Life at Open Heart Publishing

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We here at Open Heart Publishing have had a ton of work on our plates but one bite at a time deadlines are being met and production is moving forward. With everything coming up on us in the next weeks I wanted to, halfway through; introduce you to our fearless leader, the Dictator of Deadlines, Debrin Case.

I remember when I first saw the friend request from An Honest Lie in my Facebook in box. I thought, “What the hell is an honest lie?” I’m glad I did the research because I was more than pleasantly surprised at what I found. There are so many small publishers out there, and I’m not one to point fingers, but Open Heart Publishing struck me immediately as one of the better ones. At the time Debrin was hiring and I was determined to get in on the Publishing business so I sent him an email. It wasn’t long before he got back to me and within a week he’d given me a call. I remember one of the first things he said to me was,

“I have to warn you I get a bit nervous around new people and when I’m nervous I cuss.”

It seems like such a small thing but it made him more real to me, more human, more accessible than the other interviewers I’ve had to deal with. I didn’t get the job then but Debrin and I remained in contact. When the time came he called me first and I appreciate it.

Debrin is a man with a focus and a plan and he does a fantastic job of bringing us all together to accomplish our goals. He may seem gentle and unassuming on the surface, but don’t be fooled he has an iron will and a remarkable depth of talent. He graces the Pages of An Honest Lie Volume 2 with a tale called Learning to Pray. today though we are going to talk to him about Open Heart Publishing and what exciting things are in store for us. But I’ll let him tell you about it.

Open heart Publishing: So you are the man who started it all. I feel I would not only be remiss if I didn’t ask, but I might get a few less than pleasant emails as well, so, what do you feel is a delusion of insignificance?

Debrin Case: I feel it would be a travesty for me to interpret the meaning of this year’s theme or the masthead . This is something I would rather leave to the interpretation of the individual reader as opposed to defining it and ruining all of the fun.

OHP: I can understand that. What is An Honest Lie?

D. C.: Like a Delusion of Insignificance, I feel it would be a travesty for me to interpret the meaning of this year’s theme or the masthead. This is something I would rather leave to the interpretation of the individual reader as opposed to defining it and ruining all of the fun.

OHP: Looks like we are going to be sticking with the party line on that one. But I asked him! No angry emails! Open Heart Publishing and the An Honest Lie anthologies are becoming pretty popular pretty fast; tell us something about where you are planning to take them in the future.

D.C.: AHL is heading into its second volume and wow what a great collection of authors we have found for our readership this year. It does my heart good to see a new cast of amazing authors to work with for volume 2, and as we get ready to embark on volume 3 it can only get better. As to what else to expect from Open Heart Publishing, the best advice I have is to keep checking us out. A wonderful collection of short stories from C.B. Calsing entitled All Along the Pacific will be available later this year, the winner of AHL Vol. 1 will be announced, yet another wonderful opportunity project, and of course Volume 2 of An Honest Lie should be available by late October.

OHP: I can hardly wait; it’s looking pretty good right now. Is your desire to publish other writers as strong as your need to write?

D.C.: Absolutely, in some ways it is even stronger. They are both important sides of me and my own personal missions of creating accessible fiction, and to promote and find new authors.

OHP: I’ve read some of your work and I know what’s waiting in the wings as far as Open Heart Publishing goes, I find your imagination fascinating. Where do you draw your inspiration from?

D.C.: Like all artists, and the rest of humanity, my inspiration is an amalgamation of everything I intake into my life. Whether this is through food, drink, music, movies, T.V., books, internet, conversations with strangers, moments of road rage… etc, in the end everything I do is a byproduct of everything I have consumed.

OHP: so many bathroom jokes and waste to writing comparisons to make, so little time. In your opinion, which is the more important discovery of humankind… plumbing or the written word?

D.C.: Definitely plumbing. Though I would like to believe that the written word has changed the world far more vastly than any other human invention, it has also brought about more debacles, damnations and epiphanies than any other invention before or after. Yet, it is in fact plumbing that has done more in the ways of health, safety and the unity of mankind than was ever dreamed of before. Just like pants that go on one leg at a time, so too do we discover that everyone goes to the bathroom and perhaps this could be the very medium by which world peace could be achieved.

