PW: All these Bobs. Very funny stuff. How’d you decide on the name Bob?

NL: I have a good friend who told me a few years ago that he has a whole bunch of friends named Bob and that he has little (internal) pet names for each one, I just basically took this idea and ran with it I suppose (writers are such terrible thieves). I liked the name Bob because it’s so common and it just seemed perfect for the story. Bobs are all different, but a Bob will always be a Bob—not a Bobby, or a Robert or a Rob. Bobs are unique; there is a Platonic form of Bobbery that I was trying to suss out here…. So with all of this in mind I thought it would be a fun piece to write. Just exploring all these Bobs (what a network of weirdos) was something that appealed to me at the time of writing. I just wanted a story which revolved around this oddball circle of man-friends. I seem to know a lot of people these days so I guess I’m frequently thinking socially these days….and friendship is something that I think about quite a bit (along with the pecking orders that accompany it). So that was a big factor behind the story, also.