Jay Slayton-Joslin

Hi all.

Just wishing you, wherever you are, a merry Christmas. 2011 was a good year, but let’s make the best of it 2012′s worst.

Happy holidays.

J

Mykle Hansen is the author of the books Eyeheart Everything, Help! A Bear Is Eating Me! Rampaging Fuckers… and The Cannibals Guide to Ethical Living. His latest book is the short story collection, Hooray For Death! His writing is as funny as his book titles are crazy. A member of the bizarro genre, Mykle’s books stand alone to anyone with a good sense of humor. Thanks Mykle, for joining me.

Mykle’s books can be found on Amazon UK here and Amazon US here

1.) You have recently released your latest book, a short story collection titled Hooray For Death! You have released a short story collection before, Eyeheart Everything. Do you feel there is an issue about releasing a short story collection where using the same voice or style of writing too often will lead the audience to get bored?

Dude, I feel your pain! I have read collected shorts by brilliant writers — Wells Tower, Joy Williams, Sam Lipsyte, George Saunders — that read like watching a magician repeat a trick too many times.  Those stories were not written to be read one after the other.  Frankly those authors did repeat themselves a bit too often and the anthologies are where they got caught doing that.  Myself, I try to avoid repetition. I’m always wanting to write a different story from my last one, and to reach outside of whatever is my “style”. I hope that makes a banquet of my stories easier to digest. My editor friend Bradley Sands and I put a lot of thought into how to make this new collection bigger than the sum of its parts, which stories to include and exclude and how to order them to give the book flow and momentum and meaning.  Fortunately, Death is a bottomless theme.  I’ll probably keep on writing about it until I meet it personally.

I’m a liberal; we live for Schadenfreude.

It isn’t easy to laugh at Death, but what other options do we have, really?  Ignoring Death is easy when you’re younger, but the older you get the more Death taps your shoulder and clears his throat.  To stare down Death is hard, because Death never blinks.  Urinating on Death sounds promising but it’s unclear how you would actually do that.  I suggest we laugh at Death while we can — not because Death is all that funny, but because Death hates laughter! When we chortle, Death sneers. Laughter gives us courage and takes the edge off oblivion. And five minutes of solid laughter is good cardio; combined with Pilates and a diet rich in antioxidants, it’s sure to extend your life by at least a month.

4.) Your novels are often quite short in length. Why did you choose to release Rampaging Fuckers Of Everything On The Crazy Shitting Planet Of The Vomit Atmosphere as a collection of three novels rather than releasing them separately?

I think they fit together nicely.  They share the themes of hubris, exploitation and enormous body parts.  They’re also the first three consciously Bizarro stories I wrote, and they celebrated my new working relationship with Eraserhead.  Plus … okay, I admit it, I was trying to impress readers with my thickness.  I used to believe that readers are turned on by really thick books.  I’ve since learned that it’s not the size of the book that matters, but the size of the author’s penis.  Which is quite large by the way.  In fact, it is infinite.

The usual advice: read tons of great stuff.  Dig deep into funny writers, read them analytically, imitate them to learn from them.  Learn to tell a joke.  But even more importantly: beware of the soul-deadening effects of glibness and sarcasm!  It’s possible to be so funny that you become numb to other emotions.

Books and e-readers are equally good for whacking a bear on the snout.  There’s room in the world for both.  I don’t read on the Kindle, but I get what people like about it.  And it’s hard to argue with the money Amazon sticks in my bank account every month.  But printed books are an amazing, highly-evolved technology.  They have certain clear advantages that are not going away.  They’re also beautiful artifacts, and in an era where more and more of our tactile and interpersonal experiences are being replaced with taps and clicks, there is something really delicious and liberating about carrying around a book, cracking the spine, flipping through its pages, underlining passages, spilling coffee on it, dropping it on your foot, accidentally setting fire to it while smoking in bed … our weightless, soundless texts need all the physicality they can get, I think.

I feel tingly about it, and slightly moist. The scene has grown and grown. We’ve welcomed a lot of young, interesting weirdos into the fold. On bookstore shelves and in the interwebs, Bizarro is thriving like a fungus.  This year, Eraserhead Press is winning harder than a six-pack of Charlie Sheens!  But a good publisher only publishes what they know how to sell, and not everything I write is Bizarro.  For instance, I’m dying to do a certain pop-up book — a racy, silly one for parents, but with all the beautiful flaps and folds and die-cut moving parts of a real 3D book. Only a few publishers in the world can even figure out how to print those.  So I’m asking around, trying to get connected to publishers who might be interested.  And that’s easier to do with a book agent, so I’m investigating agents.  And it’s hard to get an agent without a 3-piece Armani suit, so I’m trying those on.  It’s a complex process.

8.) Your novel collection, Rampaging Fuckers of Everything On The Crazy Shitting Planet Of The Vomit Atmosphere has a pretty crazy title. Did you worry that you would alienate potential sales with that title, and what was the story behind it?

