My second book, Catch and Release, is coming out around Groundhog's Day of 2012. The Library of Congress says it's about disfigured persons, automobile travel, fishing, and communicable diseases. That's all true. I'm looking forward to hearing what readers find in there. Bonus: It's short!
Why do you write contemporary realism?
In all honesty, I don't read read much straight-up contemporary realism. I usually read sci-fi, fantasy, and non-fiction. So I wonder sometimes why I write contemporary realism.
The best answer I've come up with is the echidna.
Echidnas are real animals. Their latin name is Tachyglossus (which means a ready or fast tongue). They are mammals that lay eggs. They rarely dream. They have cute babies called puggles.
The males have four-pronged penises.
Honestly, there is no way of keeping up with the weirdness of the echidna.
My books are like echidnas, or at least I hope so.
As a technical writer, I know that was confusing, so here's another attempt:I write contemporary realism because every nightmare, every dystopia, every fantastic wonder is happening right now, really. I just have to look at it and see it for what it is.
What have you read recently?
I've read Franny Billingsley's Chime. That book achieves a level of perfection for me, as a reader. At the level of language, it was such a "read-aloud" book. It was delicious on the tongue and made such a rhythm of stop and starts--it was like being swept into a dance by someone who knows all the steps and turns you into a graceful partner. My feet hardly touched the floor. At the level of imagery, there was one line where I went, "Pfft! I don't like that. Not up to standard." But then she brought that image back and added layer upon layer of luster to it until I just wanted to apologize for being such a lunk-headed idjit a hundred pages before.
I also read to do my work as an indexer. (I write the indexes that appear in the back of non-fiction books--mostly academic stuff not for a "popular" audience.) I am reading about slavery and genocide right now. Every nightmare, every dystopia, and worse--all real.
What movie have you seen recently?
I finally saw The Call of Cthulu, which came out in 2005. I loved it, not just because Lovecraft?!?!, but also because it was so clearly a unique labor of love these artists created. It's a silent movie, which made it even more fun for me. Oh, just watch it. (It's on Hulu, I'm pretty sure.) I'm a terrible critic.
http://www.cthulhulives.org/cocmovie/
