The Glamorous St. Claire

By: Chris Wyatt
Date: Tuesday, June 18, 2002

The gothic poetry of Regent St. Claire, collected in the recent volume GLAMOUR AND DAMNATION, has its roots in dark fantasy and horror. Yet the visions he expresses are uniquely modern and urban, with a hint of cyberpunk cool. While the gifted St. Claire stops short of ever expressly referencing genre icons, the author is clearly steeped in post-modern culture. He approaches his literary world with a sort of fan-boy reverence.

The writer confirms this conception. "I consider myself a student of American culture," notes St. Claire. "A student of all culture. I'm interested in the ways that people express themselves in pop media, because I think it shows us how we think of ourselves."

Certainly St. Claire's apartment reflects his interests: It's packed with hundreds of worn and battered VHS tapes and enough KISS memorabilia to make any Gene Simmons fan jealous.

Yet, despite his appreciation for media and his genre leanings, St. Claire turns to a more visceral source for his poetic inspiration. "Whether I'm writing in the gothic mode, or horror or cyberpunk, or whatever genre, I'm not really writing about that genre. As Roddenberry said, the best science fiction isn't about ray guns, it's about people. I use these modes because they're codes and metaphors, ways to access human experience."

In fact, far from the fantastical, St Claire believes that most forms of art, including genre material, come from a very basic source. "I believe that all art created by males is, in some way, related to their relationships with their fathers. It's all about father's and sons. That relationship is so fundamental, so basic, that everything we, as men, conceive of, is viewed through the context of how we related to our paternal figures."

St. Claire acknowledges that his own impulse to write came directly from a need to express himself while fighting with his father. "I was at war with my dad. Everyone has some kind of war, big or small with their parents when they're growing up, but we had a unique war. It was legendary, the war between me and my dad. Mythic."

In fact, it was his rocky home life that lead to the poet adopting his unique moniker during his late teens. "No, it's not my real name. Nobody has names like Regent St Claire. I sat down and tried to think of the most absurd, far out thing that I could imagine, and that was it... It was universal father stuff. He would say, 'When you leave this house you represent the family name'. Well, I could fix that. I would legally change my name. And I would change it to a ridiculous name. It was the most extreme thing that I could do. I would end his bloodline. I'm not proud of it, of my attitude. It wasn't mature. I was a kid."

As silly as he thought the name to be, St Claire has now bonded with it. "At the time it was a joke. It was an obviously fake name and it made people laugh. But if you ask people that have known me a long time they'd tell you that I've kind of grown into it. I've become attached to it, and now it's who I am. And you get to the point where over ten years, where more people know you by this name than ever knew you by the other name. Even my own mother calls me Regent now, and it's very natural. My sister, my closest friends, everyone."

Yet, if the poet, whose father has since passed away, had it to do over again, things might have turn out differently. "The worst thing is that I understand now. I understand where he was coming from and who he was. I was too harsh on him, and I could have done more. I wish I could talk to him again."

St Claire uses this sense of loss and codes it into a fantasy context, where beds can speak in dark whispers, and where men are just fallen angels. St Claire feels that this kind of expression of deep emotions can connect with his readers, and with himself.

It's especially important for the poet to work out those issues now, since he's about to become a father himself. St Claire and his partner Heidi are imminently expecting their first child. "I was always worried about it, but now I'm nothing but happy. I can't wait. It's like sunshine. It makes everything better and more fulfilling."

Beyond just poetry, St Claire has many other media projects in the wings, including a recently released "Best of" compilation disc by his former rock band, CASTLE BLAK, on fastlane records. The writer also has several screenplays circulating. He's reluctant to talk about deals that haven't happened yet, but an independent studio has expressed interest in one of his genre scripts.

"I enjoy working in different media because each one lets me express a different side of myself," states St Claire. "But underneath everything, that's all it is. It's just me."

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