Heather’s Bookshelf: Author Interview with Barry Maher
Book Title: The Great Dick and the Dysfunctional Demon
Released: 09/01/25
Genre: Supernatural Thriller
Interview by Heather L. Barksdale
What inspired you to write “The Great Dick and the Dysfunctional Demon”?
Maher: It wasn’t inspiration. It was surgery. I was speaking on an Asian cruise when I realized I could no longer figure out what the hands of the clock meant. The next day, during a session, I introduced the ship’s captain. Ten minutes later I picked him out of the audience and asked him what he did for a living. (The uniform did look a tad familiar.) That same day, I gave up trying to understand foreign currency. Even American money was getting tricky. In Vietnam, I handed a vendor two hundreds and a five for a $7.00 baseball cap. It was a very nice cap.
Back home, the first thing my doctor did was have me draw a clock face at ten to three. The second thing he did was take away my driver’s license. Then he sent me for an immediate MRI. The nurse there wouldn’t comment on the results, but when I asked where the closest restroom was, she said, “I can’t let you go in there alone.”
I explained that bathroom visitation was a particular expertise of mine.
“Like telling time?” she asked. “You need to talk to your neurosurgeon.”
“I have a neurosurgeon?” Just what I always wanted.
I also had a brain tumor—the size of a basketball. Or maybe the neurosurgeon said “baseball.” I wasn’t tracking too well at that point. Still, I quickly grasped he was planning on carving open my skull with a power saw.
“I don’t really need to tell time,” I said. “Besides, I can always buy a digital watch.”
Everyone said my neurosurgeon—or, as I thought of him, “Chainsaw Charlie”—was brilliant. My problem was that I’ve spent my life around intelligent people and I’ve seen some of the dumb things they’ve done. To me, human intelligence is generally overrated, particularly when it wanted to carve open my skull. If you think about it, on a scale of everything there is to know and understand in the universe, the main difference between Einstein and Koko the Wonder Chimp was that Einstein couldn’t pick up bananas with his feet. (As far as I know.)
Still, I went under the knife—or in this case, the power saw. Maybe I had a seizure. The doctors weren’t sure. But I came out of surgery with Lady Gaga singing non-stop in my head, and a vivid, fully-formed, horrific story, like a memory of something that I’d just witnessed—complete with open crypts, bizarre spells, sudden death and the Ralph Lauren version of the Manson Family. “How did my operation go? Well, I’m doing well, but the people in my head—or wherever they were—they went through Hell.”
Lady Gaga went away after a day or so. But the story stayed with me. And when I was able, I spent a couple of years getting it all down, working it out, trying to get it just right. And that became The Great Dick: And the Dysfunctional Demon. And with the cancer in remission, I’ve even lived to see the book published.
How did you come up with the names of your main characters?
Maher: Several of the names were in the original story that came to me. Other names developed much like the characters did, over time, in the crucible of the story. That’s not because I planned it that way. All the characters started out with names, but sometimes, as they changed, the names no longer fit them.
The narrator was using an alias, and the one he used—the one that he came with—worked for him so well that it never even occurred to me until the book was finished that Steve is also my brother’s name. The two are nothing alike, and I certainly don’t want anyone thinking the character is modelled after my brother. I didn’t know the Narrator’s real name until the book was nearly done.
Is there anything that you want readers to know about you, your writing process, or your book?
Maher: Writing is my job and it’s my hobby. The process is very simple. I get up, have breakfast, sit down with my laptop in my recliner, overlooking Santa Barbara and the beach which at one point was the only bedroom I could afford (I’ve been very lucky). I write until lunch. After lunch I write until dinner. After dinner, I enjoy what others have written.
I believe in the old saw that writing is rewriting. Though I had to the story for The Great Dick: And the Dysfunctional Demon, I probably went through eight drafts to get it just right, to bring out the humor, naturally, organically, and to make each scene the best I could possibly make it.
If "The Great Dick and the Dysfunctional Demon" was adapted into a movie, who would you like to see cast to play your lead characters?
Maher: I’d love to see Jessie Plemons as the lead. He’d be exceptional at portraying the self-doubt, the internal struggles while at the same time being able to get the most out
of the humor.
And Margot Robbie would be great as Victoria, the woman who appears to have it all, but who certainly doesn’t feel that way herself.
On the other hand, to get the book made into a movie, I’d accept Marjorie Taylor Greene as Steve Witowski and Danny DeVito as Victoria.
When you encounter writer’s block, what do you do to break yourself out of it?
Maher: I do the same thing I do when I don’t have a block. I write. I write the weekly Slightly Off-Kilter column. I can’t tell the syndicate on Monday that I don’t have a column for that
week because I had writer’s block.
Some days the writing flows and it’s great. Some days it’s a struggle. In either case it’s going to go through a number of rewrites until it’s as good as I can possibly make it.
Are there any tips that you would like to share with other aspiring authors?
Maher: I’ve spoken at several writers conferences, but everything I have to say comes down to a single word. Write. It’s the only way you improve. It’s the only way you can develop you own style, your own voice. Treat writing as a job. Even if you have another job, Set aside a time to write and do it as much as you can.
If you sit around waiting for inspiration, you’re still going to be waiting when others who started after you—some with less natural talent—are signing books for fans. Put in your time and write.
What is your favorite book, genre, and/or author?
Maher: Right now, my favorite genre is supernatural horror because that what I’m writing and that’s what I just wrote with The Great Dick: And the Supernatural Demon. But I read almost everything. Fiction, non-fiction, almost any genre. All I’m looking for is the next great read. I admire many books and many authors, but I can’t say I have a favorite of either. There are just too many extraordinary choice.
What are you working on next?
Maher: Another supernatural thriller. This one a ghost story. And I’m simultaneously working on the follow up to The Great Dick: And the Dysfunctional Demon. It was written as a standalone novel, but the excitement and the characters just kept clamoring for a follow up.
Want to Learn More About the Author and The Great Dick and the Dysfunctional Demon?
X: https://x.com/barrymaher @barrymaher
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/barrymaher.bsky.social @barrymaher.bsky.social
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barry-maher-a629212/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/barry.maher.98/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barrymaher3/?hl=en
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