Alexi Karnikov won an
Honorable Mention Award in the Paranormal chapter for
BEING PSYCHIC IS WEIRDER
THAN YOU’D EXPECT
BAM: Alexi is a pen name. The author's actual name is Chris S. Burns. He has a story under his real name in the book, which appears in the Apocalyptic chapter. He also used a nom de plum, William Carmikal, in the Humor Chapter. Chris, where are you located?
Chris: San Francisco, California.
BAM: Where is your writing space?
Chris: My home.
BAM: Name some of your favorite books/authors.
Chris: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, the Noumena series by Lindsay Ellis, Max Barry, Brian Francis Slattery, Grady Hendrix.
BAM: Some of those are on my to-read list. What kinds of sweets are you into?
Chris: Anything chocolate!
BAM: Name some books
you read recently.
Chris:
The Peripheral by William Gibson;
Trees in Paradise: A California History by Jared
Farmer;
I’m in Love with Mothman by Paige Lavoie
BAM: I've heard of the last one. On your writing, what were the most drafts you've written
for a story?
Chris: Just so, so many! I draft more than I write, honestly.
BAM: It's the way of the beast that is the writing process. So, how do you handle story rejection, and celebrate
acceptance?
Chris: Handing rejection is easy for me. I just always accepted it as part of the gig and don’t take it too personally. If a story isn’t a fit for one thing, it’ll be a fit for another. It’s fine. There have been a few submissions I was really excited for that hurt when they became rejections, but mostly I just move on to the next thing. Celebrating acceptance is obviously more fun! Normally for that I’ll text or call a writer friend or two, make a drink, and cheers myself.
BAM: What was the first story you ever wrote about?
Chris: I distinctly remember writing a story about a vampire soccer ball terrorizing the playground in 4th grade when the teacher made us do some creative writing. I was into basketball at the time and had 0 background in soccer, so I can’t imagine why I picked that. I did like vampires, but this ball must have been out during the day to be terrorizing kids, and that’s not really how vampires work. The whole thing is nonsense. I really wish I still had that story!
Biography:
Chris Burns’ fiction
has appeared in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Eclectica Magazine, and others. He lives
in San Francisco, has an MFA from Mills College, and has been featured
on Flash Fiction Podcast and the Drinking with Authors podcast. His website is www.chris-s-burns.com.
Social Media:
·
Website:
www.chris-s-burns.com
·
Twitter/X: @chris_s_burns
·
Instagram: @chris_s_burns
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