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Park Sloper Rick Moody might be best known for his 1994 book “The Ice Storm” but the guy isn’t resting on his laurels. Just out in bookstores is “Right Livelihoods,” his ambitious new collection of novellas, and in his copious downtime, he plays in the Wingdale Community Singers. GO Brooklyn’s Adam Rathe caught up with Moody last week at the Park Plaza Diner in Brooklyn Heights to chat about the new book, his future in movies and the secret society of the Brooklyn literati.

GO Brooklyn: So, you live in Park Slope these days?

Rick Moody: I lived in Brooklyn Heights from 1992 to ’98 and then I bought a country house. Coincidentally, my wife, who had just moved from Chicago, bought her place on Grand Army Plaza.

GO: Two of the stories in your new book are departures: “Omega Force” is about espionage, and “The Albertine Notes” has a science fiction slant. Did you read genre fiction to find inspiration for these stories?

RM: I did [for “Omega Force”]. There was one book in particular that I’m not going to reveal, lest the author feel he is being poked fun at.

GO: What’s on your summer reading list?

RM: I want to read the new Denis Johnson novel, “Tree of Smoke.” I have Lydia Davis’s “Varieties of Disturbance,” and I’m judging a short-story prize for Ireland right now, so I have about 15 more books to read for that. Finally, Miranda July’s book, “No One Belongs Here More Than You.”

GO: You play music with the Wingdale Community Singers. How is making music different for you than writing?

RM: I don’t have to do it by myself. I always played, and for a long time only by myself because I was shy about it and didn’t want it to distract from my reputation as a writer. I remember in the late ’80s, there was a rumor that Bret Ellis had started a band, and everyone was so down on him for that, so I always kept to myself about the music stuff because I didn’t want to take s—t for it. But I met this great singer-songwriter Hannah Marcus and we really hit it off. That’s when I realized what a great resource music is for someone who works alone all the time. It makes me a better writer because it makes me think with my ears.

GO: What bands do you listen to?

RM: I love Animal Collective and I’m friends with the One Ring Zero guys, so I go see them play sometimes.

GO: So, you’re a fan of the Brooklyn cultural boom?

RM: I think it’s great in a way. If I were 29 again, I would have really wanted to live in Williamsburg. I’m just glad it’s still happening in New York. I don’t care where, just as long as New York is still fertile.

GO: Do you work from home?

RM: Yes. But I’ve been at Tea Lounge this week because we’ve had people painting the apartment. I had headphones on to try and tune out the d—n kiddie sing-along.

GO: Lots of people are still big fans of “The Ice Storm,” especially the film version. Do you have any more movies in the works?

RM: “The Albertine Notes” has been optioned and set up with a production company. An old novella of mine, “The Mansion on the Hill,” has been optioned and re-optioned five or six times. Furthest along is a film of “Purple America” that’s controlled by [Pedro] Almodovar’s production company and has a director attached. The road to Hell is paved with these options.

GO: Would you do any of the screenwriting?

RM: Not interested. The politics of screenwriting are so dramatically different than writing fiction and are much less favorable to the author. I’ve done it and I didn’t like it.

GO: Do you find yourself caught up in the Brooklyn writing scene?

RM: It’s such a small community that you do meet everyone eventually, but I often think that there’s much less of a scene than people imagine. Twice a year I have dinner with Donald Antrim or run into Jonathan Ames because he rents the apartment above my bandmate. It’s not like we have these secret, cabalistic dinners. Maybe I’m missing out some micro-scene, but I doubt it because I think generally writers are solitary, socially awkward beings. I think the notion of a Brooklyn literary scene is slightly mythologized.

GO: What can readers expect from you next?

RM: A novel. I have about 400 pages [done] but it’s probably going to be about 800 pages. I’m really bingey, so if I have a lot to do, I probably don’t write very much at all. I may rewrite a little. I love to rewrite on the subway, it’s so peaceful. Nobody talks, everybody’s reading.

©2007 Community Newspaper Group