People who had childhoods like mine did so comfortably numb. It was normal. It was all I ever knew. But here’s something I didn’t put in the book: in high school (after I got away from my father) I had friends who lived inside the foster care system. I used to go to their homes and hang out after school sometimes, because when I was little, I used to fantasize about being taken away and put into foster care. I knew it would be so much better.… more
Category Archives: BULL Interview
To Rebel Is a Duty: On the Importance of Activism, Story and the Artistic Life
BULL Interview by Ben TanzerI’ve had the great pleasure over the last couple of years of getting to know Satish and Sarina Prabasi—activists, travelers, immigrants, father and daughter and first time memoirists of Fragments of Memory: A Nepali National’s Reminiscences and The Coffeehouse Resistance: Brewing Hope in Desperate Times respectively. It would be impossible not to be taken with… more
Stephen Graham Jones
BULL Interview by David TromblayStephen Graham Jones writes about cars, trucks, cowboys, Indians, slashers, zombies, and werewolves as fluently and fondly as your grandma talks about the intricacies of each of her grandchildren. If you haven’t read his work yet, you’re in luck: The Only Good Indians (Saga Press $26.99) was released last month, and his next book is due out… more
FRANK REARDON
BULL Interview by Benjamin DrevlowSo here’s the thing you should know about interviewing Frank Reardon. No bullshit. No flinching. No wincing. Much like the stories he writes, he doesn’t spin. Anything. He doesn’t shy away or go looking for attention. He doesn’t dress up his life to make it feel like anything other than it is same way he… more
Soundtrack Your Apocalypse, Soundtrack Your Life: An Interview with Honus Honus of Man Man
BULL Interview by Ryan W. BradleyYou can tell where some bands are from by their sound. Other bands sound like tears in the fabric of reality. Man Man is the latter. If you were to guess where they are from based on the sound of their music you might think they sprang into existence in a secret bunker below a… more
CATFISH MCDARIS
BULL Interview by Guinotte WiseI worked 97 days in a row, 12 hours at a time. We had shoot outs, murders, anthrax and ricin scares. When they captured Dahmer, we got at least four or five bomb scares a week—folks wanted to mail him an explosive package. I made it, and that’s plenty.… more
Wesley Browne
BULL Interview by Sheldon Lee ComptonI deal with people in awkward situations, crisis situations, bad situations of their own making, all the time, so I’ve learned a lot about human nature. I’ve also learned a lot about the way people lead their lives when they hope nobody’s looking. I represent people who break the law. They tell me about it because it’s privileged.… more
MEAGAN LUCAS
BULL Interview by Frank ReardonWhat am I looking for as an editor? The short answer—something I wish to God I’d written, something that keeps me up at night. The long—on the first page, I want stakes, tension, and a character that I care enough about to keep reading. By the end, I want to feel something, and I want to not be able to stop thinking about it. … more
CATHY ULRICH
BULL Interview by Benjamin DrevlowI don’t want anyone in my stories to be a joke or a punchline—that wouldn’t be fair to the person they are. I wrote some of these stories when I was very angry…, but if I wrote my anger into the story, it would be just a rant or a diatribe. And that’s not what I want at all. I want real people, doing the best they can. For me, that’s really the heart of all writing, whether it be fiction, poetry or creative nonfiction.… more
George Singleton
BULL Interview by Frank ReardonOne time I had a woman say to me, “Don’t you just love Nicholas Sparks?” I said, “He might be one of the worst writers in the English language.” She said, “But he’s a millionaire!” I said, “People in America spend a lot more money on baloney than they do filet mignon. That doesn’t make baloney good for them.”… more
