The 40 But 10 Interview Series: Daniel A. Olivas

 

I had retired the literary Would You Rather interview series, but didn't want to stop interviews on the site all together. Instead, I've pulled together 40ish questions - some bookish, some silly - and have asked authors to limit themselves to answering only 10 of them. That way, it keeps the interviews fresh and connectable for all of us!

Joining us today is Daniel A. Olivas. Daniel, the grandson of Mexican immigrants, was born and raised near downtown Los Angeles. He is an award-winning author of fiction, nonfiction, plays, and poetry including, How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories (University of Nevada Press), and Things We Do Not Talk About: Exploring Latino/a Literature through Essays and Interviews (San Diego State University Press). Widely anthologized, he has written on culture and literature for The New York Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, Los Angeles Times, Alta Journal, Jewish Journal, Zócalo, and The Guardian. Olivas received his degree in English literature from Stanford University, and law degree from UCLA. By day, Olivas is an attorney and makes his home in Southern California.

 

Why do you write?

Last summer, the Los Angeles Times published my essay where I explain that one of the driving forces behind desire to write was in response to the dearth of Latinx books on my school reading lists back in the 1960s and ‘70s. In another recent essay—this time published by Zocálo Public Square, I explained that finally decided to write fiction as an adult as a way to work through my grief that grew out of my wife’s multiple miscarriages. These two explanations are not contradictory, they are merely part of a whole. The end result is a writing life where I present the Mexican American and Chicano culture from my lived experience and perspective through fiction, poetry, plays and nonfiction. And let me add this: if I did not write, I would most assuredly lose my sanity. I write because I must. I have no choice in the matter.

What do you do when you’re not writing?

I love discovering old interviews of writers, actors and directors on YouTube. There are some real gems out there. One of my favorite interviewers is Dick Cavett who interviewed everyone from Janis Joplin to Orson Wells to Gore Vidal to Grouch Marx to Eartha Kitt. Cavett was not afraid to allow his guests ample time to explore what it means to be creative.

If you could have a superpower, what would it be?

In the title story of my latest short-story collection, How to Date a Flying Mexican (University of Nevada Press), a woman falls in love with a man who can levitate. I think deep down, that’s the superpower I want, otherwise why would I have explored it in fiction?

How do you celebrate when you finish writing a new book?

I begin a new writing project.

Describe your book in three words.

Magical. Strange. Mexican.

Describe your book poorly.

Safe. Comforting. Traditional.

What is your favorite book from childhood?

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

What are you currently reading?

The ARC of Yxta Maya Murray’s forthcoming novel, God Went Like That (Northwestern University Press).

What’s on your literary bucket list?

In 2020, I was selected for Circle X Theatre's inaugural Evolving Playwrights Group where I adapted my 2011 novel, The Book of Want, for the stage, culminating in a streamed reading in 2021. I would love to see this play—that I describe as a Chicano Our Town—in a fully staged production. Adventurous producers may read my play at the New Play Exchange.

What is under your bed?

El Diablo, of course.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How to Date a Flying Mexican is a collection of stories derived from Chicano and Mexican culture but ranging through fascinating literary worlds of magical realism, fairy tales, fables, and dystopian futures. Many of Daniel A. Olivas’s characters confront—both directly and obliquely—questions of morality, justice, and self-determination. The collection is made up of Olivas’s favorite previously published stories, along with two new stories—one dystopian and the other magical— that challenge the Trump administration’s anti-immigration rhetoric and policies. How to Date a Flying Mexican draws together some of Olivas’s most unforgettable and strange tales, allowing readers to experience his very distinct, and very Chicano, fiction.

The Spanish translation of How to Date a Flying Mexican will be released by the same publisher (University of Nevada Press) under the title Cómo Salir Con Un Mexicano Voladoron on May 22, 2023

Link for purchase of How to Date a Flying Mexican: 

https://unpress.nevada.edu/9781647790363/

The 40 But 10 Interview Series: Joe Baumann

 

 I had decided to retire the literary Would You Rather series, but didn't want to stop interviews on the site all together. Instead, I've pulled together 40ish questions - some bookish, some silly - and have asked authors to limit themselves to answering only 10 of them. That way, it keeps the interviews fresh and connectable for all of us!

