An Interview With Brian Ames

As a follow-up to my previous review of Brian Ames's Eighty-Sixed, I am posting the following interview with the author. Thanks to Brian for agreeing to answer these questions.

How would you respond to the contention that the stories in Eighty-Sixed are almost exclusively focused on male characters and their problems? Is this intentional, or just a byproduct of other concerns you are trying to address?

It is true that several protagonists in 86’d are men dealing with their problems and situations from a male point of view. While I have written and published stories with female characters and even in female first-person voice, I’ll not try to claim that my objective anywhere at any time is to render stories in a gender-neutral fashion, nor with any sort of gender agenda. I’m more familiar for obvious reasons with telling stories from a masculine perspective. I have a bit of a fondness for adventure stories and the old pulp formats, Jack London-ish I guess, and I’m sure some of that informs my own work. This is not everyone’s cup of tea, but it works for me. I’m not a very sophisticated guy, just someone who thinks he can tell a good story. I don’t know shit about literary forms, can’t even remember why I got A’s in English class. I just do what seems fun on paper, try to clean it up a little, throw it out if – in the end – I think it’s garbage, or share it if I think it isn’t.

Would you say that both the characters and the situations--the latter often involving work-related activities--to be found in Eighty-Sixed are of the sort that mainstream literary journals and presses tend to ignore? Have you had trouble placing your stories with "name" publishers?

Based on my own experience I would say not. I’ve never tried to get my work published by one of the big houses, although I have tried to get agents interested in representing the work. What I will say is that I have placed plenty of work that isn’t in 86’d in mainstream lit journals – Glimmer Train, North American Review, Night Train and Massachusetts Review come to mind – with similar characters and situations. Those stories just happen to be in other projects. I enjoy reading all of those journals most of the time, and my work also has been rejected by the best of them! But I’ve sort of been focusing on mid-tier venues for my stories, as well as on-line venues, and those who will take electronic submissions. (In this day, I can’t imagine why editors won’t look at electronic submissions…join the 1990s for crying out loud!) I just want to share the work. And I find great writing and – more importantly – great stories everywhere. What I can’t stand is when I read something in any venue and it’s a story about nothing. Nothing happens, or it’s all about interior mindscape crap. I want action and consequence, and I want it to ring true, with real characters I can relate to.

Did you have anything in mind in the arrangement of the stories in Eighty-Sixed? A particular reason, say, why "The Man Who Loved Jimi Hendrix" and "Arbor Day" are the opening two stories, while the title story comes last? Would you be comfortable with your readers approaching the book as indeed a collection to be read story by story, or should they take note of some larger structure in the book itself?

86’d got laid out in an order that made sense to me at the time. There really isn’t a hidden message if you play the record backwards. The Hendrix bit for the opener is representative of the same sort of tomfoolery I started my other collections with – a short flash or almost prose-poem. I like a warm-up band, as long as they are interesting. I did this with both of my previous collections. In the first, Smoke Follows Beauty, was a Twin Peaks-y piece about how ancient the forest is, what stories lurk there, and if you shut up long enough to hear, the trees will tell you those stories. In Head Full of Traffic, which is a suspense/horror/slipstream project, the opener is a one-pager where the late John Lee Hooker comes back as not only a master Bluesman, but a vampire as well. Goofy stuff. But I have my playful side. This shows up at the end of 86’d, with the title piece. It’s at the end by design. It’s the one story in the book that holds out the promise of redemption. The barfly (female, by the way) is revealed as a prophet/priestess. It portends hope for all of us. It’s actually intended in a weird way to set up my next collection, As Many Hands as God, which remains in search of a publisher. Where the stories in 86’d are about the fallen human condition in general, those in the next project are about how God works through people to represent the other intense human force, the “rising” force, if you will. That which is best about life – how we touch each other and that is God’s communication with all of us, telling us we matter.

The subtitle of Eighty-Sixed is "A Compendium of the Hapless." Do you think your characters truly are hapless? To what degree is there a satirical intent in such stories as "Ajax the God," "Affliction" or "Rise and Walk Off"?

