SmokeLong Quarterly

Favorite short story? “Jack, July” by Victor Lodato

Favorite place to read? Driving, dog track, AA meetings, Confession

Who is your favorite character in fiction? Gawww, there’d be a few. One that i’ve come back to several times was always Astrid from White Oleander by Janet Fitch. She’s just this ridiculously vibrant being who basically tells the world, “I don’t need your pity, your love, or your shame. But if you happen to have a little left after you’re done with it. Notice me.” I can so totally relate to that. That book got me through some tough times.

What makes you stop reading a story: Somebody uses the word, lover. The writer needs me to vote the way they do. Dragons. If you have a character who stares out of a window in your story, he better have earned it. There needs to be something really fascinating he’s pondering on. Otherwise I’m out.

What makes you keep reading a story? I finish most stories I read. I think I get that from my mom. She was always big on finish what you start. But, what keeps the story with me after it’s done? Probably specificity. And character. Jess Walter‘s “Anything Helps” is a good example of a story I couldn’t let go of after. Also, Tom Perrotta’s “The Smile on Happy Chang’s Face.”

How would you like to see characters die in fiction? (Begins to sing “Seven Spanish Angels“)

How would you like to see characters live in fiction? (Begins to sing “Picture Me Rollin‘”)

Flash fiction should have more_____? Words. Partial nudity

What is a story?  I don’t know. It makes you laugh and it shocks you and you wonder if it happened.And maybe you feel bad for laughing. Good example: This girl I used to know had a crazy scar on her arm. Basically looked like a three-d Rorschach pattern between her wrist and elbow. She used to be a veterinarian’s assistant in New York City. There was a drug dealer in the building next door who had an exotic animal collection and some unorthodox methods of debt collection. So, one night he was busy feeding someone to a hyena, which is apparently a way louder process than you may think. It attracted the attention of the neighbors who alerted the police. So, the Vet hospital that this lady worked at basically absorbed all the animals in the apartment. They probably destroyed the hyena, but there was an alligator and a saber-toothed tiger as well. So, part of her job entailed walking kids around the place giving field trips. They had the animals on display (probably they didn’t tell them where they got them from.). So, she would tell the kids when they got to the tiger,  “Ok. guys, no sudden movements. Tigers are really sensitive to abrupt action.” And, of course, one of the kids said “Like this?” and pushed another classmate to the tiger’s bars. Tiger noticed. She intervened. End of story. Did it happen? No clue. I can’t imagine a vet hospital keeps deadly animals within a paw’s reach of six year olds. But you couldn’t look at that scar and completely say bullshit. It had to come from somewhere. And that’s what a story is to me. You stare at something that is true. And then you just have to figure out why.

Defining characteristic as a writer? Know my way around a semi-colon

Defining characteristic as a reader? Love me some footnotes