We love learning more about our contributors, and an interview seemed like a fun way to hear more about the writers and artists we publish, so we gave them a choice of questions to answer. We hope you also enjoy hearing more about the artists and their works. Read on and check out issue 28 for work from Victor McConnell.
What was the inspiration for the piece published in the issue?
It was inspired by a real life event. I live near the mouth of a canyon, and rattlesnakes are common near my house.
Who or what inspires your work generally?
This is a tough question. I don't know that there is a "generally." Sometimes it is "based on a true story," as the saying goes. Other times it comes from... wherever it is that ideas come from. Synaptic misfirings, perhaps? Sometimes I struggle to discern signal from noise.
What is your favorite vice? What are you drinking at happy hour, in a literal or a metaphorical sense?
Hmm. I don't mean to be difficult, but I don't really separate my life into virtue and vice. I'm fortunate, I suppose, that I'm not prone to substance addiction, so I can enjoy a drink without worrying that it will take me down the rabbit hole. The drink I drink the most? Coors Light. It's obligatory, as I live about a mile from Coors brewery...
Who are some of your favorite writers, and what do you like about them?
The list changes often. Currently: Louise Gluck, Lucia Berlin, Percival Everett, Cormac McCarthy. What I like about them... too much to enumerate here.
Give us a recipe and tell us why you chose it--what's special about that dish?
Troll House Cookies - 1/2 cup peanut butter, 6oz chocolate chips, 5 cups Corn Flakes. Put peanut butter and chocolate chips in pan and heat slowly, stirring until melted. Mix in cereal gently. Then use spoon to drop cookies onto a flat pan and put them in the refrigerator until they harden. What's special about it? It comes from a children's book I read often with my mother when I was a child.