Today we are joined by Joe Baumann. Joe is the author of three collections of short fiction, Sing With Me at the Edge of Paradise, The Plagues, and Hot Lips.  His fiction and essays have appeared in Third Coast, Passages North, Phantom Drift, and many others.  He possesses a PhD in English from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.  He was a 2019 Lambda Literary Fellow in Fiction.  His debut novel, I Know You’re Out There Somewhere, is available from Deep Hearts YA.  He can be reached at joebaumann.wordpress.com.

What made you start writing?

The origin question is always a fun one, and this has particularly been on my mind because I’ve been working on an essay about that.  One early memory that I come to is that there was this high-seas adventure animated TV show that I never got to see the end of because my family moved halfway across the country, so in second grade I decided to come up with the rest of the story myself!  I think that’s what made me, at a young age, realize that just about anyone could tell a story, and that’s where my interest in writing and creating started.

 

What’s something that’s true about you but no one believes?

For some reason, no one ever believes, when I play “two truths and a lie” with creative writing students, that I was born in New York.  No one ever believes that I’m very good at math, either, but I think that’s because of the stereotypes about English teachers and creative types being horrible at those sorts of things—despite the fact that I think great writers are actually usually really good at those sorts of analytical things!  I took calculus in college and people look at me bug-eyed when I tell them that.

 

What’s the best money you’ve ever spent as a writer?

This is probably a controversial answer, but although I rarely pay to submit to things (I’m not militantly anti-fee, but I see why people can be), I did enter a contest in 2021 for a First Book of Short Prose and found myself, rather unexpectedly, the winner.  That has had some seriously positive effects for me as a writer.  A more traditional answer might be a pair of informative writing texts: Matt Bell’s Refuse to Be Done has helped me rethink how I approach long-form projects and Matthew Salesses’ book Craft in the Real World has helped me in thinking about writing as a teaching tool.

 

Describe your book in three words.

At the risk of making readers uninterested in something of a possible downer of a book, I’ll say “surreal queer discontent.”

 

Describe your book poorly.

Weird stuff happens to unhappy people.

 

If you could spend the day with another author, who would you choose and why?

Oh gosh—so many people I would choose for this question!  But if I’m forced to select only one, I would go with Kristen Arnett, simply because she seems super cool on Twitter and also she seems like she knows how to have a good time (once, at AWP, we happened to be in the same restaurant and her table all appeared to be having a blast).

 

What genres won’t you read?

I guess if I had to choose, I would say I don’t really read what’s often marketed as straight-up ‘romance’ (no offense to her, but I’ll use Danielle Steele as an example).  But really, if I discover that a book I’m reading is primarily driven by a romance, that doesn’t make me stop reading.  I think it’s valuable and important as a writer to read lots of different things, both the kind of stuff you want to write and that which you don’t tend to write, because even the latter can teach you some important things.

 

What’s the single best line you’ve ever read?

I think, for me, it’s the opening sentence of One Hundred Years of Solitude: “Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.”  First of all, that book really showed me how inventive and WEIRD stories could be without feeling the need to explain themselves.  Also, it’s a great opening line!  There’s so much to unpack, and so much of a world waiting to be cracked open from those three lines.

 

What’s the one thing you wish you knew when you were younger?

I hope it’s okay to say two things here.  First, I wish I’d discovered surreal/fabulist/magic realist writing much, much sooner, or at least had had more exposure to some of the great writers—like Aimee Bender, Jeanette Winterson, Jorge Luis Borges—who work in that genre much sooner.  I was mostly exposed to ‘literary’ realism in high school and college, so that’s what I tried to write.  But I’m so much better at the wacky and weird.  The other thing is that I wish I’d known it was okay to be myself and to write about things that mattered to me in particular.  I was a queer kid growing up, though I didn’t have the terminology for it until college, and I didn’t come out until after college, and it wasn’t until I leaned into that part of who I was, channeled in my writing, that I started to see my writing really and truly become what it is now.  I wish I’d known that it was okay to lean into that, to be myself and thus the real version of who I was as a writer, much, much sooner.

