Smoking With Jon Steinhagen by Tara Laskowski Art by Eleanor Leonne Bennett So in your cover letter you mentioned this story is part of a larger collection you're working on. Can you tell us about that? This is one of fifty "tiny novels" of a projected collection I'm calling Americans Elsewhere. There will be fifty stories (i.e. visitors from each of the United States). None of these so-called tiny novels can exceed 500 words. That is such a cool project. Are all of the "novel" titles in the same format as this one: "State Vs. City"? Can you give us a few other pairings that are included in the collection? (Being from Pennsylvania, I'm particularly interested in that one!) Funny you should ask that. First off: yes, all the stories—when they are submitted singly for publication—have the same title format ("State vs Country"); however, when the full collection is complete, each will have its own "extra" title (e.g. "Texas vs London" will become "Crossing the Mind: Texas vs London"). A few other pairings that are about to be published in other lit mags include "Alabama vs Chengdu" and "Indiana vs Zimbabwe" (in Wigleaf), "Ohio vs Munich" (in Frozen Underground), and "Hawaii vs Sweden" (in The Yoke). And yes, Pennsylvania is one of the 15 stories I've completed: "When All Else Fails: Pennsylvania vs Rio de Janeiro." To date, I've completed 15 of the proposed 50 stories. It's been quite a writing challenge—as well as a challenge to my imagination. The up side, of course, is that I now have the itch to travel to all these places. This piece is so voice-driven. It immediately draws the reader in, gives us a picture of this person. Are most of your stories voice-driven? Do your characters come to you talking, as opposed to acting or doing, or is it more holistic than that? Each of the stories finds its own voice depending on the impressions I get from matching a visitor from an American state to whichever foreign country he/she happens to be in. All of these stories "sound" different to me. Can you talk a little about the danger, the menacing feel at the end of this story? Did you intend that, or did it just happen in the writing process? Are those drunk girls safe, or are you leaving it up to our imagination? I'd prefer to leave it up to the imagination, but this story is the only one in the collection based on a personal experience (I've only been out of the country once, to London). I can assure you, however, that Rilling's sudden homicidal speculation did not occur to me. Until I wrote this story. Where was the one place you've ever traveled where you felt most out of place? Los Angeles. A very disorienting place. What was the best thing you did this summer? A road trip to a friend's wedding in Twin Lakes, Michigan. It was good to travel—I rarely get the chance—and the weekend is providing me with plenty of writing fodder. Read Texas Vs. London. Eleanor Leonne Bennett is a 16-year-old internationally award-winning artist who has won first places with National Geographic, The World Photography Organisation, Nature's Best Photography and Postal Heritage. Her photography has been published in the Telegraph, The Guardian, BBC News web site and on the cover of books and magazines in the United States and Canada. She was also the only person from the UK to have her work displayed in the National Geographic and Airbus run "See The Bigger Picture" global exhibition tour with the United Nations International Year Of Biodiversity 2010. Issue Thirty-Seven (September 24, 2012): Two Boyfriends by Simon Barker «» Two Days in American History by Patrick Allen Carberry «» What I Told God by Sarah Carson «» Partners by Simon Jacobs «» Wreck by Will Kaufman «» Keep It Down by Harry Leeds «» Ants by Lindsey Gates Markel «» Quantifiable Consequence by Adam Padgett «» The Temperature At Which Paper Burns by Young Rader «» Bad Traffic by Matt Rowan «» Clearings by Joseph Spece «» Texas Vs. London by Jon Steinhagen «» Clichés by Aaron Teel «» When I Was Twenty-Three by Dan Townsend «» Revived by Eugenio Volpe «» Jalapeno Summer by Ryan Werner «» A Collector by Bess Winter «» Interviews: Simon Barker «» Patrick Allen Carberry «» Sarah Carson «» Simon Jacobs «» Will Kaufman «» Harry Leeds «» Lindsey Gates Markel «» Adam Padgett «» Young Rader «» Matt Rowan «» Joseph Spece «» Jon Steinhagen «» Aaron Teel «» Dan Townsend «» Eugenio Volpe «» Ryan Werner «» Bess Winter «» Cover Art by Jennifer B. Hudson «» Letter From the Editor Interested in subscribing to SmokeLong's weekly newsletter? Click here. An email should be created. Send it as is, and you'll be subscribed. If the link does not work for you, send an email to imailsrv@smokelong.com with Subscribe slq-info in the body of the email (no subject is necessary). You'll receive updates detailing the release of new issues, new reading periods, contests, etc. We do not make our mail list available to anyone else.