books are written

Books are written in basements by broken heaters; books are written during revolutions; books r written about, during, and despite marriages, divorces, and separations. Write books. Write your best books this summer. Or a story, an amazing story you didn't know you could write.

— Alex Kudera (@kudera) May 31, 2020

Books are written during wars; books are written during pandemics; books are written on death beds; books are written when Rome is burning. I hope to read your books soon.#WritingCommunity #WritingLife #SaturdayFeeling #SaturdayMotivation #amreading #amwriting #mfa #awp

— Alex Kudera (@kudera) May 31, 2020

a way of dealing with my life

"Lo que más me gusta de mi trabajo," I began, and thought hard, because no one in fifty years had ever asked me this question. And what was it that I most liked about my work? That I had no boss, no employees, no rivals, no competition—the freedom of being a writer? That it was a way of dealing with my life, transforming my experiences, finding ways to understand it—recording life's joys, making its tribulations bearable, and also, in writing, easing the passage of time? Making a living this way, my own way, self-employed—that was something to like. Curious to know more about Mexico, I could get in my car and drive from home to the border, and from the border to Mexico City, and then here, making notes at the end of the day answerable to no one."

~~ from On the Plain of Snakes by Paul Theroux

on the road in Mexico

"'La única gente que me interesa es la que está loca, la gente que está loca por vivir, loca por hablar, loca por salvarse,' it began, and anyone who has read On the Road will easily recognize it as the mission statement of the man who inspired my generation to hit the road: 'The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved.' (The end of the book, seldom quoted, was a soberer reflection:  'Nobody knows what's going to happen to anybody, besides the forlorn rags of growing old,' a condition that Kerouac was never to know, dying in Florida at the age of forty-seven.)"

~~ from On the Plain of Snakes by Paul Theroux

Chinese Gucci: The Interview, Part 4

Fourth-quarter "crunch time" for our Chinese Gucci interview, but Hosho McCreesh has what it takes to send us home triumphant. Enjoy!

AK: Do you have other novels in progress, or books that lay dormant in bottom drawers (or files on your laptop)? HM: I do, but I don't know if there's an idea that's good enough to see through in any of them. They all have their virtues, but I can't see any of them as finished projects yet. Maybe a couple can survive deep cuts and work as novellas. I don't know yet. I did love writing the novel though—it was rewarding in a completely new and different way than all of my other writing so far, so I'd love to do that again. Bukowski had 5 novels. Portis had 5 or 6, I think. For now, maybe that's the goal? I'd need a lot more time than I have to fit in everything that I still really want to do. So who's to say if even 5 or 6 is possible? Seems unlikely. . . unless that dump truck of money shows up somehow.
AK: How is quarantine working out for you? What does the mood feel like where you are right now? HM: We're on the edge of yet another idiotic cliff, about to step off. America, by and large, refuses to save itself. Most of the rest of the world doesn't have the same trouble with basic facts as we've decided to indulge. We're like those tubby little pandas that won't fuck to save ourselves! To entertain some quasi-serious "discussion" about who is worth saving and who should die just so some assholes can go eat at Cracker Barrel is insane to the point of heartbreaking satire. And yet, here we are. We've been locked down for 2 months, and despite doing lots of creative stuff, I'd say we're as sick of it as everyone else. We miss all our people, miss our fun stuff, going places, being together. But it's not over just because we want it to be. But try telling that to the beaches in Jacksonville, to spring breakers, or nutjobs with bazookas at fucking Subway though. Ugh. We're going to keep doing our part because, at this point, that's the safest option. . . but I'm not optimistic. We forgot how to care about each other because America made doing that a sucker's bet. This "us-or-them" mentality has everyone picking sides as if scoring some ridiculous point or being "right" matters at all. The reality is, it does not matter who is "right" or "wrong." Now it's only a question of game-theory to me: what do you win if you're "right" and what do you lose if you're "wrong." If the left is "wrong" in believing the science and using that as a guide—what is lost? Well, sustained economic impacts over some imaginary boogeyman. If the right is "wrong" about this whole thing being a hoax—what is lost? Their lives, and possibly the lives of their loved ones, and others. To me, that's a bad bet.
But no matter who you ask, half the country is making their own bad bet. . . and they're willing to carelessly destroy something rather than truly considering the idea that they might be wrong. On and on with the folderol. . . here on our pale blue goddamned dot. AK: What are your current writing or art projects? And what’s next for Hosho McCreesh living in “the gypsum and caliche badlands of the American Southwest”? HM: I'm putting the finishing touches on the A DEEP & GORGEOUS THIRST—UNABRIDGED AUDIO project. . . and have my first true series of paintings started. I'd like to make an audio version of Chinese Gucci, I've got a book about the art/collage of it in the works too. I think I might try to adapt it to a screenplay too. There's a short story collection, and a couple of poetry projects. . . an animation idea. . . like I said, I need more time than I probably have. And as each pay nothing, none are more pressing than the others!