Yes, they are. I mean truly fucked up, most of them. But it doesn’t mean they are inhuman, and don’t deserve our love and respect. The intent isn’t satire, although some of the situations are certainly satirical and/or ironic. The intent is, “Look here… this is part of the human condition. Screwing up is part of life.” Life still has dignity, and I and you and everyone are no less human for our fuck-ups. Again, taken with the next collection, they are jointly intended to summarize the human lot. The moon and sun of people-ness. Hah! Let’s look at the example of the miserable bastard in “Affliction.” So misguided and inappropriate, but is it his fault? This guy is fighting for his sanity, with his guts in a mess all over the place, and he’s really just crying out “Why?” as we all do from time to time. It’s the same in “Rise and Walk Off.” This dude is victimized, and the reasons and resolution are all a mystery to him. He just wants to fight!

Eighty-Sixed contains 22 stories. Your previous collections, Smoke Follows Beauty and Head Full of Traffic, contained 22 and 23, respectively. This is quite a prolific output. What is it specifically that appeals to you about the short story as a form? Do you envision working in the longer forms, the novella or the novel?

I love the short story form. I love reading them; I love writing them. I have written a novel. It remains on disks waiting for publishers to knock down my door and fight over it. I enjoyed writing it as well, and I like reading novels. But the reason the short story form appeals so much to me is its efficiency. It’s like a surgical strike: in and out, with substantial effect. It’s hard to do. Not all of my short stories are effective given that criteria. But some are damned effective. Plus, you know, I’m a busy guy. I have a short attention span. Any new shiny object wrests my attention from the last. I work, I’m a dad and husband and son, I play electric bass guitar in a band, I serve on a non-profit board, I make computer graphics, I download i-Tunes, I dick around with my own website, I hang out with friends, I water the lawn and barbecue a salmon once in a while. I’m too busy having a blast with too many things. All good things.

In addition to publishing some of your stories in online venues, you have also served as the fiction editor of Word Riot. How would you describe the current state of online publishing? What kind of future do you think it has?

On-line publishing works for me and lots of people. I think its future is bright, although I think print forms are here to stay, too. There is some absolutely marvelous writing on line these days. And so many places to read it. I think this is good. Ones that stand out in my mind are Barcelona Review, small spiral notebook, storySouth, and, of course, Word Riot. There are a lot of good writers, and a lot of good stories to be told. There isn’t enough room in the mainstream venues, and there isn’t always enough diversity of voice in some of them. I’m 42 years old, middle-class, white, Protestant, hetero, etc., and I don’t just want to read my contemporaries and elders – though their stuff is fantastic. I want to read what the 22-year-old is writing, too. I want to read what my Muslim friend is writing. And my gay friend, Asian-American friend, impoverished friend… you get it. On-line venues and anthologies and small, independent presses are where that’s happening more, at least that’s the impression I have.

How aware are you of "literary weblogs"? Do you think they might play a useful role in championing both online literary publications and current fiction in general? In providing a forum for the discussion of contemporary fiction?

I don’t know a hell of a lot about weblogs, although as a communications tool they are certainly emerging everywhere, for every conceivable subject, including literary writing. I like those I’ve looked at, and I think they could be useful. It remains to be seen whether they will become influential and important in advancing the “cause” of literature. They seem really useful as collaborative platforms and discussion forums. Aside from the obvious possibilities for them to serve as virtual workshops or even “book clubs,” I see potential in them as an important networking tool for writers who want to be in community. Working Together virtually is definitely happening all over the place. As a project, we executed all of 86’d electronically. I have never met in person or talked on the telephone with either Jackie Corley, the press’s editor and proprietor, nor David Barringer, the book's talented and fabulous designer. We have collaborated virtually on everything, including my role editing at Word Riot and other projects. Although I would love to meet them and have a drink, the virtual world made it possible for a writer from Missouri, an editor in New Jersey, and a designer in North Carolina to put together what I think is really a very nice product of which we all three are very proud.