 

Are you a book hoarder or a book unhauler?

I am 100% a book hoarder.  I think I’ve ‘given away’ like three books, ever?  Even ones I haven’t really liked I pretty much keep.  But!  In my defense, I am a very good reader in that although I have a “to be read” stack, I’m pretty good about actually getting through it.  When I bought my house, the room that became my office/library had a single high built-in shelf, and I put all of my ‘to be read’ books there, and then—because I’m a weirdo—I use a random number generator to decide what I read next, so even if I’m crazy excited about something I’ve bought, I only read it when random chance allows!  So although I keep my books, I don’t have a bunch that I’ve failed to read because I keep buying too many others.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sixteen stories in this collection surround queer men of various ages—teenagers, young adults, men in middle age—trying to temper their expectations of the world with their lived experience. Using the lens of the bizarre and fantastic, these stories explore discontent, discomfort, and discovery.

In “Melt With You,” a twenty-something learns that his boyfriend can slip into walls, a trick that becomes a sticking point during tumultuous, challenging moments in their relationship; the main character in “Shearing” is a barber who can read the minds of his clients but must sacrifice his own bits of memory to do so; “There Won’t Be Questions” features a young man who can summon lost animals to a shoebox, but suffers for it, both via physical illness and the crumbling of his relationship with his closest friend.

In the title story, the Garden of Eden starts to appear in various places around the world, and the narrator, looking down at the Trees of Life and Knowledge, must make an impossible decision regarding the most important relationship he’s ever had.

Buy a copy here:  

https://www.ttupress.org/9781682831601/sing-with-me-at-the-edge-of-paradise/

 

The 40 But 10 Interview Series: Farzana Doctor

As you know, I had retired the literary Would You Rather interview series, but didn't want to stop interviews on the site all together. Instead, I've pulled together 40ish questions - some bookish, some silly - and have asked authors to limit themselves to answering only 10 of them. That way, it keeps the interviews fresh and connectable for all of us!

Joining us today is Farzana Doctor, Farzana is an award-winning writer, activist, and psychotherapist. She is the author of four novels: Stealing Nasreen (2007), Six Metres of Pavement (2011), All Inclusive (2015), and Seven (2020) and a poetry collection, You Still Look The Same (2022). She is the maasi behind Dear Maasi, a new sex and relationships advice column for FGM/C survivors. 

What made you start writing?

I’ve been writing since I was a child—mostly poems and plays (which I performed for my patient family). I once saw a psychic who said that artistic expression was my ‘soul’s purpose’ and, well, that fits.

 

What do you do when you’re not writing?

A bunch of things, but here are a few:

-my afternoons are for my part-time psychotherapy practice where I see individuals and couples.

-recently, on Wednesday evenings, I’ve started volunteering with the Etobicoke Humane Society, where I help out with the dogs in the shelter.

-I’m also an activist and do a little work for WeSpeakOut, the End FGM Canada Network, and Sahiyo.

-I work out most days (with the stellar folks at YMCA Online).

If you could have a superpower, what would it be?

The power to persuade the ultra-rich to give their money away to build housing, create green solutions, pay people fairly and fund education and health care!

I’d also love to be able to teleport so I could visit my far-flung family more often.

 

How do you celebrate when you finish writing a new book?

This is something I need to focus on more. Celebrating doesn’t come easily because there often isn’t a clear end point. When you finish writing, there’s editing, then submitting, then more editing, then getting ready for the release, then touring and promoting the book.

Just recently, I passed the six-month mark since You Still Look The Same’s release, and I took a week to do absolutely nothing, and that felt like a beautiful reward and celebration.

 

Describe your book in three words.

Mid-life tragicomic poetry.

 

Describe your book poorly.

Farzana wrote a bunch of poems in her forties when frankly, she was a bit of a mess. She had a big break-up, then she online dated for the first time in her life (oh boy, that was a ride), then a bunch of old traumas came calling and kicked her ass. Then she fell in love again. For people who hate poetry, this is pretty accessible stuff.

What genres won’t you read?

I don’t watch or read horror or really violent work only because my scaredy-cat nervous system can’t handle it.