AK: Please do check out Hosho's new audio project or purchase Chinese Gucci from your favorite independent bookseller!

the example of Chekhov

"In making these snapshots of migrants at the Comedor, I intended to follow the example of Chekhov, who, on his trip through Sakhalin Island in 1890, did the same, composing small portraits, before describing the place as a whole."

~~ from On the Plain of Snakes by Paul Theroux

Chinese Gucci: The Interview, Part 3

Enjoy the third installment of L.U.S.K.'s Hosho McCreesh Interview:

AK: American teens comes across as particularly oblivious and self-centered in Chinese Gucci. Even if they “give a shit” about the environment or social justice, they come across expressing their caring in extremely self-centered ways. Did you recognize that the characters could be dismissed as “unlikable” when you wrote the book?  HM: To me, this is a byproduct of culture. There are ways to emerge from youth with a healthy, genuine curiosity, a sense of right-and-wrong, and on the way to being a fully formed and empathetic adult. . . but, man, that needle takes some fucking threading! So much of life, both online and in the real world, is muddied by this country's liquid values. Kindness and responsibility are treated as some kind of filthy blight, while cruelty, "gettin' mine," and this fuck-everybody mentality run roughshod over our blood-soaked streets. Violence is an epidemic, yet it's treated like a solution in every dumb-ass exploding action flick. . . instead of what it truly is: a deeper and more desperate complication of any situation. This culture of the self, especially the utterly lost and ignorant, unknown self, simply isn't sustainable but, like most of America's problems, now seems too big to solve. And the sad truth is, if you're writing the great American novel, you can't ignore the terrible undercurrents in this culture. So, yes, I knew those were all unlikable things. . . but they were, for me, true things. . . and hard truths tend to sting like that.

AK: Your novel taps into how stupid consumerism is, how we want a name on our purse or jacket regardless of the product’s quality. And it captures, to some extent, how stupid American consumerism helps feed the global economy. People have jobs in Mexico, China, Vietnam, everywhere, because affluent people—increasingly everywhere from coastal China to Tokyo to urban Europe and North America—want overpriced name-brand stuff. Was this all on your mind before the novel took shape? HM: Yes, that's really the overarching metaphor for the whole book. Our insatiable desire not just for shit, but the most expensive shit, fuels economic desperation on a global scale. Kids working in brutal factories so corporations can squeeze out every bloody cent of profit, middle men wedging their doughy asses in between the labor and the slathering consumer, plus a worldwide ad campaign that convinces everyone they are worthless unless they have everything. . . even when we know they'll never stop making more stupid gimcracks and idiotic sundry. . . and still we buy the lie that it somehow will add up to happiness. Again, this feels like a thing humanity probably cannot escape. It's got its meat hooks sunk too deep in our fragile hearts. AK: If you were to “cash in” with this novel—sales, movie rights, the works—how would you change your life? What would remain the same? Is there anything you certainly would change? HM: Well, it won't—for a couple reasons. Most immediately because there's no such thing as "cashing in" as a writer anymore. But for the world-famous names, the idea that anyone can make a career writing what they want exactly how and when they want to is pure fantasy. Even fairly "successful" writers, established genre writers, can't make so much that they're comfortable. . . and certainly not make enough to write what they want, for years and years, without needing to publish something else. I mean, I know I am pretty damn far from the epicenters of publishing. . . but I truly don't see how anyone does it anymore.
The second reason is the book isn't a 4-quadrant hit with something for everyone. It's really only going to work for a very select, very tiny slice of readers. It's an uncomfortable read from the first sentence, and it hopefully churns the same complex feelings that writing it did. As an overall experience, I don't imagine it's a crowd pleaser. But if the Safdie Brothers or the Coen Brothers or some Hollywood megastar decided that Chinese Gucci was their next movie, I'd pay down my house and set up my kiddo for college. If it was enough, then I'd definitely quit work, and build a writing/painting/art studio. . . and do that as my "job" instead. I'd certainly travel more—if travel is even a thing in the future. Everything else would hopefully stay the same.