The title is lifted directly from a song by Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, one of my favorite bands ever, from their album “I Hope It Lands.”  From the moment I first read that title I wanted to see it on a book. I knew some people would recoil but others would have to laugh.  The title alone has driven a lot of sales. It was featured on a list of Books With Strange Titles that made the rounds on the Internet last year.

The swearing in the title has provoked a lot of reactions, but mostly positive ones.  Curiously, Amazon.com sells the book under its un-censored title but censors any attempt to include that title in a book review!  There are probably some booksellers out there who find it inappropriate for their stores, and that’s entirely their decision.  But for better or worse 2011 was the year that saw the word “fuck” enter the top forty and the title of a best-selling children’s book.  Nobody’s afraid of that word any more.  I almost want to throw a funeral for “fuck” now.  It used to be such a bad-ass.  Look what it’s been reduced to.

Funny you should ask … I’ve recently had some interesting conversations with Chicago’s RoShamBo Theater about adapting The Cannibal’s Guide to the stage.  it could be brilliant; the book is basically a monologue, but you’re always getting little clues and glimpses of other nearby characters.  Michael A. Rose, the director of RoShamBo, has some cool ideas for staging that.  There’s a lot to figure out, of course, but I’m excited about the possibilities.

I’d also like to see HELP! A Bear Is Eating Me! as a gem sweater on an old lady with really huge glasses.

I think you have hit the comedic nail on the ironic head there, Jay.  Famous Author Mykle Hansen began as a joke on a name-tag at a convention, but has now become the official public persona of Neurotic Introvert Mykle Hansen.  It’s the identity I wear when it’s time to interest the world in whatever madness I’ve been up to lately.  As an independent small-press author and artist, I have to promote my own work.  I’ve learned that whining and pleading are not good sales strategies — though they have done wonders in my personal life.  Instead, I have FAMH.  He’s like an amusing carnival barker, luring readers toward the sideshow in my brain.  I hope he’s not too annoying.  He only wants to freak you out.  Meanwhile, I have a bunch of projects on the table but I don’t want to promise them in advance of finishing them; that just seems to jinx things.  And it’s the Chrismas season, so I’m focused on shopping and overthrowing fascism until January.

Bizarro Central is running a competition to find the best bizarro story that has been published online, and I’d really like you to vote for my story. If you missed it, it can be found here: http://bizarrocentral.com/2011/12/01/flash-fiction-friday-the-omniscient-deity-is-a-card-shop/

Here is the notice taken from the website:

Was there a bizarro short story you read this year that you particularly loved? Well here’s your chance to recognize it! All stories first published in 2011 are eligible. This includes books, chapbooks, web journals, print journals and magazines, digital books, etc. You are allowed to cast three votes — please list your first, second, and third choice.

Finalists will be announced on Monday, December 19th, then a final vote will be held to determine the winner.

Please email your vote to bizarrocentralstoryoftheyear@gmail.com. You may also direct questions to that address.

Please note that this is not an official award.

So, if you wouldn’t mind voting for me, then please do so. The email address is here again: bizarrocentralstoryoftheyear@gmail.com .

Maybe as a second vote consider my friend Bradley Sands, he has had lots of work published this year. His site is: www.bradleysands.com.

 

My new story, a flash entitled The Omniscient Deity Is A Card Shop has been selected for Flash Friday at Bizarro Central. Really happy with this. Thanks to Kirsten for selecting it.

You can read it by clicking here.

Kris Saknussemm is the author of Zanesville, Enigmatic Pilot and Private Midnight. His latest book is the short story collection, Sinister Miniatures. The collection is fantastic and one of the best short story collections I have read this year. Thanks a lot for joining me here, Kris, I really appreciate it.

The works of Kris Saknussemm can be found on Amazon UK here or Amazon US here.

Interview is as follows:

1.) Many of the stories from Sinister Miniatures have been published in journals before. Do you feel that it is dangerous for this as readers may choose to just hunt down each story, or good publicity so that a fan can buy them collectively?

I like the idea of trying to publish stories as they’re written–to share them when fresh. I think then there’s a basis upon which to select material for a collection. You choose the pieces that have seemed to work the best, to have garnered praise or demonstrated the capacity for connection with readers.

 2.) Upsetting Kevin Costner, threatening to sue Michael Jackson and being accused of being David Foster Wallace, the rumors around Zanesville are as notorious as the book itself. How do you feel about these rumors and events?

I’m puzzled and amused by the rumors. It’s pleasing that the book has gotten out into the world and culture the way it has. I didn’t consciously set out to do that of course–but I see now that books have an inner hopefulness unto themselves. If they’re to work, they take on a life of their own. The Kevin Costner episode in particular always makes me laugh.

 3.) How do you feel about the debate of E-readers vs print?