 

Do you read the reviews of your books or do you stay far far away from them, and why?

I read reviews that come out in news media, literary journals and social media. Nearly all of them have been smart and kind. I share/re-post them for self-promotion and to express my gratitude to the reviewers (who often don’t get paid at all or enough).

What is under your bed?

The only thing under my bed is my deceased dog’s bed. She used to like sleeping under me, and it gives my grieving heart comfort to leave it there. For anyone who might like to see a photo of her, check out #MaggieWithBooks

Are you a book hoarder or a book unhauler?

My partner built a Little Library in front of our house, and I so I unhaul on a regular basis. I live in a small space and I like to share books! That being said, I do tend to hold on to my favourites.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A moving collection of poetry about navigating mid-life, full of humour and wit, from acclaimed novelist Farzana Doctor

This debut poetry collection from acclaimed novelist Farzana Doctor is both an intimate deep dive and a humorous glance at the tumultuous decade of her forties. Through crisp and vivid language, Doctor explores mid-life breakups and dating, female genital cutting, imprints of racism and misogyny, and the oddness of sex and love, and urges us to take a second look at the ways in which human relationships are never what we expect them to be. An audiobook is also available.

Buy a copy of the book here: 

https://freehand-books.com/product/you-still-look-the-same/#tab-description

https://www.amazon.com/Still-Look-Same-Farzana-Doctor-ebook/dp/B09Q3MJZLL?ref_=ast_sto_dp

The 40 But 10 Interview Series: Jane Rosenberg LaForge

 

As you know, I had retired the literary Would You Rather interview series, but didn't want to stop interviews on the site all together. Instead, I've pulled together 40ish questions - some bookish, some silly - and have asked authors to limit themselves to answering only 10 of them. That way, it keeps the interviews fresh and connectable for all of us!

Today we are joined by Jane Rosenberg LaForge. Jane is a poet, fiction writer and occasional essayist living in New York. Her 2021 novel, Sisterhood of the Infamous (New Meridian Arts Press), was a finalist for the National Indie Excellence Award in regional fiction (west); and her 2018 novel, The Hawkman: A Fairy Tale of the Great War (Amberjack Publishing), was a finalist in two categories in the Eric Hoffer Awards. She is also the author of three full-length collections of poetry; four chapbooks of poetry; and an experimental memoir, An Unsuitable Princess (Jaded Ibis Press 2014). Her latest collection of poetry, with essays, is My Aunt's Abortion from BlazeVOX [books]. Jane reads poetry submissions for COUNTERCLOCK literary magazine and reviews books for American Book Review. She has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize for poetry and fiction, and for the Best of the Net multiple times. She was most recently nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the Best of the Net for her 2022 poem, "For a Friend Going Deaf.”

Why do you write?

 These days, at my age, I write because it’s really the only thing I can do. It’s something I can do physically—I can’t lift anything, or carry anything, or stand on my feet long—and it’s something I can do mentally. I’m not talking about ability, or even quality, mind you. But it’s like the exercises that you do every day. It’s something I can accomplish. I worked as a journalist after college; and taught at the college level after graduate school. Let’s just say those two careers didn’t work out as I’d planned. Writing is all that is left.

  

Describe your book in three words.

 Keep abortion legal.

  

If you could spend the day with another author, who would you choose and why?

 I’d like to spend a day with Kate Braverman, with whom I studied writing in the early 1990’s. She wrote poetry, novels, short stories, and essays, and her workshops were a combination of critique, performance, and a look into the world of writers and the writing life. She selected students from the classes she taught as a professor at California State University Los Angeles and as a guest lecturer at UCLA Extension. Sometimes people would write to her, asking if they could study with her, and some people came in through that route. There was some drama, and a lot of tearing down and pulling up, and it was not always easy to be there. But some great books were written in that workshop, and it was a marvel to watch her in action.

  

What is your favorite book from childhood?

 “The Story of Ferdinand” by Munro Leaf. I love that book. I cried the first few times I read it to my daughter. I read it to her so much that she began to dread it, like a hit song that’s played too many times on the radio. After that I was allowed to read it—or recite it—to her only on Mother’s Day and my birthday. Now that she’s an adult, even those opportunities have dried up.

