Dave Housley Talks Craft and Kraft with Hobart Lit Journal
The Other Ones author sits down with ASP's own Hannah Grieco (for Hobart) to discuss some of the food-based inspiration for his new novel
In a new interview with Hobart Literary Journal, Dave Housley breaks down the role of food in his new darkly comedic office novel The Other Ones. In a section of extended metaphor, Housley describes TOO as if it were a recipe, and in another section assigns a snack to each of the characters in the office. The interview is conducted by ASP's own Hannah Grieco. Read the full interview HERE. An excerpt follows:
Okay, tell us about your book!
It’s a novel about a group of people whose co-workers win the lottery. The book follows the people who do not win the lottery over the course of the next year as they shoot off in various (mostly bad) directions. It’s told in short chapters from seven different point of view, including a rather incompetent ghost of a man who jumps off the building in the first chapter and then comes back to haunt the lottery winners. I think it’s dark and also funny and nearly every thing that’s annoyed me over thirty some years of working in offices found its way in there as well. I was really happy that Matt Bell called it a “bighearted office comedy” because that’s really what I was going for.
If The Other Ones was a metaphoric recipe, what would the ingredients be?
I love chili, and one thing I love about it is the mix of flavors – you’ve got hot and also sweet, a base and some flavors kind of dancing around at the edges, all of these ingredients eventually combining to make one cohesive thing. I think all of those things could generally be said about this book: it’s a little dark and hopefully a little funny. It's character driven literary fiction but also very much driven by plot, and part of that plot involves two people who buy guns. It’s realistic but there’s a fair amount of mystery and one of the characters is a ghost. So yeah, I think this book is one of those chilis where you run out of a few things and have had one too many chili-making beers to get back to the grocery store so you improvise.
Linda Watanabe McFerrin Interviewed for Author Matthew Felix’s Video Podcast
Author and poet Linda Watanabe McFerrin sat down with Matthew Felix, himself an author of some renown, for Matthew’s video podcast this last weekend. What follows is an in-depth, thoughtful, and often irreverent look at writing, life, travel, and zombies. And more, we get to hear many of the juicy details on Linda’s new Legacy Book due out from ASP in Autumn 2019…
Fact or Fiction
…And so it is for me, as I send an invented “namesake” into worlds I know vicariously but haven’t lived—Hollywood and hippies, communes and con artists, Woodstock and the Summer of Love. In the opening of Melanie’s Song, J.J. is poised at the edge of the Pacific reflecting on where she has been and where she is going. She is endowed with a deep and spiritual connection to a native place we share, but I am also setting her free to fly into her own undiscovered territory.
Featured Poetry: “Bluebirds” by Grace Cavalieri
Other Voices, Other Lives was my introduction to Grace. Her book sits now on my shelf between The Waves and Duino Elegies, the pages are worn from thumbing-thru, it is dog-eared, destroyed in certain ways well-loved books are destroyed, aged by the eyes, like good denim, but here the creases are black underlines, and the fading is from yellow highlighter and coffee stains. So in honor of, well, my deep admiration for Grace, I’ve picked one of her poems from Other Voices, Other Lives to share. If this is the first encounter with her poetry, welcome, hello, the books page is just yonder up the screen under “books”! If you’ve long been a fan, I think “Bluebirds” is a great poem to share with those who might not yet have been introduced to Grace’s work.