as anything else.
CB: How did your own dysfunctional family inform your stories?
PD: My father was a builder who went bankrupt when the housing bubble burst in the early ’90s, so he moved to Las Vegas to become a professional gambler. You can imagine how that worked out. My mother, who was a painter, was devastated when he moved and had to find a job. I got determination and discipline from my father and compassion and love from my mother.
CB: How were you able to write so authentically about soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan?
PD: A good friend was a medic in Iraq, then I met a guy who was a sergeant and did four tours in Iraq, and both these guys would tell me these outrageous stories. A guy from my hometown was a Navy Seal whose helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan.
Patrick Dacey’s WE’VE ALREADY GONE THIS FAR will be released Feb. 16.