Thirteen years after bringing Mysterious Skin to the world, out author Scott Heim tackles missing children in his third novel, We Disappear.

by Lawrence Ferber

Given that Scott Heim has been off the radar for nearly 11 years, the title of his latest book, We Disappear, seems even more appropriate. But long before the author’s own “disappearance,” Heim had tongues wagging in 1995 with his premiere novel, Mysterious Skin, which was subsequently adapted to the big screen by director Gregg Araki. Heim’s sophomore novel came just two years later in the the form of In Awe.

Cut to more than a decade later, and the gay scribe is at it again, this time bringing his readers the tale of Scott, a drug-addicted New York writer whose cancer-stricken mother, Donna, becomes obsessed with missing children. A fine return to form, Heim’s latest continues to explore themes of buried and obscured memories, lost youth and self-destructive behavior. We talked with the scribe via phone from his home in Boston about his own disappearance, the book’s blurring of fact and fiction and online predators.

Why has this book been such a long time coming?

I think after my second book, I [became] disillusioned with publishing in general. A lot of my friends were losing their book contracts, and it didn’t seem [publishers] were invested in their authors as much if you weren’t making them a zillion dollars. I went through serious depression problems and doing drugs, but certainly not as much as the character [of Scott] in the book. The thing about having a drug problem is you think it’s going to make you creative or more exciting, and it doesn’t. And if you’re depressed already, it only fuels that depression. In 2002, more uplifting, positive things happened in my life. I moved to Boston and started working on the book again.

You actually named the characters after yourself and your mother, Donna. Talk about thinly veiled portraits! Tell me about that decision.

I worked on the book so long, I wasn’t excited about it anymore. As I revised [it], I realized it was easier and I felt more drive or inspiration to write the characters more like us. My mom died similar to the way it happens in the book. There was a lot about her life I still wanted to know more about, so creating all this fiction about her childhood and life was my substitute for the time I thought we were going to have before she died. It sounds very Dr. Phil to say it was part of the healing process, but channeling that energy into creative work got me through that period a lot easier.

What is it about abused or abducted kids that you find so interesting?

I don’t know. I realize all my favorite writers have their own obsessions. You can pick up anything and read a paragraph and say, this is Flannery O’Connor or Dennis Cooper. It’s not like they write the same book over and over, but they have their thing. I guess it was something I always was obsessed with. My mom and I [were both] obsessed. There was some kid missing in my town, and I remember my mom collecting articles and newspaper clippings about him. I started reading early, and the idea excited my parents—whatever I was interested in they would foster. Instead of The Wizard of Oz, they would bring home true crime books that I would read at 7 years old.

Do you watch Dateline’s “To Catch a Predator” series, where they entrap adults who think they’re hooking up with someone underage online?

You know, that is one of my hugest pet peeves. It’s total entrapment, and I hate how there’s this idea that it’s going to make someone better. The way to rehabilitate them is not to humiliate them and ruin their lives on national TV. I hate how the host and producers act holier than thou, as if they don’t have any skeletons in their closets.

For more information on Scott Heim and We

Disappear, visit www.heim.etherweave.com.