AK: Tune in Friday for the final section of L.U.S.K.'s Hosho McCreesh interview.

caretaker

"The two met in 1999, when Roth called Murdock to chat about fixing up the old stone walls. Murdock had worked for a number of famous people in the area — the actor Sam Waterston, the Muppets puppeteer and actor Frank Oz — but Roth’s call awed him. A lifelong reader, particularly fond of the novelists Larry McMurtry and Elmore Leonard, Murdock had always dreamed of working for a writer. He’d read some of Roth’s books, and disliked all of them except Patrimony, Roth’s 1991 memoir about the death of his father, Herman. Even so, Murdock just couldn’t believe who he was talking to. When he got over the shock and began the work, he found that he and Roth got along just fine. By the end of the summer, Roth asked him to be the property’s caretaker."

Chinese Gucci: The Interview, Part 2

Enjoy more of Hosho McCreesh's detailed responses for L.U.S.K.'s Author Interview Series.

AK: How similar or different was your own experience growing up in New Mexico to that of the central character in Chinese Gucci? Did you travel to Mexico often or ever? Do you feel that your childhood circumstances fed your interest in writing and making art?

HM: I feel a kinship and certain similarities with all the named characters. I think you have to, to write from their different points of view. But I am not any one character, or they aren't me, I guess. But much of it is based on some experience traveling as a teen, some struggles in early adulthood, that Nihilistic feeling when things don't work out, and the unbalanced emotions of youth. . . sure, that's all gotta be based on experience or I don't think it would read well. I've been to a handful of border towns in Mexico, and loved every minute of it, so while there isn't a Hotel Tulum, that's all born of some of that magic of travel. 

I am sure growing up as I did allowed my creativity to develop, but instead of circumstances, I'd say it was support from my mom, and family, and some amazing English and writing teachers that gave me room to be artistic. How and what to do with that all came later, after college really.

AK: At times, the main character comes across as extremely angry to the point of being unhinged. Were you thinking of teen anger when you wrote, or teen anger specific to periods of significant loss? Were you trying to describe male anger in general? HM: A huge part of this book is my attempt at understanding the psychological machinery, hell, the mental gymnastics of toxic masculinity. The shit fascinates me, and deeply troubles me. I was raised by a single mom, and she and my aunts did all the heavy lifting raising the kids, so I naturally trust and respect women, whereas I am standoffish with men. Toxic masculinity is, to my eye, a kind of cultural rot born of fear, of repression, of vulnerability, and sexuality. It's all artifice and façade and projection fueled by this insatiable last for power and that makes it's so volatile and dangerous. It's astonishing to me that anyone is able to navigate the hinterlands of American culture and youth and come out on the other side even mildly functional. There are a lot of unnatural and insanely powerful forces at work on children. Our country really doesn't do them any favors. And that definitely makes for an unlikable bunch of characters, at least at times. AK: Chinese Gucci is particularly strong in diction and vernacular. Language shapes the world of the novel in extremely vivid ways, and there was great care in how different groups—American teens, immigrant parents, Mexicans surviving on travel and hospitality—spoke and interacted. Were you thinking constantly about language as you wrote? Was it fun to write dialogue the way you did?
HM: I love dialogue. It's the most magical place in a book, to me, in terms of revealing character. Setting as revelation so often feels heavy and meta, and artificially infused with trickery, and the realm of internal, stream of consciousness must be limited by a character's knowledge of self, so the only way people learn things they don't know about themselves is by accidentally admitting or betraying their thoughts or subconscious. Dialogue is my favorite thing to write, if I had to pick. We all reveal so much about ourselves with how and what we say and think. It reveals our biases and our pasts. It's wildly mysterious. So, yeah, I try to get every bit of it pitch-perfect. I had lots of help with the Spanish, as I don't know enough to write Spanish dialogue the way I needed to. My friend and fellow writer Jose Pepe Arroyo gave the bordertown Spanish all the intricate polish I wanted.

