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John Swain, From 2011

This was one of my favorite interviews with one of my favorite people, poet John Swain. This is a repost from a year ago, before I met him in person, before I could really call him a friend, when all I really knew was the work. I loved his poems then, and love them even more now. -Lynn Alexander

LA: When did you first call yourself a poet, or describe yourself this way? How did it feel, using the term applied to what you do?

JS: The appellation, “Poet,” is to me an honorific, much in the same manner as a title or an esteemed degree, earned through, as you have said before, “the service of words.”   While for as long as I can remember I held an inward sense of myself as a poet or rather one who creates or transforms, I could not coronate myself like a tyrant.  The term only held legitimacy once it was bestowed by another in recognition of the quality of the work itself and not any mysterious quality in me as a person.  Therefore, I struggled toward the name “Poet” like a mask to inhabit.  The process is long and full of pain and loneliness and doubt and it still continues.  It is also the greatest joy, a dream I strive to live in and maintain and overcome so as to keep discovery anew. Continue Reading…

Robert Masterson

1. Do you think that a formal education in the arts – i.e. Poetics, Literature- is important for an aspiring writer? What do you think a prospective student gains from an academic experience?

This question has bothered me for a long time. Prior to World War II and for even some years after, if one expressed interest in becoming a writer, the last advice in the world would have been to go to school. Writers need something to write about, experiences that will be of interest to a reader and, honestly, there isn’t much of that in college. Instead, aspiring writers sought out experience by joining the navy, becoming a lumberjack, hitchhiking across Peru, working as a bouncer in a whorehouse, and just about anything other than sitting around brooding about term papers and midterm exams. Continue Reading…

Josh Cicci

Artist and comedian Josh Cicci, interviewed by Aleathia Drehmer for PRATE. Mostly self trained, Joshua is a published artist/illustrator. His work has been featured in the Connection newspaper and you can see “The Prickly Pair” comic strip running monthly in the Tubac Villager.

AD:  What were your favorite cartoons and comics as a kid?  What really planted the bug in you to want to start drawing?

Josh Cicci:  I can’t recall the exact age, but when I was about 6 or 7ish I cut the tips of my two middle fingers off on a family camping trip (funny story, you had taught me earlier in the week or so what the middle fingers mean, when we found a carved-wooden middle-finger by meme’s shed). Continue Reading…

Richard Godwin

Richard Godwin is a London-based writer of dark crime fiction, and his first novel “Apostle Rising” will be released this spring from Black Jackal Books, and it can be ordered here. Richard Godwin’s Website: http://richardgodwin.net

Interviewed by Lynn Alexander for FOC Prate
LA: I will start with the usual items that writers are asked about: current projects, books, the things that need to be promoted and where to find them. Please give me a brief rundown, and then we will focus on “Apostle Rising”, your forthcoming novel, specifically. After that, I hope that you will indulge my curiosity about some other matters. So, to start with an introduction, what is going on with Richard Godwin? Continue Reading…

John Swain

John Swain is the author of several books of poetry, most recently “Handing The Cask” from UK based erbacce press. You can order it here.

LA: When did you first call yourself a poet, or describe yourself this way? How did it feel, using the term applied to what you do?

JS: The appellation, “Poet,” is to me an honorific, much in the same manner as a title or an esteemed degree, earned through, as you have said before, “the service of words.”   While for as long as I can remember I held an inward sense of myself as a poet or rather one who creates or transforms, I could not coronate myself like a tyrant.  The term only held legitimacy once it was bestowed by another in recognition of the quality of the work itself and not any mysterious quality in me as a person.  Therefore, I struggled toward the name “Poet” like a mask to inhabit.  The process is long and full of pain and loneliness and doubt and it still continues.  It is also the greatest joy, a dream I strive to live in and maintain and overcome so as to keep discovery anew.

LA: What would you say about how much of your identity it comprises? I know you as a poet, but there is much to know about John Swain, “creator.” What are your other interests, and what might you be interested in exploring in the future? What else are you anxious to try, if anything?