 

What are you currently reading?

 I’m currently reading pretty much any novel I can get a hold of that mentions or is about abortion. I will be moderating a panel on writing about abortion so I’m trying to bone up on what is out there. So far, it’s been “Red Clocks” by Leni Zumas and Joyce Carol Oates’ “A Book of American Martyrs;” “My Notorious Life” by Kate Manning, “Jayne of Battery Park” by Jaye Viner, “The Future of Another Timeline” by Annalee Newitz, and “Gabi, a Girl in Pieces” by Isabel Quintero. I originally read Britt Bennett’s “The Mothers” when it was first published, but because it’s so good, I read it again. I’ve got a lot more to go.

  

Do you think you’d live long in a zombie apocalypse?

 No. Not a chance. I have no survival skills, absolutely none. I like to whine and complain, and I don’t think anyone would take me in (besides family). I couldn’t watch “The Walking Dead” because it was too violent. I tried multiple times, but it always ended in bloodshed.

 

If you were stuck on a deserted island, what’s the one book you wish you had with you?

 I’d take A.S. Byatt’s “The Children’s Book” with me on a deserted island. There is so much in that book, and there’s a character that reminds me of my sister (she died in 2010). It’s about the founding of the Fabians and the London School of Economics, among other things; and one character is based on children’s author E. Nesbit. The entire pre-World War I world is in that book and then there’s a very sobering coda afterward. I also haven’t read it as many times as I have read some other favorites—Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon” or Nikos Kazantzakis’s “The Last Temptation of the Christ.”

  

What is under your bed?

 There is nothing under my bed because it’s a captain’s bed, with drawers underneath the mattress. You can’t put anything under it. You could say that my clothes and jewelry are under the bed, if you must.

 

Do you DNF books?

 Not often, but I’ve quit books without finishing them, and for many reasons. I couldn’t finish Philip Roth’s “The Plot Against America” because it was too scary. If I can’t figure out what’s going on with a book, because it’s not clear in its intentions or I’m too thick to get it, I won’t finish it. Robert Heinlein’s “Stranger in a Strange Land” made me angry, so I didn’t finish it (I thought it was sexist).

  

Are you a book hoarder or a book unhauler?

 I’m a hoarder. My mother was a serious collector, fishing out first editions and rare books from the thrift shop where she worked. She also went on serious book-buying trips to find certain treasures. I kept only a handful of those books but I’m like her, I buy too many books. And I hang onto them. I review books occasionally and I have many, many books…….

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My Aunt's Abortion is a collection of poetry and essays illustrating the effect an illegal abortion in the 1960's had on the author's family. The author's aunt, a divorced woman in her late 20s, sought an abortion in California while the procedure was available, but only in limited circumstances. Her aunt endured years of serious illness and never quite recovered from the shame and physical toll exacted on her body. The author's mother descended into mental illness and her parents struggled unsuccessfully to repair their marriage after arguing over what they could and couldn't do for the aunt.   

buy a copy here: 

http://wp.blazevox.org/product/my-aunts-abortion-by-jane-rosenberg-laforge/

The 40 But 10 Interview Series: Jane Cawthorne

 

As you know, I had retired the literary Would You Rather interview series, but didn't want to stop interviews on the site all together. Instead, I've pulled together 40ish questions - some bookish, some silly - and have asked authors to limit themselves to answering only 10 of them. That way, it keeps the interviews fresh and connectable for all of us!

 

Joining us today is Jane Cawthorne. Jane writes about women on the brink of transformation. Her debut novel, Patterson House (Inanna 2022) is set in Toronto, the city in which she grew up. She is the co-editor of two anthologies with E.D. Morin: Impact: Women Writing After Concussion, and Writing Menopause. Her play, The Abortion Monologues has been produced many times in the US and Canada. Her work is often anthologized, most recently in You Look Good For Your Age (Rona Altrows Ed) and (M)Othering (Anne Sorbie and Heidi Grogan Eds). In 2011, she was a finalist for the Alberta Writers’ Guild’s Short Story Award for “Weight,” which originally appeared in FreeFall Magazine. Her essay, “Something As Big As A Mountain” was a notable essay in The Best American Essays 2013 (Cheryl Strayed, Ed.) and was also first runner up in the 2012 PRISM International Creative Non-Fiction Contest. Her earlier essay, “The Cure for a Cancer Cliche,” about her experience with Hodgkins Lymphoma was shortlisted for the same contest in 2007. She earned an MFA from the Solstice MFA program in Boston, MA in 2016. She currently lives in Victoria, BC and is working on her second novel set in the 1970s in Windsor, Ontario.