AK: Look for more from Hosho McCreesh next week!

Q. At times, the main character comes across as extremely angry to the point of being unhinged. Were you thinking of teen anger when you wrote, or teen anger specific to periods of significant loss? Were you trying to describe male anger in general?HM: A huge part of this book is my attempt at understanding the psychological machinery, hell,  the mental gymnastics of toxic masculinity. The shit fascinates me, and deeply troubles me. I was raised by a single mom, and her and my aunts did all the heavy lifting raising the kids...so I naturally trust and respect women, whereas I am standoffish with men. Toxic masculinity is, to my eye, a kind of cultural rot born of fear, of repression of vulnerability and sexuality. It's all artifice and façade and projection fueled by this insatiable last for power...and that makes it's so volatile and dangerous. It's astonishing to me that anyone is able to navigate the hinterlands of American culture and youth and come out on the other side even mildly functional. There are a lot of unnatural and insanely powerful forces at work on children. Our country really doesn't do them any favors. And that definitely makes for an unlikable bunch of characters, at least at times.

The Heartsick Diaspora

"In Mandarin, three-long-two-short, sān cháng liǎng duǎn, also meant disaster or death."

~~ from Elaine Chiew's The Heartsick Diaspora


    三长两短

Chinese Gucci: The Interview, Part 1

As I noted at Goodreads, I greatly enjoyed Hosho McCreesh's Chinese Gucci, and I wanted to help the book find more readers. I recalled, then, that I'd been known to conduct an author interview or two, so I sent McCreesh some questions, and he was kind enough to answer them. 

AK: Could you tell us when you began writing this book? Did you write it over years, or months?
HM: I started 5 possible novel projects in 2008, the things I saw as potential long-form fiction. I sketched out what I had of each, and started folders to gather materials.  Over the next 6 or 7 years, whenever I had an idea at work, driving, or as I was about to fall asleep, I would jot it down on scraps of paper, and stick them in the folders.  When I felt like I had all I needed, it was the Chinese Gucci folder that was fat and ready...so I spent the next couple years writing on my lunch break, week nights, and weekends until I had a draft. Then a couple cycles of rewriting and refining, and a final draft polish with Joshua Mohr. I spent a year and change trying for an agent, and the small press I wanted...with no luck. AK: What were some of the most important breakthroughs during this time? HM: Finishing a novel, for one. I had scrapped 5 different tries from 1997 through 2008. I'd get 100 pages in and just be lost, and wouldn't care about it anymore.  The other massive breakthrough was discovering, before my final draft and polish, what the book was "about." Up to then, I was writing instinctually, I KNEW something needed to be there, but not why. . . stuff about name brands, high fashion, fast food, WWII, Indian casinos--this crazy, swirling stew of things. I decided to try some collage, and it visually connected all those dots back to the text for me. I knew at the heart of the story was this stunted kid, but the big, mean, and ugly undercurrent was America, my complicated feelings about the country and our history. . . and the characters are byproducts of the culture and history.  The final breakthrough was deciding to self-publish, and to put the collage I made on the hardback covers, so each copy had an original work of art for a cover. That idea powered me through all the remaining work and transformed the project into something more than just a debut novel. It was a real rush, artistically. I had loads of help of course, but I'm proud as hell at how it all turned out. 
AK: Return here for more of Hosho's detailed responses two to three times each week.