OHP: People miss the simplest things sometimes. Are you a writer or a publisher first?

D.C.: I am dictator first, everything else is highly suspect.

OHP: Are there any authors, besides yourself, that you enjoy reading?

D.C.: There are thousands of authors out there besides myself that I love to read. Too many to list and to many egos to inflame or deflate by a mere mention or deletion from that list. I am a voracious reader, and in fact often read books without trying to discover anything about an author before I devour their work.

OHP: Who would you say is your writing mentor/ hero?

D.C.: My writing heroine is Ariel Gore, her book How to Become a Famous Author before You Are Dead is like a bible to me. I read it far more religiously than I ever read any assumed to be “Holy” text. If you are an author or a publisher and have not read this book, then stop reading this article now and hit Google, or whatever search engine you prefer, and find out more about this amazing book right this second. Seriously, you won’t regret it.

OHP: I haven’t read it yet … I know, I know. Do you have a writing nemesis?

D.C.: I sure do, and I have to see that bastard every morning when I get out of bed and wander my way into the bathroom. If you never realize that you are your own worst critic and at times your own worst enemy then perhaps you need to reexamine your artistic endeavors.
Being an artist is about introspection, and introspection is not as easy as getting your temperature taken, on the contrary it is more akin to exploratory surgery on a primitive battlefield where the doctors are still blissfully unaware of the concept of infections caused by dirty hands.

OHP: Indeed! I know how much work goes into producing an awesome literary product; do you have any advice for aspiring publishers out there?

D.C.: Keep to your deadlines. Nothing else matters above your word and keeping to your deadlines.

Is your life in shambles, can’t pay the rent, need a new car… tough shit, keep to your deadlines.

The world is doomed, the wrong political candidate won the election, there is a race of mutant rats overthrowing your city… ah well, stick to your deadlines.

An author needs an extension on their piece, an artist is having issues, your printer is going away on holiday, who cares… Keep your deadlines.

OHP: Why do you feel the need to write?

D.C.: Communication. Communication and communion with the rest of the human race is the endeavor of all people the world over. Whether this is via speech, interpretive dance, collages, decoupage, crochet or writing the need is the same it is in its presentation where we discover all of the dissimilar ways in which we are so similar.

OHP: Besides short stories what other writing endeavors are you currently engaged in?

D.C.: Tons of them. Currently I am working on 4 different books, and I am preparing 3 more volumes to be published this year by Open Heart Publishing.

OHP: It has been a pleasure picking your brain. Just a few more questions; what do you feel about the following quote “Imagination is more important than knowledge?”

D.C.: I believe Einstein was more accurate than he could have ever dreamed, and as the day’s move forward into months, then years, decades and eventually eons we will see just how far down the rabbit hole we can go while taking what we perceived of as reality along for the ride.

OHP: According to Anatole France “To die for an idea is to set a rather high price on conjecture,” in your opinion what do you believe is worth dying for? What do you believe is worth living for?

D.C.: I believe that everything is worth living for, I have yet to find one truly worthy reason to die and for this reasoning alone I am currently refusing any model of living which concludes with such an outmoded way of thinking.

OHP: Mark Twain once said that “You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” What do you believe he meant by that?

D.C.: There is a bigger picture in all things with which you may be blissfully unaware at any given moment. As such you aren’t always seeing or understanding what is actually going on at any moment. Pay close attention to everything and all of the details. No matter how unusual, bizarre or even downright ordinary things may appear… they aren’t. They never are.

OHP: Most people have two stories for doing anything… a plausible excuse and the real reason, why do you really write?

D.C.: I write, therefore I am.
Or is it; I am, therefore I write?
Or is it simply, I enjoy telling a story whether good or ill conceived and in the end I want to get paid for it?

Yes to all of the above, and then a whole bunch more that I am quite sure would quite easily become a philosophical debate about the existence of bubblegum on the dwarf planet of Pluto and how that is causing certain politicians’ to vote no to better funding for public education art programs.

OHP: There is a great deal of talking going about your book “A Children’s Book of Necromancy”, I hear that anyone that reads it can become quite powerful and even learn how to raise the dead. Is this true?