I’m looking forward to the expanding possibilities of what the e-book platform can deliver in a multimedia sense, and am working in more multimedia ways all the time. I don’t believe this will undermine the printed book format. I think the big issue for writers is how the royalty issue pans out. I’m concerned that so many people are self-publishing and flooding the market with give away e-books just to try to find a readership.

4.) When releasing a short story collection, do you worry that too many stories that feature the same style or voice in stories will appear repetitive to the reader and how did you avoid this in your collection?

I hope I have avoided it. I was pretty ruthless in terms of selection and many, many stories didn’t get included–even if I really liked them.

5.) You have released two books before Sinister Miniatures, Zanesville and Private Midnight. What’s next in your career?

I have a book called REVEREND AMERICA coming out in February that I’m really proud of. It’s my most realistic work to date. There’s also a kind of crazy novella called EAT JELLIED EELS AND THINK DISTANT THOUGHTS which is being published in the UK soon. It will appeal to fans of ZANESVILLE. I’ve sold another book called SEA MONKEYS, which will come out next year from Counterpoint Press, who I really admire. Right now I’m working on two parallel books that deal with my time in the Pacific Islands (the Solomons, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Fiji and Tonga). Those were very strange times by any standard, and it’s taken me a long time to work out how to write about them.

 6.) When putting together a collection, did you focus much on the placement of stories and the order they go in?

I turned the matter over entirely to my good friend Lyric Powers. She’s a great natural editor and came up with the final order.

7.) Zanesville was praised for being “a surrealist black comedy”, is this something that you intended when writing the novel and how did you feel about the novels reception?

I think that’s a very fair and apt description of it. I was pleased with the reader response to the book, but I would’ve liked more push from Random House (this is a common complaint). I feel readers and critics have understood the book better than the publisher.

 8.) What is your writing process like, from start to finish?

I’m much more focused now. My earlier works have all come out of a deep chaos and sense of personal crisis. Now, I’m settling into a more workmanlike groove and sharing bits and pieces earlier with readers I trust, or with members of my collaborative multimedia posse. I try to have a lot of visual reference for the words around me right from the start. I develop musical correlatives, so I can “hear” the work from another point of view. The more real I can make it for myself, the truer and sharper it will be for others. I guess I’ve given up on the notion of “writing” something. I want to be making things. And to make them as real as possible.

 9.) Years after releasing Zanesville and Private Midnight, how do you feel looking back on your published work?

There’s an elaborate mythology that lies behind ZANESVILLE. It’s intended to be part of a story cycle, so I feel that it’s still very much in progress–and vulnerable and fragile in that way. I have a feeling that the whole cycle is one body of work I’ll be tinkering with right up to the very end. PRIVATE MIDNIGHT I remain very proud of. It’s controversial and never fails to provoke strong reactions in people. I had a big fight with my agent when I first delivered it. It took me into some real personal darknesses in the writing–and when I go back to sections of it, they always seem as though they were written by someone else.

 10.) You have published with an imprint of Random House and also the independent press, Lazy Facist. How do you feel about having different publishers and what difference do you feel it makes to the final work?

I highly recommend having relationships with different publishers. There are things that a large commercial house can do that a small press can’t match. On the other hand, there’s a level of engagement and connection with small press editors that is simply the most rewarding thing in the whole game. I don’t think there’s any question that the most interesting writing today is being put out by the small presses. They’re open to the most exciting work in a way New York will never be again.

 

Very thrilled to announce that I have a story titled “Bordello” that went live at Solarcide. Solarcide is a fantastic website, lots of great interviews and great writing to come.The website is even run by two fantastic writers themselves, so make sure you check them out.

You can find the website, and my story, by clicking here.

Hey guys,

I have my first print story featured in the upcoming anthology, released by Thunderdome Press.

Here is some information directly lifted from the Thunderdome website, has some of my close friends, and fantastic writers featured. Stay tuned for more updates:

Inspired by photographs taken around the Los Angeles area, the book features short stories from 26 authors, including Craig Clevenger (The Contortionist’s Handbook, MacAdam/Cage Publishing), Richard Thomas (Transubstantiate, Otherworld Publications), Nik Korpon (Stay God, Otherworld Publications), Simon West-Bulford (The Soul Consortium, Medallion Press), Pela Via (Warmed and Bound: A Velvet Anthology, Velvet Press), Gordon Highland (Major Inversions), L.A. Poet Dennis Cruz, and emerging writers from around the world who are making their voices heard.

Each author was asked to select a photograph from a collection taken by the editor and write a story of precisely 1,000 words inspired by what they saw – no more, no less. The result is quintessential Los Angeles: Dreams, Drugs, Hallucinations, Romance, Life and Death, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and Redemption. Like the city itself, the book is multifaceted, hard to label and even harder to put down.

…In Search of a City: Los Angeles in 1,000 Words
Available on www.Amazon.com and www.ThundaDome.com/LA1K
on November 23^rd, 2011