 

What made you start writing?
 
As a teacher and university instructor, I was always writing as part of my work but I dreamed of writing more creatively. Then, I was seriously ill in my forties and I realized that time is limited and I had better get on with it.
 

What’s something that’s true about you but no one believes?
 
Because I was a teacher, I’ve had a lot of practice speaking in front of big groups. I’m good with a crowd and can talk to anyone about almost anything. Because of this, no one believes I’m an introvert. The quiet life of a writer is most comfortable for me.  
 

What’s your kryptonite as a writer?
 
My kryptonite as a writer is falling down a research rabbit hole. It can be incredibly interesting but also a huge time sink.
 

If you could have a superpower, what would it be?
 
If I had a super-power, I would like it to be invisibility. It would be a great superpower for any writer. We could be the proverbial “fly on the wall” and get insight into all kinds of situations and grab snippets of dialogue. But most days I would settle for always being able to get a parking spot.  
 

What’s the best money you’ve ever spent as a writer?
 
The best money I’ve ever spent as a writer is on writing courses. But there are a lot of ways to develop skills as a writer that don’t cost money. Libraries have books about the craft of writing.  Some universities or colleges have visiting writers in residence that offer feedback to local writers. You can also join a writing group. Investing in yourself as a writer is important and too often, we put it last on our list, especially if writing is our side hustle. This is particularly true of women who are often so busy investing in everyone else we put ourselves last.
 

How do you celebrate when you finish writing a new book?
 
When a book is finished and the author copies arrive, I always open the box, pick out a book, open it, and smell it! I know I’m not the only writer who does this. Then I go through the pages and read little passages to myself to see how it all looks on the page and how the book feels to a reader. It’s a quiet time for me, not something splashy. I think about all the work that went into it and try to appreciate the moment.
 

Would you and your main character(s) get along?
 
I would get along much better with “end-of-the-book-Alden” than “beginning-of-the-book-Alden.” I would get along with Constance and if I were her teacher, I know that she would be my favourite student—smart, curious, and questioning everything. And Mr. Hunt would be my favourite neighbour. I would be talking over the back fence with him about the garden every day.
 

 If you could cast your characters in a movie, which actors would play them and why?
 
Allison Janney would make a good Alden, not only because she’s got huge range as an actor but also because she’s so tall.  Constance should be a break-out role for a young unknown actor. She should be a bit rough and tumble and have quite a spark to her. Whoever plays Mr. Hunt would have to wear a lot of make up to recreate his scarred face. The actor would have to be able to get the viewer to forget about Mr. Hunt’s shocking outward appearance and see his inner beauty. I imagine Stanley Tucci would be great in this role, despite him being older in real life than Mr. Hunt. His age would likely help him portray the character even better because Mr. Hunt is an old soul.  
 

What are you currently reading?
 
At this moment, I’m going through a Hilary Mantel phase. Maybe it is because she recently passed. I’m just about to crack open Fayne by Anne-Marie MacDonald. Fall on Your Knees is one of my favourite books, so I am really looking forward to her new one. Similarly, I’ve got The Marriage Proposal by Maggie O’Farrell in the queue. I loved Hamnet and Judith. I also read a lot of essays. I’m currently into Ursula K. Le Guin’s No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters. Give me anything about nature, trees, birds, or wildlife and I’ll read it. I’m half-way through What the Robin Knows by Jon Young. It’s fascinating.
 
 
What are your bookish pet peeves?
 

