Interview with a Vamp: The Paris Review and Dorothy Parker, 1956
When I read through this interview done in 1956 between The Paris Review and Dorothy Parker, I couldn’t help but wonder what Shakespeare would have thought of her wit. I imagined he’d say: “Call my director: I was wrong, we should be casting women for all those parts. Hell, if we can find any more like Parker, cast her in the men’s parts, too.”
Tim Gager, the principal of the Dire Reader Series, announces a new literary journal: Printer’s Devil Review (PDR). He’s its Editorial Consultant and he helped find authors to submit to the journal. Thomas Dobson created it along with his staff of editors. It’s is an open-access journal of stories, poems, and visual art. They aim to provide emerging writers and artists with greater access to publishing. For the reader they hope to deliver new voices and visions. The journal has all the contents downloadable on PDF files from the Website. If the story of Kate Racculia is an example, he’s met his promise to showcase good writing. I was once a printer’s devil (a printing assistant) and had my own Red Howl Press when “press” meant paper under my feet and ink under my fingernails.
This is the boat Ronan buys to flee Las Croabas after he is threatened by thieves. It’s seaworthy enough to sail along a coastline, but not enough to survive a storm at sea.
Writing is like pro football—you have to work at it until you sweat every day (and, of course, the injuries are more severe).
My fiction combines autobiography, short parables for children, history, travel writing, and poetry. It is related in this way to the Haibun form of 17th Century Japan. The Japanese poet, Bashō, known mainly for his haiku, was a writer of haibun. Haibuns may use a scene in a descriptive and objective manner or they may occupy a dream-like space. Realistic scenes may be faded into parabolic ones such as this which follows a paragraph of standard prose:
I am your mother. I give you life, I hold your life up, I give you life on your own. The last gift is the hardest to give. I caress your title page as it leaves my hand. I can’t imagine not giving you a little sister. It’s the third gift.
My short story, Late Night Waitress, has been accepted by Wilderness House Literary Review for September. Julia Carlson, the fiction editor, asked for a bio and said I ought to include the info about the music that relates to the story. This story evolved from a ejected chapter from my novel, Blues Pizza. I hope to publish the novel with the songs on CD so readers can listen and read. The story is built around a songwriter who’s in New York for a session gig and who also has written a song for the band in cutting the record. The actual song, Choosers, is a song I’ve written and recorded. I just put it up on YouTube.
Here:
The Mendocino Coast Writers Conference is held on the scenic northern California coast. I know, I learned to write and swim there (Fort Bragg, CA). Its faculty has included: Barbara Kingsolver, John Lescroart, Ronnie Gilbert, and Gary Snyder. It offers scholarships and contests and nature hikes. I wish I could be there to see Glass Beach, Noyo Harbor, and Pudding Creek. It’s held this year in late July. Check it out at http://mcwc.org.
Thanks to all the visitors today. I’m thinking you didn’t come yesterday because you didn’t know about the site yet. They don’t call me Sherlock Holmes. Thanks also to Charlotte for her comments. This is inspiring; I’ll have to add some new material now you’ve brought it to life for me.
davidkrancher.com 