Conversations with the Bookless: Greg Bardsley

A couple of years ago Jeff Vandermeer ran a series of blog posts called Conversations With the Bookless. The Conversations with the Bookless series was designed to showcase those writers who are up and coming, who don’t yet have a collection or a novel out, who are making their names known writing short stories. With Jeff’s blessing I will be continuing the series here at BSC over the next couple of weeks, but with a focus mostly on mystery/crime fiction.

From the first generation successes of Anthony Neil Smith, Victor Gischler and Sean Doolittle that came out of Plots With Guns to the later success of zine author/founders Sandra Ruttan and Russel McLean to a lot of others the online zines have, over the years, proved to be a fairly successful and fertile ground for emerging talents to launch a career, highlight their own work and showcase the work of others.

These writers are the next generation and it will be interesting in the next couple of years to see which of them will make it and which will stand out.

Nothing else to say really except to end with a quote from the original series.

The fact is, if you don’t have a book out, it’s harder to get attention and it’s harder for reader attention to crystallize around you. I hope these interviews introduce readers to some of the great talent that, in the coming years, will be amazingly and bountifully bookful. — Jeff Vandermeer

Greg Bardsley’s writing is clear, clean and precise, showing his years of writing experience. One of the Bardsley hallmarks seems to be these oddball, fucked up characters who are oblivious to what others think about them. They aren’t there for your judgment or even amusement, they just are.

    
Where are you, right now, as you’re writing these answers?

    
Where haven’t I been as I’ve written this? This is a good example of my fiction-writing life. To write, I steal moments from my sole-wage-earner, father-of-two, husband-of-one life. This Q&A was no different.

    
What’s your favorite story written by someone else?

That’s a tough one. I’ve read so many shorts, and there have been so many great ones, stories that really affected me. In terms of crime-fiction shorts, I’m kind of late to the game. I had written a crime novel but never considered writing any crime shorts – I only had so much time, and I was so sure of the path I needed to take. Of course, I was totally in the dark.

When I got an agent, he suggested I consider some crime-fiction zines and journals. I remember thinking, How in the hell does someone write crime in the short form? That’s how naïve I was. Then I picked up the first edition of Murdaland and was blown away. Great pieces, all of them. My favorite beyond a doubt was “Lovers Through All Eternity and Forevermore,” by Anthony Neil Smith. I loved the language, the narrative voice, the story. I still remember how I felt when I read that story, where I was when I read it. That probably is one of my favorite shorts of all time.

That’s when I realized I was missing out big-time, as a writer and a reader.

    
Who are your influences and what is your most unlikeliest influence?

Certainly, one of my primary influences was the newsroom. For the first five years out of college, I was a reporter. All those editors helped me “get to the point” a lot sooner, and they helped me start with a simple but interesting lead. As it turns out, people like “interesting.” Imagine that.

As I got more and more into crime fiction, I was in awe of guys like Carl Hiaasen and Tim Dorsey (got on board early with those guys, which makes me cool). I loved how they had so much fun with their stories. In terms of voice, I loved Elmore Leonard, especially his dialogue. Not sure how much these guys have influenced my writing, but I imagine they have to some extent.

Probably my most unlikely influence was my mom. As I grew up, my mom always had these great ways of saying things, always creating words, always having a lot of fun with language. She’s not a writer, but she does have a phenomenal ear for language, and I know this influenced me.

    
What do you most value in the fiction you love?

The phenomenal prose style, the engrossing story and the compelling characters. When I stumble onto a story that rings all my bells like that, it’s something I remember for a long, long time.

    
Why do you write?

Well, I love to create things, and writing is my favorite way to do that. It can take you and your readers anywhere. There are so many great elements of writing – the visual, the lyrical, the intellectual and the emotional – and I guess I get off on all those things. I also like the actual act of writing – pounding the keyboard, constructing the building blocks of a story, illustrating a new character, using the language, relishing the birth of a new creation.

But what I think really hooked me was the positive reaction I got in junior high, when I started writing creatively. I loved connecting with people that way, and I still do.

    
What do you like most about short fiction?

The short story is freedom. You can do almost anything with a short, and in terms of actually making it happen, it’s a relatively fast process. With a novel, you‘re taking some major chances that will affect your life for many months, or even years, to come. That can be stifling. With a short, you’re free of all that. You can take huge risks (if it doesn’t work, you haven’t lost a year of your life). You can dismiss small details you’d usually need to include in a novel. Take backstory, for example. Backstory in a short? Usually not necessary. And if backstory is necessary in a short, I’m not sure I want to read it.

    
When did you start writing short fiction and what prompted you to do so?

I’m not sure why I started writing short stories, other than I loved to write creatively. I guess I found creative writing the most rewarding type of expression, and the short-fiction form was a great outlet. I started in college. I wrote some really weird stuff as a freshman, and kept it to myself. Then as a sophomore I took a creative writing class taught by a young, relatively unknown writer in residence, Sandra Cisneros (she later ascended to some serious literary stardom, but back then she was just this great instructor). Sandra was supportive of my fiction, and maybe that was what I needed at the time, some external validation.

    
Of your stories, which is your favorite; the one that showcases best your abilities?

I’m not sure, but maybe it would be Upper Deck. It’s disgusting, and funny, and people have responded really well to it.

    
Do you have any short story publications forthcoming?

I have a new piece, Some Kind of Rugged Genius, that is in 3:AM Magazine. I have a new short story, “Hotshot 52,” forthcoming in Uncage Me, the Bleak House books anthology edited by Jen Jordan. I also have a story, Big Load of Trouble, appearing in the Kensington Books/Thuglit anthology.

    
How do you plan to rectify your booklessness?

Just keep writing. And keep working it. Luckily, there are some folks out there in Publishing Land who are interested in my work. I have a manuscript that is getting looks at two great houses, and I’m working on a new novel that I’m excited about. And I do have an agent who knows what he’s doing, so there is hope for me yet.

    
_{Greg Bardsley blogs at Chimichangas at Sunset and a selection of his fiction can be found here.}