I Am Gathering the Stories of Our Time

“I am gathering the stories of our time”

Erdem Genç is a young man who has been drawn to various branches of the arts, such as literature and music, since childhood, and has produced a range of work in them. Together with his friends, and in the face of various setbacks, he published the magazine Metal Monster, which holds a special place for lovers of rock and metal music in Turkey, and he has contributed to many magazines such as Köprüaltı, Şebek and Dream Dergi. With his first short-story collection, “Debut”, now on bookshop shelves, Erdem Genç offers readers a selection of the stories he has written from his teenage years to the present day. We talked to Erdem Genç about how these stories, written over a long period, took shape, what they contain, and what writing means to him.

The stories collected in your first book, “Debut”, were written over a long span of time. By what criteria did you choose, from everything you have written over the years, the stories that would appear in this book?

As you say, the stories are a selection from what I have been writing since as far back as my high-school years. As my first book, it is my way of saying “Hello” to readers. I took care to choose stories in different genres and different styles. And for luck, I limited them to 13. I chose stories with very different themes the way a band puts together an album. The first story, “Hiç” (Nothing), for example, is like a very short, jolting intro. Side B of the cassette – not that there are cassettes any more – actually begins with the intro called “Sus” (Hush) and ends with the outro called “21”. “Yeni Başlayanlar İçin Rock Ortamları” (The Rock Scene for Beginners), meanwhile, is a bonus track.

When did you start writing short stories?

I don’t know – perhaps when I first started writing at all! I was the editor of the environmental newspaper we put out at primary school. At middle school I was also the editor of our class newspaper, the 8-D Postası, and my stories would sometimes appear alongside my articles. And at high school, once the Metal Monster adventure began, I was able to write pieces that knew fewer boundaries. The stories in the book start from those ‘boundless’ years too.

In your stories, a young person living in İstanbul can find many parallels with their own life. Could you touch briefly on the advantages and difficulties of putting into writing an environment you yourself live in?

The backdrop to the whole book is İstanbul. That is why the cover is a photograph I took of a couple in Taksim Square, one of İstanbul’s most important symbols. I have seen many cities around the world, but I have not found a rival to İstanbul. It is a unique and extraordinary city. Naturally this city, where I have spent my life, affects me and inspires me. Stories pour out of its every corner and its thousands of years of history anyway. For now, I am gathering the ones of our own time.

In some of your stories you have written about violent events. Could you explain why the motif of violence appears in your stories?

You could actually call it a kind of psychological release. Especially in the ones written during my high-school years, I calmed my teenage rebellions of the time by writing. I included them in the book because I still find them interesting. I think this paragraph at the end of the book explains it very well: “Dreams have no limits. Nor does my pen – that is, my keyboard. I pour my dreams out, like murders I commit without spilling blood, or cigarettes I smoke without having made love…”

As a writer who has just published his first collection of stories, could you give examples of the sources that helped you create your work, and of the names and styles in literature that have influenced you?

Apart from the classics, I read a great deal of fantasy fiction and horror novels and stories. Works that show me new and extraordinary worlds appeal to me. I like contemporary writers; in fact, some of my friends call me a “best-seller reader” because of it. Well, if they are successful, why shouldn’t I read them? Beyond literature, there is work I follow with pleasure in other branches of the arts too, such as cinema, music, theatre, photography and modern art. Those have made a big contribution as well.

The page numbers in your book run from the end to the beginning. Why is that?

A printing error… Just joking. I’m sure it happens to you: you start a book, you like the plot, you carry on, and at some point it gets stuck – in fact, it has to be admitted, you find yourself reading with difficulty. I am one of those who read to the end even then. At such times I look, every so often, at how many pages the book has, subtract the page I am on, and console myself by working out how many are left. The page numbers were put in reverse order so that nobody has to go through that. That way you always know how much is left. Incidentally, there are some numerical codes between the order of the stories and the stories themselves. I will leave finding those to the reader.

We know that the stories in “Debut” were chosen from among many. Are you thinking of publishing the other stories that do not appear in this book as well?

Of course I would like to publish both the other stories and the new ones I have written. Some have already appeared in various magazines or online. But when I take them into a book, I will certainly either update them or add new work. Because a book is not a medium with a limited lifespan – in terms of ideas, at least – like a magazine or the internet, and one has to be far more meticulous. I am also continuing work on a novel about rock music and a research study on percussion. I hope I will have the chance to bring those to readers in the days ahead as well.

You are also someone who has written columns for Dream Dergi and the newspaper Alternatif Süreç. What did your magazine side contribute when you were writing your stories?

Apart from those two, to really earn the title of “magazine man” one has to remember Metal Monster, which I started as a fanzine and which then turned into a magazine, between 1999 and 2004. I did everything, from the cover design to the typesetting, from the printing to the editorial work. It brought other experiences too, such as the troubles we went through because of the satanism incidents of 1999, and later the court cases brought against me because I had been publishing a magazine without knowing that legal permits were required. The albums the magazine gives you to listen to, the concerts and film screenings you have to attend, actually make you listen to more albums and watch more films than you ever would sitting at home. You cannot write about the books sent to you for review without reading them. And through the interviews you do, you meet new people, and figures who seem unreachable to others may even become your friends. All of this enriches your experience and, whether you like it or not, becomes something that shapes your creativity.

Since this collection of stories was published, what kind of reactions to the book have you had, both from those close to you and from people who know you only through your writing?

Perhaps simply because they are my friends, I have had nothing but praise and appreciation. Good reactions are coming from outside as well. And there is this: if you are in your twenties, you don’t give another person in their twenties over-the-top reactions like “I adore you, I’m a huge fan.” Perhaps that is partly why we show respect to masters who are old, or even dead. But fortunately the book’s target audience is high-school and university students. Getting that kind of over-the-top reaction from high-school students is both a source of pride and great fun. All my contact details and social media addresses are in the book. So anyone can reach me easily.