Apparently, it was Hippocrates who first said something to the effect of “Life is short, art is long”–but it could just as easily have been a fiction writer. Chances are, if you’re writing fiction now, this art form got a hold of you when you were just a kid, swept up in the magic of books that transported you to … Read More
Hollywood
When I interviewed Sean Penn for Powell’s, I did not expect him to have read my book. But not long after I met the actor-turned-author, I discovered he had. He told me it had reminded him of Ed Abbey’s The Monkey Wrench Gang. My hand flew to my heart, like somebody’s old Southern auntie. “Oh my goodness!” I said. “I feel … Read More
Hot Season: The Soundtrack
What a pleasure it was to create a soundtrack for my debut novel, Hot Season, for Large Hearted Boy, a website dedicated to the connections between literature and music. As I sat down to write this piece, it occurred to me that every chapter of my book had a signature song. So imagine my delight when I discovered that David … Read More
The Story Behind the Story: Dead Man’s Revival
Like many of the chapters of my novel, Hot Season, the epilogue started off as a short story. “Dead Man’s Revival” was a story within a story, built around the sort of thing I think of as a traveler’s tale. A traveler’s tale is an anecdote of a certain strangeness, a certain staying power, told by a person either currently … Read More
