You seem to be hooked by film and books. Have you been avid book reader and film fanatic in your youth or the passion came later?

I've always been an avid book reader and was an English lit major in college. As for films, I went to lot of films with my family as a kid, but I'd say I really got into them during college, where we had a film club that showed a lot of great films I'd never seen before, like Don't Look Now, The Last Picture Show, and Chinatown.

You have been TV curators for 27 years. What does that exactly mean and what have you done?

As a TV curator at the Paley Center for Media (formerly the Museum of TV + Radio), I organized screenings, panels, and exhibitions. Over 27 years I did A LOT of events, but some of my favourites include a TV Noir screening series and a Twin Peaks event at which we showed a fan cut of the series including only the Laura Palmer arc. I moderated and/or organized panels on Battlestar Galactica, Lost, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Homicide Life on the Street, The Wire, and many others. My absolute favourite panel ever was with the cast and creative team of Archer, the animated show on FX, which was moderated by comedian David Cross, who is off-the-wall crazy.

You are founder and president of Fayetteville Mafia Press. Did you start that as business venture or you wanted to give a chance to authors who don´t have agent or were refused by big publishers and you think they would deserve a chance? How many titles do you publish per year and what range do you have?

Of course, I want to make money with FMP and our second imprint, Tucker DS Press, but I really just want to publish great books. We publish 12 books a year, so one a month. At first, we focused exclusively on pop culture, but we have since expanded to include true crime, sports, and even genre novels. We are always looking for new writers, but it is very important that they come to us with a viable marketing plan.

Are you in the same bracket as top players and you can get on the world-wide market or you rather operate as e-shop? With PC and smart phones, is it tangible that people either read less or not at all, hence sales took a nose-dive in USA, too (like in Czech Republic)?

We are nowhere near as big as "the Big Five" publishers, but we are not exclusively an e-shop. Until very recently, we were distributed to bookstores, libraries, museums, etc by Independent Publishers Group, one of the largest wholesalers in the world, but we have just moved over to Simon + Schuster. Based on all the statistics I' ve seen, people are still reading plenty. However, it is very difficult for independents like us to complete in the marketplace with huge publishers, so it can be a challenge.

Would you believe that in such a small country as Czech Republic, there are 41 books published daily (!!!!) so the market is flooded and 1000 sold books is considered as success?

Almost anything you tell me about the Czech Republic's publishing industry would surprise me because I don' t know anything about it. The US market is also flooded, and the fact that distribution has been democratized -- anyone can publish a book these days -- means it is only going to become more so. It is frustrating to me that celebrities and established writers are the ones who get all the breaks in terms of marketing and distribution, but that is a losing battle so there' s no sense fighting it. We just have to find some other way to cut through the clutter.

It is very difficult for independents like us to complete in the marketplace with huge publishers, so it can be a challenge

Do you think the future of the book market will be on self-publishing titles, print on demand and the days of million copies per title will be long gone?

As I hint at above, I still think celebrities and well-established authors will be able to sell a lot of books. The challenge is for the rest of us. Self-publishing has its advantages, but it can be very difficult to make a dent in the market unless you have an established following. On the other hand, it must be nice not to have to split proceeds with a publisher, agent, and distributor.

You also wrote many books and some of them were about Twin Peaks, even your dog is named after one character from that. Why are you so obsessed with this TV series, what is on special on it?

I wouldn´t say I' m obsessed with Twin Peaks, I love it because it's so provocative and the original series was so far ahead of its time. The characters were great, but I especially loved the mystery and mythology of it -- questions like who was Bob, all the Red Room and lodge stuff, the craziness of the Man in Another Place and so on. I was never one of those people who would stand on a line to collect autographs from people in the cast, or even from David Lynch or Mark Frost. There are plenty of other shows I love just as much, like Buffy, Lost, Battlestar Galactica, The X Files, Game of Thrones, The Wire, Seinfeld, The Office, New Girl. Among newer shows, I think Severance and Station Eleven are exceptional, and I'm sure I am leaving a lot out.

You are also specialist on David Lynch films, which are sometimes very difficult to understand. Although you write about him, you never met him or talked to him face to face. Why did you pick him up and is he so difficult to get close to?

Again, Lynch is just one of many filmmakers whose work I admire. I don't have any special affinity for him other than I love his work (most of it anyway). I wrote a book on Mark Frost and have a tremendous amount of respect for him. I used to be a huge Woody Allen fan, but I'm concerned about some of the things that have come to light about him, and honestly, I haven't seen one of his movies in years. I love Stanley Kubrick and have seen 2001: A Space Odyssey probably 100 times. I love Chris Nolan and have seen Memento maybe 50 times. I love Wes Anderson and Sofia Coppola and the Coen brothers and so many other filmmakers as well. But just like with music, I tend to say I love certain films more than entire libraries. I love Blade Runner and Alien but there are quite a few Ridley Scott films that don't connect with me at all. My favourite genre is horror, especially B horror films like Black Christmas or Halloween or Scream. I don't know if Lynch is difficult to get to. At least back in the day he was accessible when he was promoting a film or TV show. We had him at the Paley Center when he was promoting On the Air.

Unlike Woody Allen, who makes films about everyday life and one can associate with them, David Lynch makes difficult films to understand Does he have different perspective, which doesn’t match with most of the people´s thinking?

I'm not sure about Lynch. I think Lynch makes films about everyday concerns and anxieties; otherwise, why would they resonate with people? I just think he approaches them in a more abstruse way, whereas Woody Allen's work has always been what I would call representational, except for maybe Stardust Memories.

My favourite genre is horror, especially B horror films like Black Christmas or Halloween or Scream

You said you watched his film Inland Empire about dozen times but still don´t have a clue what is it all about. What´s the point of making such films? I prefer walking off the movie with knowing it ś message or who was the murder.

The last time I saw Inland Empire, at the festival, I started to think about 3/4 of the way through that may I was approaching it the wrong way. Maybe I should stop thinking that Sue's story was the real story and everything else was happening in some alternative dimension. But maybe it' s the Lost Girl whose story is grounded in reality? Now I want to see it AGAIN to see if that makes any sense. I thought I was on to something when Dern's character literally disappears from the screen . . . but then she comes back! I don' t mind being challenged by a film, by thinking of it as a puzzle I have to figure out. In certain cases, that´s the whole fun of it.

David Lynch says” Life has no meaning why should the films”? What do you think is the meaning of the life?

Lynch doesn't say life has no meaning; he says life doesn't make sense. I am very firmly in the existentialist camp that the meaning of life if whatever we choose to make it.

You have been to Uherské Hradiště at Letní filmová škola talking about David Lynch. How did you like your stay there, were you surprised by the amount of interest from Czech people? Will you report Lynch himself about it?

I had an amazing, amazing time at the fest and was incredibly impressed by the level of interest and excitement among those in attendance. I have no plans to reach out to Lynch.

You told us you like Irish folk /punk band The Pogues. How did you come up to them, have you seen them live and do you apply punk ethic to your life or work?

Hi, I got into The Pogues through the TV show The Wire, which made frequent use of The Body, which is one of my two favorite songs (Fairytale of New York being the other). I never saw the Pogues in person, sadly, but I am not much of a concert goer. There is definitely something about angry Irish punk that appeals to my sensibility.

Thank you.

Photos, thanx: archiv of David Bushman, Radek Patrášek (LFŠ)