You describe your writing as stories about outsiders, misfits, and those who have never fit in. What draws you to these themes, and how do they manifest in your books like Red as Apple and Into the Fracking Fields?
I wrestled in high school. They gave us school-issued headgear to protect our ears from cauliflower ear. Freshman year, I took off my thick glasses and put on the headgear for the first time. I got down into a wrestling stance and squinted.
“Mole,” our assistant coach said. “He looks like a mole.” You know, those small, mostly blind mammals that live underground. From then on, that was my nickname, and I’ve continued to feel like that goofy, weird, short kid all these years later. I’ll never feel like I’m good enough. I’ll never call myself successful—but that drive to write, to create, is omnipresent.
Michael in Into the Fracking Fields is me as an adolescent. Unsure, wanting desperately to fit in. Ansel in Red as Apple is the adult me. Quiet, worn down by failures, yet dedicated to his child. His brother, Keenan, is another part of me, and their sister is who I wish I was—life would feel so much simpler if I was. I wish I could be satisfied as a mid-level marketing manager and fall asleep on the couch with a ball game on the television.
Your stories do not necessarily fit into specific genres. How do you approach writing without the constraints of genre, and what challenges or freedoms does this offer you as an author?
I hope I write stories that are interesting. I want my readers to see themselves in them, to take something away. Most of what I write could be considered “general fiction.” It’s more than that, but I don’t know what to call it. Maybe “Americana?” Think a Midwest John Steinbeck mixed with Jack Kerouac. I would never portray myself as being on their level, yet stylistically that might be accurate. In terms of finding an audience, being “genre-less” can be challenging.
You write fiction and poetry. How do you transition between these forms, and what techniques or practices help you maintain your creative flow across different projects?
There is a break between writing processes, usually several months. I’m not writing a narrative at the same time as poetry.
Novels, or, novellas, always start with a scene. Once that scene is set, it evolves into the characters and plot. I’m a notetaker as I write. What’s organically driving the story? What challenge is next? What would this character do?
Poetry originates from an observation. Is what I’m seeing absurd? Is it mundane? Or it starts with a feeling. Situational awareness and critical thinking is a priority when I write a poem.
In Into the Fracking Fields, the setting plays a crucial role in the story. How did you research and develop the setting, and what impact do you hope it has on readers' understanding of the characters and their struggles?
Into the Fracking Fields straddles two worlds. The first, a destitute town in middle America. I took inspiration from the coal mining towns of Appalachia and the Rust Belt. Here, there was no need to investigate anything. I’ve seen cities in disrepair, the palpable hopelessness, and that sense of abandonment.
The latter, the uninhabitable section, required researching how plausible the world I imagined was and where it would be located. I needed to study hydraulic fracking and gas drilling accidents and find a location in a seismic zone with shale deposits near a nuclear reactor.
In the book, the uninhabitable zone, or, The Fields, is located in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, which encompasses Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee.
Within The Fields, there’s a direct reflection on American disparities, either racial or sociological. While the prison camps are dystopian, are they really that different from many American experiences today? Is the “normal” town much better?
1200 Miles from Los Angeles is a journal-style novel that is based on your experience working at a Starbucks surrounded by Christian colleges. What was that experience like?
I grew up in a very diverse place. In college, I moved to a more conservative area. When I applied to work at Starbucks, I already had experience, so my manager was very excited that I could work on Sundays. I didn't set out to tell anyone my religion, but when everyone is religious, it's going to come up. My manager treated everyone with respect and never discussed religion. My coworkers’ reactions varied, from sincere interest in Judaism to shunning me. Their attempts to make me “see the light” only solidified my identity as a Jew (whatever that means).
I remember my shift supervisor, Mack, telling two girls at the register that I was Jewish. It was an innocuous comment, and he was such a nice person. The girls spent the next five minutes berating me for "denying Jesus." When it was over and they had left, Mack tearfully apologized to me. I told him it wasn't his fault and not to worry about it. He never mentioned my religion to another customer, and we continued to set records for closing the store and having beers in hand in under ten minutes.
Oh, my going away present before I moved to Chicago from a co-worker? A New Testament Study Bible.
Who's on the cover of bleach?
That's Joe. I've known him for over a decade. He asked if I would put him on the cover of a book, he was not expecting me to say yes. Joe is awesome, everyone should have a Joe in their life.
Besides writing, what do you like to do?
I love grappling. I'm an old man at it now, and everything hurts. It takes my mind off things. You can't think about all the crazy things in your life while someone is trying to choke you or break a limb. It's a reset for me, and I love my teammates. They all come from different backgrounds and BJJ is a way to vent with people you know and blow off steam.
I've also picked up the guitar again. I'm definitely an amateur, but it's fun to play.
What's next for you?
Well, I thought ENDOTRIZZI was done. It is not, so there is more writing to be done there.
Bound Hare Press is my press, and I'm going to continue to promote and market these books by amazingly talented indie authors. I'm driven to bring them exposure and, while not riches, get them sales and well-deserved money in their pockets.
If the final questions is, "how do you balance writing fiction, poetry, and running a book press", the answer is I'll make it fucking work.