I’m hard on books. I dog-ear pages and write in them, especially if I’m studying them. Some people think books should stay pristine. That’s my pet peeve. Show me a well-worn, dog-eared book with tons of underlines and marginalia and I’ll show you a book someone loved.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alden Patterson, the last living member of a once-wealthy Toronto family, is haunted by the legacy of her grandfather, William Patterson, whose suicide taints the family name. She lives in the decaying Patterson House with Constance, a foundling, and John Hunt, an injured war veteran and the family’s former gardener. When Alden is reduced to taking in boarders, she thinks she has found a way to survive until the crash of 1929 leaves her truly desperate and one particular boarder threatens to destroy everything she thinks she wants.

 

 

“Jane Cawthorne’s Patterson House is a tightly-woven, warm and lively novel that builds in tension in such a way that nearing the end, the reader won’t be able to put the book down.”

—Sharon Butala, author of Season of Fury and Wonder

 

“The Patterson House saga is old-fashioned in all the right ways: a great broad canvas of time and event; multiple characters with deeply complicated desires and obstacles; and maybe best of all, writing that is both muscular and lyrical.”

—Sandra Scofield, author Swim: Stories of the Sixties.

Buy the book here: 

https://www.inanna.ca/product/patterson-house/

 

https://www.amazon.ca/Patterson-House-Jane-Cawthorne/dp/177133939X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1Q83N8OCTLLB&keywords=Patterson+House+Jane+cawthorne&qid=1672436894&sprefix=patterson+house+jane+%2Caps%2C1071&sr=8-1

The 40 But 10 Interview Series: Dawn Raffel

 

As you know, I had retired the literary Would You Rather interview series, but didn't want to stop interviews on the site all together. Instead, I've pulled together 40ish questions - some bookish, some silly - and have asked authors to limit themselves to answering only 10 of them. That way, it keeps the interviews fresh and connectable for all of us!

Today, we are joined by Dawn Raffel. Dawn is a writer, developmental editor, and creative writing teacher. Her sixth book, Boundless as the Sky, will be out January 17, 2023. Her writing has been published in O, The Oprah Magazine, BOMB, New Philosopher, The San Francisco Chronicle, Conjunctions, Black Book, Open City, The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories, Arts & Letters, The Quarterly, NOON, and numerous other periodicals and anthologies. 

Why do you write?

I write for the same reason I read: I’m looking for a ticket to someplace new. That “someplace new” might be geographical, cultural, or historical, or it might be a previously unseen corner of a place I’ve inhabited all my life.

 

What do you do when you’re not writing?

Edit. Teach creative writing. When not staring at words, I teach yoga nidra.

 

Describe your book in three words.

Contents under pressure.

 

What is your favorite way to waste time?

Twitter. Still. For now.

 

What is your favorite book from childhood?

The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton. Look it up.

 

What are you currently reading?

Grendel by John Gardner.

 

What’s the single best line you’ve ever read?

“…seek and learn to recognize who and what, in the midst of the inferno, are not inferno, then make them endure, give them space.” —Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities.

 

If you were stuck on a deserted island, what’s the one book you wish you had with you?

I’d have to go with War and Peace. I will never understand the genius it took to write that.

 

What would you do if you could live forever?

Kill myself.  Seriously, why would I want to outlive not only everyone I love but also all of their children and grandchildren?

 

What is under your bed?

Only the dog knows.

 

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Dawn Raffel’s Boundless as the Sky is a book of the invisible histories that repose beneath the cities we inhabit, and the worlds we try to build out of words. The first of its two parts, stories of real and invented cities, some ancient, some dystopian, is a response to Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities. The second part comes together into one narrative, taking place in a single city—Chicago—on a single day in 1933. It is based closely on a true event, the arrival of a “roaring armada of goodwill” in the form of twenty-four seaplanes flown in a display of fascist power by Mussolini’s wingman Italo Balbo to Chicago’s “Century of Progress” World’s Fair. The 7000-mile flight from Rome to Chicago was lauded by both Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Hitler, at a time when aviation made banner headlines across the US, and news of the Nazis was often in a side column. The novella follows a few of the many thousands of Chicagoans there to witness the planes’ arrival. These two panels of Raffel’s poetic diptych call out to each other with a mysterious and disquieting harmony, and from history and fantasy to the dangers and dark realities of the current moment with startling insight and urgency.