JS: My totality.  While I tend to compartmentalize my life and I believe each individual is necessarily comprised of several, even infinite, aspects, these are part of a unified mind-soul-and-body consciousness that flows in and through each other ultimately toward the expression of reinvention and fulfillment.  There are many varied points along the way to be investigated, broad as the scope of human experience.  Poetry cannot be conceptualized in the economics of Continue Reading…

Andrew Bowen

Andrew Bowen, editor of Divine Dirt Quarterly and immersed in the Conversion Project, interviewed by Lynn Alexander.

LA: I often start by asking about current projects, books, collections, the “work”. Can you run down some of your projects, such as Divine Dirt Quarterly?

AB: Sure.  I started Divine Dirt Quarterly (DDQ) in the Fall of 2009 because I was just beginning to write theological fiction—that is, fiction that deals with religious issues within a secular context, and found that the work either had too much religion for more secular markets and not enough for the religious markets. DDQ was my offering to folks like me who wanted to explore theological issues through fiction, poetry, art, non-fiction, and even film without fear of censorship. Continue Reading…

William Brian MacLean

William Brian MacLean produces and distributes independent comics, and his work can be found at Rooster Tree, here. Interviewed for PRATE by Lynn Alexander.

LA: Could you start by describing Rooster Tree, and your current projects?

WBM: RoosterTree is the name I use when self-publishing comics. There was a time when I was excited about the prospect of bringing my talented friends together as a collective, but it sputtered. Now RoosterTree is an effort in self-reliance, & I branch out from here to work with others.

Currently, I’m passionate about non-fiction. The trampling of rights, gender bias & sexual ignorance, age bias & generational ignorance, these things in particular gall me to no end. I’m compelled to sculpt them into the comics form.

LA: I remember some of our discussions at Outsider Writers, where I first came across you and your work. OWC is a collective of diverse, creative individuals who share a sense that they are apart in many ways from mainstream or established institutions or communities, many are self taught Continue Reading…

Michael J. Solender

Richard Godwin interviewing Michael J. Solender at The Slaughterhouse, September 2010.

Michael Solender is known to everyone who visits A Twist Of Noir, where you can find many fine examples of his chiselled dark stories.  If you don’t know what I mean check out ‘Seventy-two Hours Or Less’.

He worked for years in Corporate America as a Human Resources professional and is now giving worthy attention to his creative output that ranges from noir to music reviews. He is a consummate professional in his approach to writing and manages to achieve an edginess in his prose that is built on a carefully refined technique.

Michael met me at The Slaughterhouse where we talked about theatre and insects.

Continue Reading…

Matthew C. Funk

Matthew C. Funk is a social media consultant, professional marketing copywriter and writing mentor. He is the editor of the Genre section of the critically acclaimed zine, FictionDaily, and a staff writer for FangirlTastic and Spinetingler Magazine. Interviewed by Lynn Alexander for PRATE.

1. Can you talk a little bit about some of your favorite creative projects? Looking back, what stands out as a novel or screenplay or other work that really puts forth your objectives as a writer, or typifies your style, what says “Matthew C. Funk”?

A: Matthew C. Funk tells the monster’s story. The writing that inspires me most is the writing that takes the reader to a dark place and shows its reflection is not all too different from their own. I have written about Germans and Russians in World War II, slave-peddling pirates during the fall of Republican Rome and outlaws in modern New Orleans slumland, but all of these projects have the same aim: I want to illustrate how the other side thinks and feels, and for those thoughts and feelings to have an effect. Continue Reading…

PRATE Summer

PRATE Interviews are back, with a line up of summer interviews that will be coming your way over the next few weeks.

We also have some new sections: Crow Audio and a blog. The Audio section lists our internet radio shows and upcoming guests and audio interviews. The blog is a place for updates, events, readings, and more from the editors of Full Of Crow- which also includes Blink|Ink, ARTERIALIZE, Fashion For Collapse, Comix For Collapse, The Sphere, and more. Crow is a growing family, whose nefarious tendrils extend into unexpected territories. Follow the madness on facebook and twitter. Contact Lynn Alexander for more information: lynnalexander@fullofcrow.com.