Sager exposes humanity of 'Scary Monsters and Super Freaks'
By Lance Vargas

There is a dark little place deep in our minds that revels in social decay.

Down in our psyche, beneath the controlling and holier-than-thou influence of the super ego, lies a fascination with rebels and rogues. Mobsters, porn stars, pirates and outlaws are vile persons who have tossed aside society's agreed-upon norms and introduced their own set of laws and morals.

Instead of casting them out, however, our culture celebrates them with television shows like "The Sopranos" and films like "Pirates of the Caribbean."

La Jolla writer Mike Sager's career has flourished by exposing and massaging society's adoration of its underbelly. Through assignments with GQ, Rolling Stone and Esquire, Sager often found himself wading in the seedy gray matter of American sub-consciousness - and writing about it.

"Scary Monsters and Super Freaks: Stories of Sex, Drugs, Rock 'n' Roll and Murder" is Sager's collection of his greatest encounters with base and notorious figures. The book's main subjects include well-endowed adult film star John Holmes; torturer, funk master and crack smoker Rick James; slain Irish crime reporter Veronica Guerin; disgraced Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke; and confirmed adulterer, suspected murderer Congressman Gary Condit.

These are Sager's unlikely muses. In telling their stories, he humanizes them and helps find the point in their lives where they fell from grace. He also puts them right beside the reader, mostly by seeing them as people who have taken steps down an alternate path.

"I'm not there to judge," he said. "I'm there to get their story. I get to judge later. ... It's being able to suspend your disbelief, to become a true believer, to let them carry you along into their constellation of reality. There is so much scoffing that goes on in the news that we don't learn anything. If you scoff, people close up."

In pursuit of their humanity, Sager's commitment goes beyond unconditional acceptance of his subjects. He also forces himself to become their literary conjoined twin. He tries to feel what they feel. It's an endless task that requires empathy and shapeshifting.

"Whatever he wants to do, I do," Sager said in reference to his subjects. "Wherever he goes, I go. I don't exist. My needs don't exist. ... Instead of going and asking people questions, you sit down next to them and you keep your mouth shut and you look, and you watch, and you listen, and if they order this sandwich, you order that sandwich."

Though he has never been physically harmed during his research, Sager doesn't always emerge unscathed from assignments. Making himself a sponge for others' emotions can often leave remnants of their personalities within him, like a thespian in an emotional role.

One of his subjects in "Scary Monsters and Superfreaks" is a gentleman who deemed himself the Pope of Pot. The Pope got into Sager's head so much that he later provided the inspiration for a character in a future Sager work of fiction.

Like most writers, accomplished or otherwise, Sager has a fiction novel in progress. It's the next step for him, another avenue now that he has placed all the scary monsters and super freaks neatly between the covers of a book where he wants them to stay as he moves forward with his work.

"I started to feel like a sin eater," he said in reference to an act in Scottish history where a man would take up the sins of the dead through consumption of food and drink at the deceased person's doorstep. "To some degree, I'm ready to live my own life. I got into journalism because I needed something to write about. Now I'm getting to the point where I have something to write about."

Leaving the true crime aspect of his career behind won't be easy. One might say murder, torture, pornography, drug abuse and sexual promiscuity have bought Sager a house, provided for his family, put food in his stomach. Ultimately, that's an unfair assessment. It wasn't the events that proved to be Sager's bread and butter but rather his ability to interpret them and his willingness to, in his bard persona, allow himself to sink to their level.

Just as it is their nature, the public has responded. Eight of Sager's stories have been optioned for motion pictures or other works, guaranteeing years of prosperity for Sager while satiating the public's thirst for sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll and murder for years to come.

Mike Sager will sign copies of his book at Warwick's Books, 7812 Girard Ave and Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m. Call (858) 454-0347 or visit www.mikesager.com.