 

buy a copy here: 

https://www.amazon.com/Boundless-as-Sky-Dawn-Raffel/dp/1952386411/ref=sr_1_2?qid=1672670757&refinements=p_27%3ADawn+Raffel&s=books&sr=1-2

The 40 But 10 Interview Series - Gina Tron

 

As you know, I had retired the literary Would You Rather interview series, but didn't want to stop interviews on the site all together. Instead, I've pulled together 40ish questions - some bookish, some silly - and have asked authors to limit themselves to answering only 10 of them. That way, it keeps the interviews fresh and connectable for all of us!

Today, Gina Tron joins us. Gina is the author of multiple books, including the memoir "You're Fine.", absurdist short story collection "Eggolio and Other Fables," and poetry collections "Star 67," "Employment," and "A Blurry Photograph of Home." Forthcoming memoirs "Eat, Fuck, (Write About) Murder" and "Suspect" will be released by Vegetarian Alcoholic Press in 2023. She loves writing poetry, memoir, and journalism. 

Why do you write?

There are only  few things in my life I am one hundred percent certain of and writing is one of them. When it comes to writing, I have always felt a calling to it. The times in my life when I felt the least myself were the times that I neglected to write. Writing has given me purpose in my darkest days and increased happiness in my happiest of days.

 

If you could have a superpower, what would it be?

It would be a time machine that goes back 15 minutes. I could do all kinds of mischief and not have to pay the consequences.

 

 How do you celebrate when you finish writing a new book?

I take a break from writing (with exception of my jobs) for a few days, if not a week. I relax, spend time with loved ones, and try to put my phone on “do not disturb.”

 

Describe your book in three words.

Home distorted home.

 

Describe your book poorly.

Poetry book of whining.

 

What is your favorite way to waste time?

 Junk television and sleeping. I used to be more pretentious and only read or watch educational things but now I realize that zoning out on reality tv is actually inspiring.

 

What is your favorite book from childhood?

 I loved reading R.L. Stine’s Fear Street books and anything by Stephen King. I would go through those books as if they were candy.

 

If you could go back and rewrite one of your books or stories, which would it be and why?

Parts of my first memoir “You're Fine.” as I started writing it shortly after the events of it. It was also my first attempt at a book. I feel it’s possible I didn’t have enough distance from the events and focused too much on some of the interpersonal relationships I had that don’t propel the story forward. But, like any piece of work, there is always room for improvement and at a certain point I just have to let it go and be a time piece of my life.

 

Do you read the reviews of your books or do you stay far far away from them, and why?

 Yes. I thoroughly enjoy and learn from constructive criticism and always welcome it. If anything, I wish I had more of it. Any hateful reviews or emails are a different thing, but it just comes with putting yourself out there.

 

If you were stuck on a deserted island, what’s the one book you wish you had with you?

Stephen King’s “On Writing.” It’s one of the easiest books for me to read and each time I read it, it helps improve my writing in a whole new way.

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Gina Tron’s bombastic and tender recollection of homeplace sets an entire stage where small and large tragedies play out—where readers become drenched in the lived experience of what it means to be “coming of age / barely / feeling the river below.” Here, imagination cuts through the absence and darkness that surrounds. Tron leads us into a darkroom where the images and stories of home are still-and-forever processing, a portrait in search of a memory in search of mystery. We are invited to walk alongside the speaker as she goes “stalking abandoned malls and searching for the remnants of life,” always burning with desire to know more. Tron tells us that there are lessons to be found inside of transgression. This book is a language joyride providing the vehicle of escape.  

 –Julia Madsen, author of Home Movie, Nowhere and The Boneyard, The Birth Manual, A Burial

 

A Blurry Photograph of Home was last found in a salvage-titled car. Some sitting water may have morphed the media, but the words are fiercely legible. You want to dry it out, clean the cover, and refresh such an intimate object. Maybe a few of Gina Tron’s memories will rub off on you. It is a scrapbook of journeys across America.

 —Josh Dale, publisher and author of The Light to Never Be Snuffed

Buy a copy here: 

https://www.amazon.com/Blurry-Photograph-Home-Gina-Tron/dp/B0BF2P7T42/