Absolutely, Davin. “A Children’s Book of Necromancy,” is absolutely the most important coloring book ever to be published, and I personally promise with absolute barnum sincerity that anyone who reads this book will be able to raise the dead.

If you want to know more about this amazing volume visit the official website here, and you can also visit us at Animefest 2010 in Dallas,TX where you can meet myself and Darcy Melton (the illustrator).

OHP: We are coming up on the publication day for An Honest Lie Volume 2: Delusions of Insignificance very fast. Do you have any plans for a third volume?

D.C.: Yes I do, but you will have to wait until next year to hear more.

Debrin Case has been making the story more interesting since 1970!
Debrin Case holds a B.A. in English Literature and is currently the founder/publisher of Open Heart Publishing, a company that promotes, showcases, and opens doors for new authors with its annual anthology
“An Honest Lie,” but also for children through its charitable project called, “The Opportunity Project.”
Additionally, Debrin oversees intuitive writing workshops, writes grants for charities (non profits and artistic endeavors), and is an experienced storyteller, ghost writer, and fiction writer.
Previously held the positions of editor for Hedge Wizard Press, and also co-editor for Red River Review.
When asked of the validity of his tales he will normally reply,
“My stories are 50% bullshit… and the rest is questionable, but at least they are honest.

http://debrincase.com/

It was recently brought to my attention that we here at the Jr. Editors Desk have made a serious mistake. It seems that we got our Jessica’s crossed somewhere. I’m not sure if you know but mixing Jessica’s can be a dangerous business. Your email boxes rebel, your Open Office documents vanish into the digital void, your credibility and self esteem are thoroughly challenged. Lucky for us all we are champions of literary might and we have once again, with the help of a few friends, and two Jessica’s, brought to you yet another compelling and thrilling Author Interview. The best thing about it is that you get to have not one, but two thrilling interviews in one issue.

Jessica Stilling was interviewed a few weeks ago. You can go check out what she really said here. http://debrincase.com/blog4/2010/08/02/talking-to-jessica-stilling/

Our other Jessica sent us a fantastically disturbing tale called Monkey Love. Monkey’s freak me out a bit, vicious dastardly little monsters. Jessica masterfully wound them into this twisted tale.

“Twisted? It’s just a little story about a man and his monkeys. But seriously, I actually started this story in a writing workshop at the local college. The professor gave us one of those exercises I always mock, like here are five words incorporate them in a story. The words were greasy, zoo and … well those were the only words I used so I forgot the others; turns out the class was full and I had to leave, but I took the first page of my story with me. See kids, you can get something for nothing. It also was inspired by my intense hatred of temping in poorly lit offices, after a few hours the fire ax starts to look pretty tempting.”

So I asked her a few more questions to round things out. Check out what she had to say, but be careful; don’t make the same mistake we made and get your Jessica’s mixed up.

Open Heart Publishing: Sorry about the mix-up. Can you ever forgive us?

Jessica Dunn: It’s all good; really not a big deal.

OHP: I always try to do my research. I had a difficult time finding you around the web. Start by telling us a bit about Jessica Dunn.

J.D.: As for internet presence, I do not have much of one. I know..bad writer…no milkbones. My reason, I am a bit of a misanthrope. I barely know what to do with the people I meet and know in person, much less the potential millions of cyberpeople out there. I have a blog on theicarusproject.net (which is a site that promotes radical mental health) under the name thebegnignconspiracy. Unfortunately, I do not update it as much as I should. Other reason, I am boring from the outside. I don’t do much that involves public, the most I have ever been in noticeably in public was when I dressed up for Otakon and everyone was dressed like a skanky anime chick with a giant sword and/or catears so I didn’t really stand out. Much of my day consists of grading papers, writing and cursing Resident Evil 4 when I have to shoot a zombie 5 times in the head with a shotgun before it dies. Occassionally I attempt to teach myself to play guitar and hope no one hears me.

OHP: The only thing better than killin’ Zombies is killin’ Nazis. But that may be an insignificant delusion. What do you feel is a delusion of insignificance?

J.D.: It is the belief that our choices are inconsequential. Like its misbegotten twin, this delusion is sadly often held by those to whom it least applies.

OHP: Yeah, some people just don’t know they have greatness right below the surface. What is an honest lie?

J.D.: The most effective kind.

