Conversations with the Bookless: Jedidiah Ayres

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

    
Jed Ayres is among a select group of online zine writers that has amassed a bit of a following. New stories of his get talked about and linked to and any discussion of the best of the up and comers that didn’t include his name would be instantly deemed irrelevant.

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

A grossly incomplete list would include James Ellroy, Daniel Woodrell, Scott Phillips, Barry Gifford, Ken Bruen, Jim Thompson, Graham Greene, Charles Willeford… Most unlikely? – Maybe the poetry of Leonard Cohen or the spiritual writings of C.S. Lewis.

    
What do you most value in the fiction you love?

I want most just to be entertained.

    
What is the value and purpose of short fiction in mystery/crime fiction for you personally and overall for the form and the genre?

I don’t have much free time and I hate to have it wasted by a four hundred page book that should have been two. A good short story is satisfying on much the same level as a novel and shorts are a great way to introduce a writer to someone who may not have the time to invest in a novel. I’ve been introduced to lots of great writers by taking a low-risk chance on a short in an anthology. I think that for the genre, shorts offer a medium for writers to experiment and keep expanding the perceived boundaries of the form.

    
What is your favorite story written by someone else?

Jeez I don’t know. Off the top of my head, I think of two that I go back to often for inspiration, coincidentally from the same anthology – Men From Boys edited by John Harvey – Two Things by Daniel Woodrell and Until Gwen by Dennis Lehane. The Woodrell story showcases the man’s economy with words. His are almost always the shortest piece in any anthology you pick up, but they’re provocative and rich. The Lehane story has enough plot to fill a novel, but isn’t rushed. It rolls along at a good pace and still packs a hell of an emotional punch.

    
What do you like most about short fiction?

Like I said, time is valuable and a good short story delivers the goods in a fraction of the time as a novel. Don’t believe me? Check out shorts collections from Benjamin Percy, Donald Ray Pollock, Pinckney Benedict, Rick DeMarinis, William Gay, Kyle Minor or Scott Wolven and you’ll thank me.

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

I started writing short fiction exactly two years ago. I got a hold of the first edition of Murdaland magazine and it was such an exciting publication that when I saw they were accepting submissions and that the deadline was two weeks away, I was overcome with a desire to be a part of it. I cranked out a short, (my first) and sent it out with a couple of days to spare. Of course it was rejected. They were nice about it, encouraging actually. Michael Langnas probably got sick of me pestering him for reasons it was not accepted, but he gave me some good and frank feedback and he is responsible for opening my eyes to the wonderful world of on-line publishing.

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

My favorite is usually the one I’m working on at the moment. I’m still a developing writer and usually think that the current one is the best I’ve yet produced. I like to link short pieces and I’ve got a couple that compliment each other very nicely. They’re each the other’s flip side and I think it worked well. One is called A Fuckload of Scotch Tape and was published in the latest edition of Out of the Gutter magazine and the other is called Mahogany & Monogamy and will be in the third anthology from ThugLit out next year.

    
Do you have any short story publications forthcoming?

I’ve got a story in the latest issue of ThugLit on-line called 1998 Was a Bad Year, it features characters from Morning After, (Plots With Guns summer 2008). My story Politoburg will be found in the anthology Sex, Thugs & Rock ‘n Roll this summer. I’ve got a yet untitled piece for the next issue of Out of the Gutter and some other submissions I’m still waiting to hear about.

    
How do you rectify your booklessness?

Not too concerned about it. I’m pretty confident it’ll happen in time. I have novels that I’m not able to put the kind of work into that they need at the moment, but I’ve got some good opportunities with screenplays, including the adaptation of a great book, plus A Fuckload of Scotch Tape has been optioned for a feature film, so I’m in no mood to complain. Of course if anybody wants to throw some cash at me to quit my day jobs, (yes plural) and finish these novels, I wouldn’t mind.

    
_{Jedidiah Ayres blogs at Hardboiled Wonderland}