In Conversation with the Author: 1

On top of the essays (which I’ve now decided will be monthly…let’s see if I hold to that), I want to try out a few other things here. So, here’s the first of one such projects.

“In Conversation with the Author” will be a set of brief interviews conducted with authors I know. Though these are meant to be conversations, the exchange is intended to be between you, reader, and the author. The Interviewer is a third-wheel, so, they will be absent from these pieces. My hope is that the authorial presence can be felt through each by doing so. These conversations will range from craft to interests to anything that the author wishes to embellish on. Some will be longer, more in-depth, while others may be brief, as with this first one.

The authors shall be anonymous, as it is my intent that this process gives you insight only into “the public author as signature” (the authorial self presented to the general public when their name is in print - Metafiction and the Postwar Novel), and not its counterpart, “the self of writing”. Because I believe that part of the author should remain hidden, protected, and allowed to carry on with the work they do. So, regardless of the can of worms the above terminology opens in an academic space, and without further introduction, here is Author 1.

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Write? Like, writing? Ohhh - like practicing my cursive. No. My hands are pretty small. And I only write my cursive when I’m told to. I much prefer to read.

Loads! I really like Sherlock Holmes, The Lost World. Though sometimes I don’t completely understand them. But they just end so well. Oh, and I love fantasy books. I really like them because one time, after I swam really well, my parents bought me 4 books. 4! And they were all a part of the same series. I was set! I just finished the last one.

The Dragonlance Chronicles – Gods, monsters, magic, the works! It was just so good. Especially because the heroes don’t really win? You know? Like in Sherlock Holmes, you know he’s always going to solve the case. Or like in Lord of the Rings, they’re just cutting down orcs left and right, right? But in these books, you’ve got no idea how things are going to turn out. I mean, in the first book they come across some orcish bandits and they just run for it! Sure, they try to fight a bit but they know they are no match.

You mean make stories? I mean, I do that already…What? I think they’d rather me practice my cursive, but I get really bored with that. I just told you I get bored with homework. I like to play with my toys. Right now, G-Gundam and the T-Rex from Jurassic Park are on the Millennium Falcon trying to convince Han that Chewbacca needs rescuing, but he’s confident that Chewy is OK and can get himself out of it.

Yeah, sure, I guess. The Christmas Carol guy? He played with action figures?

I don’t know about that, but it all has to make sense as to why everyone is doing what they’re doing. I mean, the T-Rex just really likes to eat people. That’s just their nature. And G-Gundam, he never really wants to hurt people. He used to, until he learned it was wrong, and Han, he just wants to have faith in Chewy. And obviously the Millennium Falcon is the fastest ship in the galaxy. So, of course they’ll come together.

Well, no. I don’t do homework this way. Who?

Oh! Well, the galaxy has LOADS of bad guys in it. And they need to be stopped. So, really, why didn’t they get together sooner?