OHP: An Honest Lie is a strange thing, but it’s a truth of our lives. Why did you submit your work to An Honest Lie?

J.D.: I had just finished editing Monkey Love and I was rather proud of myself (which in my world means reading it didn’t make me wish my eyes were bleeding so as to obscure the words) and I wanted to send it out into the world to be rejected over and over again and darn my luck, it got published instead. I also thought Andy would feel at home amongst the other delusions.

OHP: Are you working on anything we might get the privilege to read soon?

J.D.: Current projects include learning how to play Come As You Are, rescuing the president’s daughter (in Resident Evil 4, I promise Obama, I have never met your daughter), and a story I hope to finish soon entitled Everything You Need for Under One Dollar about a boy left to fend for himself in the wilds of the local dollar store.

OHP: Besides short stories what other writing endeavors are you currently engaged in?

J.D.: Besides this interview …? I am attempting to write some essays concerning mental health and capitalism as well as the life, works and philosophy of R.D. Laing. Maybe even a poem now and again.

OHP: Nice. I’m impressed. Who would you say your writing Mentor/Hero is?

J.D.: Albert Camus, he wrote the kinds of things that make you say, ‘I’ve thought this was so all my life but never had the words to express it.’ His writing is simple and poignant. It exposes the human animal in all its petty banality as well as exquisite dignity. All the important lessons of life can be found in his work: There is responsibility in freedom. There is a price for pointing out that the emperor has no clothes. And “none of your certainties are worth a single strand of a woman’s hair.”

OHP: You know many writers credit Earnest Hemmingway with being “the father of modern literature”; and that with the sort of simpering sycophancy that only aspiring writers can conjure. Do you think writers should call Earnest Hemmingway “Papa”?

J.D.: I think if they are looking for someone to fill the role of their father, they could do better, although depressive, alcoholic fathers never seem to go out of fashion.

OHP: Are there any authors, besides yourself, that you enjoy reading?

J.D: Albert Camus, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Gunter Gräss, R.D. Laing, Chuck Palaniuk, Kurt Vonnegut, J.D. Salinger, and Edgar Allen Poe, to name the first that come to mind in no particular order. (Well o.k., Camus is my groove; talk about “Papa.”)

OHP: Do you have a writing nemesis?

J.D.: Those people that write truly insipid children’s books; the kind that lower the IQ of both child and parent. You know who you are.

OHP: In your opinion, which is the more important discovery of human kind … plumbing or the written word?

J.D.: I’ll put it to you this way, I love to write, but I love not being covered in my own shit more.

OHP: Point taken. What do you feel about the following quote: “Imagination is more important than knowledge?

J.D.: Remember when you used to know that Pluto was a planet? Imagination is far more reliable.

OHP: Mark Twain once said, “You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” What do you think he meant by that?

J.D.: Eyes are good for the surface of things; the imagination is what lets us look inside them.

OHP: It’s post Apocalyptica, what would be your greatest asset?

J.D.: My post Apocalyptica skill is the fact that I can roof (shingles, tar, even hot tin). Because let’s face it, if life as we know it ends and we are all scavenging for food, ammo and shelter on high ground no one is going to respond to a “will write for food” sign. Also I have an intense hatred for the walking dead and won’t go all soft if my friends or family die and then get back up and try to eat me. Sorry guys, but it’s a katana to the brain stem for you. Hesitation is the number one killer in the post-apocalyptic world.

OHP: Awesome! Most people have two stories for doing anything… a plausible excuse and the real reason, why do you really write?

J.D.: I come by my writing obsession honestly, the result of old fashioned boredom, school-aged delinquency, and isolation. I began to write in detention, and it soon extended to lunch and recess. I scribbled poems and flash fiction in the margins of my notebooks, I wrote sonnets in lieu of essays on my AP exam. I like writing anything, as long as I am supposed to be writing something else.

Jess Dunn has been writing since she was a wee thing, who had still not quite mastered how to end an “s.” She received her undergraduate education at Goucher College and her M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Towson University. She is currently a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University. Although she went to school for psychology and got a “real job,” she continues to write compulsively. Besides writing and subversively influencing the still malleable minds of undergraduates, her interests include radical mental health, outsider art, cephalopods, and zombie hordes. She currently lives in Baltimore, MD with her partner and her cat.

