Lucas Roman on climbing, writing, and living
Di Angelo Publications sat down with Lucas Roman, author of The Greater Fool: Brad Gobright and the Blinding Shine of Originality and Aperture Alike. We asked him about his writing and himself.
DAP: Can you give us a brief synopsis of your book?
Lucas: The Greater Fool: Brad Gobright and the Blinding Shine of Originality is a book about love, loss, family—the ones we get and the ones we choose—and the truths that underlie the great adventure of our own becoming. It’s about a young boy, turned man, flying high, chasing dreams, and turning hearts in the process. It’s about foolishness, and ambition; about guts and courage. Mostly, it’s about the light and the fact that what we chase is what we shine.
DAP: What was the motivation/inspiration for writing your book?
Lucas: Superficially, our motivation was the life and times of Brad Gobright; the man, myth, and legend. Substrate level, it was inspired by rocks and outside spaces, big landscapes, bigger dreams—the ones we all have as humans. It was inspired by the largess of the outside community, by the pain and love that all who knew him keep close.
DAP: What is a key takeaway you’d like for people to have after reading your book?
Lucas: I’d like, more so hope, that they’d takeaway a fuller sense of love and gratitude. But in life, as in love, you can’t take away much until you invest yourself first. So perhaps it’s not about extraction—about takeaways—as much as it’s about jumping in, bringing all of yourself to it.
DAP: What inspires you?
Lucas: Beauty. Biology, chemistry and the cosmos. The Human Condition. Connecting the dots. And the little things.
DAP: What does your writing/working space look like?
Lucas: Writing space: Old laptop, sweaty workbench, humble dining table.
Workspace: 8th floor, 34 beds, and the full spectrum of humanity.
DAP: What are you learning/listening to right now?
Lucas: Learning: Nursing practice, gentleness, Indigenous worldviews, and how to be a newcomer to life on a regular basis. Learning how to speak truth, and see it, by discipline and in community. Learning how to chop wood and carry water.
Listening: Wind in trees, water on shores, footsteps on earth. Mahmoud Guinea, Pharoah Sanders, Hailu Mergia, Ali Faka Toure. El Buho, Lord Echo, Jeremy Sole’s weekly KCRW show.
DAP: Are there more books in your future? What about?
Lucas: Certainly hope so, and at an expanded scope. Current project is with Indigenous communities and traditions of distance running.
DAP: How do you select the books you want to read?
Lucas: About the only thing I’ve read, for some time now, is grub that is directly related to research and learning, so it all flows in with areas of study, focus, and interest. Apart from drafts sent by friends I’m not much of a traditional reader.
DAP: Is there a book that you’ve read multiple times? What is it and why do you keep coming back to it?
Lucas: To be honest, I don’t really read books. But I do find guidance in the recent and ongoing works of esteemed confreres, Michael Kennedy, John Long, and Jeremy Balius. Hope, by Balius, is a spiritual tenet. Thich Nhat Hanh and Thomas Merton keep the compass intact, frequently. If cinema is as literature, then I’ve got bookmarks on Music Is a Weapon (1982), and When We Were Kings (1996), for the sheer brilliance of eras and intersections of worlds they respectively cover. And come on, George Plimpton and Norman Mailer on Muhammad Ali, that’s gangbusters!
DAP: Share a fun fact about yourself, something readers would never guess?
Lucas: Usually it’s a surprise that I’m not a book reader, and that a little Frenchie named Ripley stole my heart.
Click here to order The Greater Fool: Brad Gobright and the Blinding Shine of Originality.