Happy Mother's Day!

"The British government’s current recommendation for people aged seventy and up is to practice strict social distancing. But the elderly, and others in high-risk groups, will shortly be asked to begin twelve weeks of social shielding, or isolation. That’s a long stretch for anyone, but especially in the life of someone for whom time has become precious. It’s also tough for the people separated from ill family members. In the most hopeful scenario, we won’t see my mother until June."

~~ from "My Mother Is Under Quarantine, But We're Still 
                Staying Close," The New Yorker, March 22, 2020

Goodbye, My Havana

"Tell us what is this nonsense in America about women's liberation?"

~~ from Goodbye, My Havana by Anna Veltfort

Unemployment 2020

"Before the pandemic, Detroit restaurant server Deshan Hedrick used to worry about saving for a new home. Now she has a new problem: where to find food to last her through the next few days.

"Hedrick, who lives in a small house with a roommate and had never been laid off in 25 years of waitressing, hasn't received an unemployment payment since she lost her job on March 16. . .

"By one measure, Michigan is a relative success story. As of April 25, the state had enrolled 21.1% of eligible working-age adults into unemployment programs, the third-highest rate in the country and above the national rate of 13.3%, U.S. Labor Department figures show.

"That’s little comfort to Hedrick, 40, who says she wrestled for more than a month with a website for processing claims that repeatedly failed and couldn’t get through by phone. Her claim wasn't accepted until April 18. Under federal guidelines, she should have received funds by early April.

"Hedrick, who has no kids and grew up poor in Detroit, earned about $3,200 a month at Starter’s Bar and Grill. By mid-April, she exhausted her $1,700 in savings. Now she's surviving on noodles and canned soup donated by friends and faces a $4,000 backlog of bills --- from utilities and insurance to her monthly rent of $825.

"Michigan's Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity spokeswoman Erica Quealy acknowledged there have been delays but said that it has extended call center hours due to the surge in demand and delays, and has quadrupled the number of staffers helping customers."

~~ from "'The government is failing us': Laid-off Americans struggle in the 

     coronavirus crisis,"  

     Reuters, May 7, 2020

Hunger 2020

"City Harvest, a nonprofit that distributes food donated by restaurants and other retail outlets to nearly 250 food pantries and soup kitchens citywide, says it delivered 6.6 million pounds of food between March 9 and April 12, or almost 5 million pounds more than the year-earlier period, according to Racine Lee Droz, City Harvest’s director of food sourcing. . .

"Food Bank for New York City — the biggest anti-hunger organization in the city — says the number of users could double or even triple from the pre-coronavirus level of 2.5 million. . .

"As of last week, 791,000 New Yorkers had applied for unemployment benefits, according to the Department of Labor. A New School study found that the state has lost 1.2 million jobs so far, and estimates that one-third of the city could soon be out of work.

"On Wednesday, Mayor de Blasio announced a plan to spend $170 million on food for the hungry. . .

"Now, Rethink Food, a local nonprofit, has launched a pop-up soup kitchen outside the church and is doing 600 to 1,000 meals a day, five days a week. “We could easily do 5,000 meals a day,” Rethink founder Matt Jozwiak said — and lines would be even longer if it weren’t for fear of infection."

~~ from The New York Post, April 19, 2020

Goldenberg's Peanut Chews

The day I stumbled upon a stack of his family's peanut chews in the Hyundai Supermarket / Department Store in central Seoul is one I will never forget. #Philadelphia #peanut #chews #chocolate #candy https://t.co/4AxDqv3fiz

— Alex Kudera (@kudera) May 6, 2020

Jericho Brown, M.I.A.

John sent me. . .

"John sent me," Akira said, "Told me to Ask the Dust."

~~ from Chinese Gucci by Hosho McCreesh