Is there a better way to kick off August? I think not. Especially since this morning our guest here on 50 Word is J.A. Tyler, author, editor, and all-around renaissance man. He is the author of much, which we’ll let him tell you about because probably just muck it up anyway. We will tell you he runs the online lit-mag Mud Luscious, a fine publication of short shorts, and that he’s got a few book-length projects out or forthcoming. Without further delay, here he is.
Gently
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Boy girl girl they wash their feet. Scrub and break dirt. Make mud. Rain on their skin, something they don’t feel. Like the moon, full and following them. Their father, drinking back. The forever eyes of their mother. As wheat churns in the wind, butter. Their place here, like loneliness.
Q & A:
1. Where did this story come from? Describes it’s genesis?
This is in the vein of my new novel in progress ‘a place like loneliness’. I recently traveled to some former family acreage in the middle of nowhere Kansas and found a story there, buried in a farm, this boy girl girl upbringing, this mother and father attempting survival.
2. Who are you? What makes you so amazingly cool that we just had to interview you?
those are two complicated questions. I am a writer and an editor. I write fiction, I founded the online lit review mud luscious, and I am currently a web editor for pindeldyboz. And though I don’t know about ‘amazingly cool’, as of today, 2008 has deigned to see published seventy-nine of my pieces. lucky, lucky, lucky.
3. What are you working on right now? Can you tell us? Stories? Poems? Novels? One of those tiny ships in a bottle?
currently I am working on two novels: one (‘a place like loneliness’) about a farm family in nowhere Kansas, working through one particularly tough old bird’s existence. two ( ‘a man of sorts’) following a pathetic man from his first baby to his suicidal jump. a tiny ship in a bottle? No, I don’t have the patience.
4. Think fast: favorite short story or novel at the moment? Of all time?
novel I just read: peter markus’ bob, or man on boat – phenomenal. novel I am reading: david ohle’s motorman – so far, an incredible read. novels I can’t stop reading? the old man and the sea, the stranger, of mice and men, the catcher in the rye.
5. If you could start a band full of writers, of literary greats and contemporary stars, who would be in your band and what instrument would they be on (four or five members only, otherwise the van gets too crowded and smelly)?
I would sing, it’s a dream of mine. maybe peter markus on guitar, I don’t know if he plays but that would keep him where I could soak his wisdom. tao lin on drums, he could bring in the crowd, or at least keep shit weird. and we’ll see if blake butler wants in on bass because I think he is capable of some mad licks. all contemporaries, no deads, live in the now.
6. What’s on the horizon for you? What’s next—i.e., publications, events/readings, etc.
my chapbook ‘the girl in the black sweater’ is available now from trainwreck press. I also have a piece in the new better non sequitur release ‘see you next tuesday: the second coming’ (people can buy both through my website). and I am super stoked to have work in the new collaborative NO COLONY – word has it that miranda mellis, ropert lopez, tao lin, and brian evenson are among its issue one ranks. most importantly, I am finishing the edits / revisions for my debut novella ‘someone somewhere’ to be published with ghost road press in summer 2009. and, as always, writing, writing, writing.
Thanks, JA. Awesome.
