I was that weirdo whose first film crush was on Robert De Niro in MIDNIGHT RUN around the same time that everyone else my age were all about the guys from BEVERLY HILLS 90210. Not too many kids in 4th or 5th grade got excited to ID character actors like Willem Dafoe, Forest Whitaker, & Joe Mantegna in movies but I did.… more
CATEGORY ARCHIVES: THE BULL INTERVIEW
JONATHAN EVISON
BULL Interview by Frank ReardonAt the end of the day, our struggles define us as much as anything else. I think the people who are most content are the people who have struggled and overcome the most. There’s more value in things that don’t come easy.… more
Henry Wise
BULL Interview by Frank ReardonI realized that language can be more than the vehicle for a story; it can be the lens through which the reader sees the world. For me, the cadence of the language came to mirror the setting of Euphoria County—with its mysterious flora, its snaking roads, and its trapped secrets.… more
K.T. NGUYEN
BULL Interview by Frank ReardonThe trauma of war can ripple across generations and bleed through borders. You can arrive in the United States or come back home to the United States, but you’ve left a piece of your sanity behind.… more
Willy Vlautin
BULL InterviewI’ve always been drawn to people who were a little banged up, a little wobbly on their feet. I think, most likely, because I’ve always felt that way. I’ve always been balancing on the edge of trying and giving up. Keeping my shit together or destructing.… more
Jake Hinkson
BULL Interview by Frank ReardonI wanted to tell a story set in that world that would also be a pretty accurate description of that world. People aren’t cliches. No one perfectly fits into a stereotype, even when they commit their whole life to being a stereotype.… more
Francois Bereaud
BULL InterviewI try to let my characters run around, elude being massacred, and hope that some lyricism falls into a line once in a while. … more
William Boyle
BULL Interview by Frank ReardonI always start with character and place. I put the characters in desperate situations, usually in my part of southern Brooklyn, and see what develops from there. There’s drama just in watching lives unfold. The natural drama of being alive. Throw some secrets and lies and betrayals into the mix and shit gets amped up.… more
STEPHEN EOANNOU
BULL Interview by drevlowI wanted to write a BIG book. I thought of all the novels I loved and kept coming back to two: Shoeless Joe, by WP Kinsella, and The Natural, by Bernard Malamud. I wanted to write a novel in their spirit. Both use rich language to tell bigger-than-life tales with a dash of magic thrown in like a spice. Both are also baseball books, and my mantra for writing Yesteryear became “Swing For The Fences.” This meant that nothing was off limits. No brush stroke could be too broad. No joke was taboo. No character could be too fantastical. I gave myself total creative freedom. Just swing away and see what happens.… more
Wilson Koewing
BULL Interview by The DrevlowI didn’t sit down with the intention of writing a dark book. My goal with this book was pretty simple, stark realism. These are the people that I know and that I meet, and these are the problems that I see or that I hear about or that I’ve had or that I’ve witnessed. And while yeah, it’s fucking dark, I feel like life is pretty dark.… more
Sheldon Lee Compton
BULL Interview by The DrevlowI wanted to write about the strength of my people, Eastern Kentuckians. We’ve been, and will continue to be called, dumb, backward, incestuous, lazy, drunkards and drug addicts, and on it goes forever. Pisses me off at a fire-and-brimstone level. And I took that pissed-offedness and Breece’s abilities as a writer and busted ass to show our heart and loyalty and ability to survive hardship and a hundred other positive traits. I’m still trying to bust ass with that as much as I can.… more
Alan Good
BULL Interview by The DrevlowI’ve heard people say you’re not a real cowboy if you don’t wear Wrangler jeans. There’s gatekeeping everywhere, and a premium on conformity that has always pissed me off—although in fact the only jeans I own right now that don’t have a cavernous hole in the crotch are Wranglers, so I guess that makes me a cowboy.… more
MEG TUITE
BULL Interview by The DrevlowIf anyone does any research, which can amount to turning on the news any day of the week, there’s no need to sensationalize the depth of violence rampant everywhere and daily. And nothing beats reality when it comes to the shit happening on this planet. It’s a never ending exploration in horror.… more
Kelly Gray
BULL Interview by The DrevlowI’ve been known to feign language or hearing issues, run to the bathroom, anything to avoid this question. Sometimes, I say things like, “I write stories about nature,” which makes me feel like I have betrayed myself because that is not entirely true. The worst is when I try to be honest, and halfway through I realize I sound off.… more
Jesse Salvo
BULL Interview by The DrevlowOne of the best parts of running a lit mag is that you get to talk to about a million different writers and (unlike most readings and AWP conventions), they actually want to talk to you and not run fleeing from the fat loud crazed man with the mohawk. Once upon a time I read… more
CATEGORY ARCHIVES: BULLSHOT INTERVIEW
