Steve Gerson won the Story of
Excellence Award in Alternate Reality Chapter for THE LARK AND NOT THE
NIGHTINGALE, HE SAID
BAM: Where are you located, Steve?
Steve: The United States in Overland
Park, Kansas.
BAM: Never been to Kansas. Where is your writing space?
Steve: Home, handheld
Smartphone.
BAM: Very modern. Who are some of your favorite
authors?
Steve: Vonnegut
(Slaughterhouse Five), Hemingway (Old Man and the Sea), Fitzgerald (The Great
Gatsby).
BAM: Got a funny story about Fitzgerald if you ever
want to know it. Anyway, this is your time. Are there any artists or paintings that
inspire creativity from you?
Steve: Jean Michel
Basquiat, Frank Stella, Caravaggio, Larry Thomas.
BAM: Caravaggio. Nice. I've got Judith Beheading
Holofernes handy on my computer desktop for inspiration. My house boss said that we
can't have a real version of the painting displayed. Do you have any go-to
foods?
Steve: Hamburgers and hotdogs.
BAM: Umm, I haven't had a hot dog in ten years. They're
no good in Japan because they're pork. I miss American beef dogs. Please get my
mind off that, Steve. What bands do you like?
Steve: REM, Willie Nelson, Buffalo
Springfield.
BAM: All talented musicians. And that wasn't just a
dream. Do you have a favorite beach?
Steve: Galveston, TX
BAM: Nice. As a child, often went there in the
summer with friends. In fact, my first excursion as an official driver was
from Houston to Galveston. Stayed in my car overnight and watched the sunrise.
That beach was a great place. Where's one of your favorite places?
Steve: Santa Fe, NM
BAM: Cool. Favorite country?
Steve: England
BAM: First, Americans want out, then like it again. Can’t
decide, right? What are your favorite sweets?
Steve: Macarons
BAM: Nice. How do you relax?
Steve: Sports
BAM: Right on. Take it you mean watching them. What’s
the best animal on Earth?
Steve: The best animal on Earth are
Elephants because they are caring, family oriented.
BAM: True. They also never forget. Okay, coffee or tea
or something else?
Steve: Coffee
BAM: The stronger, the better, huh? Now let's talk
about writing. Many authors, whether they realize it or not, in a subtle way
send a message to readers about their beliefs. That said, is there something
you passionately want the human race to stop doing, which might appear somehow
in your writing?
Steve: Being selfishly ethnocentric
BAM: Wholeheartedly agree. I think it’s more of an
issue with Americans, though. I don’t want to go on a rant. More people should try
and understand other cultures before judging them. Tell me, what’s the best way
to write?
Steve: I can write anywhere.
BAM: What's your greatest achievement in writing?
Steve: Co-authoring textbooks with my
wife
BAM: Sounds fun. What got you into writing?
Steve: Inclination and education
BAM: Tell me more. When did you realize you liked
writing?
Steve: High school
BAM: Around the time it becomes more important in
school. Makes sense. While writing, do you play music, or watch anything?
Steve: No, I like a somewhat quiet
environment
BAM: Is anyone in your family a writer?
Steve: My wife, daughter, and
brother-in-law.
My brother-in-law has
written over 30 history books.
BAM: Family of writers. What deceased or living writer
do you want to meet?
Steve: Kurt Vonnegut.
BAM: One of my creative writing professors took a class
he had taught. Apparently, Vonnegut was an amazing and memorable teacher. Also,
he won so many awards. What's the greatest writing award you hope to win?
Steve: No aspirations.
BAM: Oh, okay. On editing, do you edit alone, have a
friend read your work, or do you hire a professional editor?
Steve: My wife proofreads my work.
BAM: I’m trying to talk my fiancée into doing something
like that. Feel free to email me tips on how to convince her. Okay, let’s turn
a page and talk about writer's block. How do you overcome it?
Steve: I’m in the midst of a prolonged
writer’s block NOW. It’s very troubling
to me. What I’m writing of late is inferior to what I’ve written in the past,
in terms of topic and performance. I’ve tried to continue writing, and
sometimes a few poems come out OK, but they still fail to meet my expectations.
So, I’m putting myself in a self-imposed sabbatical from writing, just to let
my brain calm down. We’ll see how this works.
BAM: Famous writers say just jot something down. It’s
better to have written something than nothing. Then again, a break can lead to
stronger performance later. On the other hand, I’ve heard returning to the
beginning can help writer’s block. What of the way you got started? Or perhaps,
could you tell me about the first story you ever got published?
Steve: My first published poem was
entitled “Once planed straight.” It is a
pastoral, almost-landscape portrait of a barn that I passed by daily for about
a decade. The barn, little by little, sagged into the earth. I saw it
disintegrate. The barn came to represent for me a lost agricultural, small farm
age. It’s still one of my favorite images. The poem came to be the title of my
first book of collected poems.
BAM: Coincidentally, I read your poem here
https://panoplyzine.com/once-planed-straight-steve-gerson/ Will definitely
check out the book sometime. Thank you, Steve.
Biography:
Dr. Steve Gerson, professor
emeritus, has published in CafeLit, Panoplyzine, Crack the Spine, Decadent
Review, Vermilion, In Parentheses, and more, plus his chapbooks Once Planed
Straight; Viral; And the Land Dreams Darkly; and The 13th Floor: Step into Anxiety from Spartan Press.
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