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
I’m going to be honest, I don’t know a whole lot about Robert Pesa except that I really liked his story Random Acts of Fatherhood, a strong character piece that comes to a quiet and unexpected conclusion.
Robert Peza has published stories in the magazines Mysterical-E, Amarillo Bay, Conversely, Shots, Millenium Writings, and Gorilla magazine. His short story, “Love Triangle,” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2005. He lives in Massachusetts and is currently working to locate an agent for a recently-completed detective novel.
Where are you, right now, as you’re writing these answers?
I’m at my laptop in my kitchen at 4:05 AM, which is where and when I do all my writing. With four kids and a dog, it’s the only quiet time in my house.
Who are your influences and what is your most unlikely influence?
I like to think my writing combines the realistic dialogue of George Pelecanos and Elmore Leonard, the heart and depth of Alexander McCall Smith, the gritty reality of Dennis Lehane, and the brevity of Robert B. Parker. It is usually at this point that my alarm goes off and I have to get up for work.
My most unlikely influence would probably be J.R.R. Tolkien, or maybe Stephen King, both of whom got me to love reading at an early age and later inspired me to write.
What do you most value in the fiction you love?
After a lifetime of reading, I find that I can’t get into most of the popular department store novelists anymore, much the same as I no longer enjoy convenience store wine (unless I’m too lazy to stop at a real store). I like good, solid writing with all of those simple (and not so simple) elements that make fiction good. Which is why I’m attracted to writers like Dennis Lehane and Alexander McCall Smith. They have mastered the craft as well as the art.
Why do you write?
Like many people, at first it was a natural extension of my love of reading. But later, as I studied the craft, it became sort of an addiction. I am happiest when I’m in the throes of a good story.
What issues or ideas about fiction have been foremost in your mind of late?
What keeps me interested in writing fiction is that it’s maybe thirty percent technique and seventy percent art. You can pick up a book and learn the technique, but the art takes many years to develop. That keeps me writing. You just never seem to learn all there is to know.
What do you like most about short fiction?
Short fiction – good short fiction – is nothing like a novel. It has a completely different set of objectives. I think most people (myself included) initially make the mistake of thinking that short fiction is just a very short novel. But if you read enough of it – the good stuff like you find in Atlantic Monthly, Glimmer Train, Zoetrope, or some of the more selective web zines – you start to see that it’s vastly different than a novel. There’s a different type of satisfaction, because a good short story writer starts out with a different goal than with a novel. One of the stories that completely changed my outlook and showed me what the form can do was The Raft by Peter Orner, published by The Atlantic Online back in April of 2000. A totally amazing story in a very short form. Every word counts, and the impact is enormous. By the way it is still online; I highly recommend that everyone Google it and check it out (after finishing this interview of course).
When did you start writing short fiction and what prompted you to do so?
I wrote my first story when I was 39. I was too dumb to write a whole novel, so I started writing short stories. At that point I began reading about the craft and really learning how to do it. Then I started to look for good examples on the web and in book stores, which made me fall in love with the form.
Of your stories, which is your favorite; the one that showcases best your abilities?
My best short story is always my latest one. That’s because I learn a lot from each one, and (hopefully) improve. So Random Acts of Fatherhood is my favorite right now because that’s the last one I’ve had published. But of course the ones I’ve written since then that haven’t been published are probably even better; someday someone else can be the judge of that. But I am also secretly proud of Love Triangle, which was published by Amarillo Bay online literary magazine and later nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Do you have any short story publications forthcoming?
I have a few out for submission but none confirmed. Fingers, toes, and eyes are crossed.
How do you plan to rectify your booklessness?
First, I plan to grow some balls. Then I will submit the two novels I’ve already written and see what happens.
Random Acts of Fatherhood is a great story and deserves the good words that it’s getting.
Thank you very much Paul!