Welcome to the Lightning Room, where DeWitt Brinson & Simon Jacobs take turns asking PANK authors extremely difficult questions about their work.

December interviews come courtesy of the mind of DeWitt Brinson.

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Grab a couple of ridiculous flashlights and journey into the scars of the Earth and the cut of humanity with Michelle Bailat-Jones’ “Mining” from our infamous March issue; then seek the danger below, should you dare.

1. Did you start writing “Mining” with a rhythm in mind or did you begin with a story and find the rhythm after? or some other way?

“Mining” came about because I’ve been writing a novel about a woman who discovers a naturally-occurring nuclear reactor. There is a lot of science in that manuscript and I found myself getting really bogged down in re-reading all these old radiation protection handbooks and articles I’d translated for my day job. I really needed to get away from the facts of that story and all that radiation physics and find the music of the character somehow. So I wanted to write something that was very image and rhythm based-and also something that was baldly emotional. I wanted to focus on what these people were feeling more than what they were thinking. So yes, in that sense, Mining was about rhythm (and image) first and then I found its (tiny) story when that got moving along.

2. Have you ever been in a mine? I’ve been in caves but not mines, is there a difference in feeling between the man-carved and nature hollowed rock? Continue reading →