02-09-11:Steven R. Boyett Interviewed at SF in SF on November 13, 2010
"I'm like a magician who is distracting you with these details and what you haven't questioned is, 'There's a talkin' horse.'"
—Steven R. Boyett
It was 1988 when I first met Steven R. Boyett, at least on the printed page, in 'Silver Scream,' an anthology edited by David Schow. The book was a Dark Harvest hardcover, and at the time, I was pretty much buying everything that they printed by default. And there I found a story titled "The Answer Tree," which struck me as being a very successful and intense sort of Borgesian tale.
Cut to 22 years later, in San Francisco, at SF in SF, where I had the chance to meet the author and hear him read two very different pieces. You always wonder whether the fiction of your feckless youth will hold up to scrutiny in your dotage, and now I was going to find out.
As Boyett read, I realized that I'd actually been right to remember that story and his name over all those years. His reading from 'Elegy Beach' had all the wistfulness, the power that you find in the novel. And his short story/radio play, "I am sorry to have to tell you this," also had that kind of power and was a great example of the short form.
02-08-11:Panel Discussion from SF in SF on November 13, 2010, with Terry Bisson, Steven R. Boyett and Dale Pendell
"...the wounds are so fresh, the blood is scarcely dry..."
—Dale Pendell
SF in SF often hits it out of the ballpark, and the November 13 line-up was particularly inspired. Terry Bisson quickly identified the connective tissue between the two writers who might on the surface have seemed to come from different worlds. That being that both of them liked to end the world, and did so in imaginative and entertaining ways.
Steven R. Boyett is a remarkably talented writer who ends the world with magic in 'Ariel' and its follow-up (some bazillion years later) 'Elegy Beach.' He's also the author of a short story about movies that I particularly love, "The Answer Tree," and his reading of "I am sorry to have to tell you this" displayed that short-form talent.
Dale Pendell, of course, wrote 'The Pharmako,' which I think is quite well described by his original title, 'The Poet's Guide to Drugs.' But his newest book is 'The Great Bay,' which is a history told from the perspective of the far future, long after the Central Valley of California has flooded due to global warming. I've got to tell readers that this is a very chilling prospect for me; while I might just end up with beach-front property if what Pendell describes comes to pass, the real disaster would be the impact on farming, since so much of our food (that of the United States and California, at least) comes from the Central Valley.
Put all these guys together and you get a great discussion with a lot of variety in tone and content, since Pendell and Boyett, for all their works have in common, have a very different approach. If you listen carefully, you'll hear a question from Karen Joy Fowler, who was in the audience. She asks about the California locations for theses Apocalypses, and I think that's a great observation. If you're going to experience the end of the world, you definitely want an ocean view.
"Soldiers like to tell stories ... and I'm a good listener."
—Siobhan Fallon
I spent a couple of years talking with writers about their first books, and it's always interesting to do so. Siobhan Fallon is something a bit different, however. Yes, 'You Know When the Men Are Gone' is indeed her first book. But it was selected by Amy Einhorn for her imprint, Amy Einhorn Books, and the rollout is more what you might expect for an author with a long track record of success. Moreover, the book itself reads like the work of an experienced author. The stories are polished, intelligent, and show an extraordinary level of variety and sophistication. What would the author of such a work be like?
That quickly became apparent when she walked in the door of KUSP with her driver; Siobhan reminded me an English teacher; she was as smart and charming as her stories, and just a bit reserved. I was having the interview video taped; Charles was already set up, and we were ready to roll when she came into the meeting room at KUSP.
I had her read from my favorite story and hers, two short sections, which will really give listeners a flavor of her work. Happily, concise short story writing translates well into readings. Then we settled into a conversation about her work, and she talked about the life that led to her writing. It wasn't teaching that made her familiar with being the object of attention — it was bartending.
I had her describe her life at Fort Hood, and asked a few potentially dodgy questions about adultery, one of the recurring themes of the stories. As I talked to her, I began to notice that she spoke differently; there was something in her wording that was not quite what I would expect. Then I twigged that it was the way she was referring to her husband; not as her "husband," but as her "soldier." She seemed a bit worried about her "umms," but to tell the truth, there were precious few of them for me to remove. You can hear our conversation by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
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