World’s Most Exciting And Sexiest Author Gives World’s Most Boring Interview

Yesterday, I stuck new Weekender intern Casey Moore (yes, there’s actually a Weekender intern) on the phone with Sebastian Junger – as in People mag’s sexiest author alive (well, at least in 1997), the guy who wrote Perfect Storm, and the guy who will be at the Free Library this Thursday discussing his new book, War. See if you can stay awake.

So how is it going?
I’m on a book tour, so I am a little lobotomized. But I am getting through it.

I heard you own a bar in New York, and I was wondering what you personally drink.
Ah… God… Uh… Actually, I don’t drink a whole lot. Every once in a while, I’ll have a glass of wine. My drinking days are behind me.

In reference to the book – the back cover specifically – why did you choose that image? It seems almost homoerotic. All of the soldiers kind of half-naked and wrestling.
For me, it’s more about the roughness and violence of that place. There hadn’t been a firefight in a week, and the guys would get very, kind of crawling out of their skin. And there was a lot of that kind of rough interaction. I thought it really captured the spirit of young men and their love slash antagonism for each other.

You’ve been to places like Sierra Leone and Kosovo, some of the most dangerous places in the world. Is there any place you won’t go?
Yeah, sure. There’s places within war zones I won’t go. Dangerous spots that I wouldn’t gamble with. I probably wouldn’t go to parts of Pakistan right now. I think I would not go to Iran. I would not go to Somalia unless I was with the U.N. So, I mean, yeah. There are places.

Parachuting into North Korea?
No, I don’t picture that in my future.

How do you feel about Bear Grylls from Man vs. Wild?
Oh. I don’t really watch TV. I can’t really comment on television.

Have any World Series picks?
No, I don’t.

Does this book tour process really suck?
I mean, you just sort of turn into an articulate robot, basically. I just check out mentally until it’s over, in some sense. I mean, I am very, very focused verbally and intellectually about what’s going on… There’s no personal life. And it’s pretty exhausting, ’cause you’re talking all day long and you’re keeping these crazy hours. I try to disengage myself partly so I can get through it.