Ask The Author: Gary Sheppard

Gary Sheppard’s, wonderful fantastic piece of fiction appears in the August issue. Titled “Do You Understand, Perfectly, The Weeknights? Positively Mean Them?, you can read it here.

1. How did you come up with the following line: “My hand in yours in the
 suicide blast like being welded together now but malleable too.”

The line came from a novella I wrote concerning leftist suicide
bombers attempting to blow up Bush Jr’s presidential library at SMU in
Dallas.  It was a way of thinking about how two lovers could explode.
Literally and metaphorically, of course.  I think it might be
operating on a material level also, but that idea is only secondary
for me.  I was more concerned with heat, blast, and human hearts in
their way of dying.

2. Do you understand the weeknights perfectly?

With enough help, yes.

 3. How much faith do you put into someone?

For faith to be considered it is not the faith of one faithful, but of
two faithfuls, and even of three faithfuls, and even an infinity of
faithfuls, of whom every going, every being, every coming consisting
with a being and a coming, a coming and a going, a going and a being,
nay with all the being and all the comings, with all the coming and
all the goings, with all the goings and all the beings, of all the
faithfuls that have ever served me, of all the faithfuls that will
ever serve you.  That said, all I can manage.

4. Who are you a big fan of?

I really want to tell you how confused I am by the premise of this
question, how the genitive makes me nervous, but that seems priggish,
so I’ll just say: The New Orleans Saints, Barry Hannah, Califone, and
pretty much anyone that is ok smiling at me.

5. What do you have slotted between your toes?

Currently?  The Location of Culture.

6. Who would you want as your lawyer?

Sam Beckett.  The prosecution would motion and motion, try to
postpone, try to change the venue, try to object, and then, finally,
rest.