Davin Kimble Jr. Editor

Hello again loyal friends and fans. We have been hard at work on An Honest Lie Volume 2: Delusions of Insignificance. I can promise you that it will be a fantastic book to read and own. I know you’ve enjoyed getting better acquainted with our writers but this week we wanted to take one step back and reminice with you by

GIVING YOU THE BEST FREAKIN’ DEAL EVER!

Thats right folks starting tomorrow, for a short time only, we are offering a special deal on the ebook version of An Honest Lie Volume 1: Encouraging the Delinquency of Your Inner Child. This volume includes Great tales like The Apple Tree, by Eric Trant and Gran’s Prophecy, by C.B. Calsing. There is a tale about a boy who gets Goblin Socks for Christmas and one about … well author William Terry called it Situational Dyslexia. If you don’t know what I’m talking about this is your chance to get in the know. If you do, remember Christmas is only right around the corner and you’re going to need books to put on those e-readers you’re buying all of us. Oh, the deal?

For a limited time only Open Heart Publishing is offering An Honest Lie Volume 1 ebook for only 3 dollars. What’s that you say? We’re crazy? We’re writers not sales people. I know enough to know a great deal when I see one. This is a savings of over 50 percent on a great title! And you won’t find this gem hanging out on the shelves of Half Price Books.

But Wait…! Yes I do believe … there’s MORE!

Not only will you be getting a great book for pennies you will also be helping one of our great authors get a book deal! Here’s how it works. Head over to the Voting Portal and click on your favorite authors name to gain access to the $3 copy of An Honest Lie Volume 1. This is a limited time deal so don’t delay … act NOW!

For Details: Click Here

Davin Kimble Jr. Editor

When I read “Origin” I thought, I like this guy … wonder what he’ll have to say. And I was truly happy to hear his answers to our questions. Who is he? Raleigh Dugal a freelance journalist from outside of Boston, M.A. But don’t be confused. Mr. Dugal is so much more than that. With a B.A. and an M.A. from U-Mass. Dartmouth his qualifications were not in question, I was more interested in hearing about the heart of the writer and the man; a man who still wakes up at 10am to play football in the snow.

Even through the trials and toil we writers face, Raleigh weathers the storm with grace. When asked why he writes he said:

… If I could be another type of artist, I would be. I certainly don’t write for the money. I write for one reason alone, and that’s because I have to. Every so often, I think about quitting, about never turning to writing again. It’s a horrifying responsibility, being a writer, even a relatively unknown one. You constantly feel as though you should be doing something other than whatever it is you’re enjoying. It’s like forgetting to unplug the iron for eternity. ….

I have a whole room full of appliances plugged in and humming, but this isn’t about me. Mr. Dugal, take the stage sir.

You know we take great pride in the subtitles of our books and the brilliant stories they inspire. So I have to ask you the first two questions.

Open Heart Publishing: What do you feel is a delusion of insignificance?

Raleigh Dugal: That’s a tricky term, because I think all delusions are kind of significant. When you have a delusion, it dictates the way that you live your life. But maybe delusions of insignificance, in a way, are more significant. They are the private things you dream about that you never tell anyone else. When I was in the sixth grade, I used to daydream about being a rebel fighter against a 21st century neo-Nazi regime. That’s something I’ve never told anyone, and I guess iit’s kind of insignificant in my life, but it’s also pretty significant.

OHP: What is An Honest Lie?

R.D.: I think an honest lie is something that isn’t physically true, but that you believe in yourself. It’s real in your mind.

OHP: Why did you decide to submit your work to An Honest Lie?

R.D.: I submit my work everywhere, without much thought, rhyme, or reason, kind of like a crop duster spraying pesticides. But when I came across An Honest Lie I read the theme, Delusions of Insignificance, and immediately thought of my story, Origin, and sent it along. I was enthralled to receive a phone call from Debrin Case, telling me it was accepted.

OHP: I really enjoyed reading “Origin”, what was your inspiration for the story?

R.D.: I grew up living behind a cemetery, and that was the space where my brother and my cousin and I usually went to play on our own. It was within eyesight and earshot of my house, but there was a sort of gateway of brush, and it really felt like we were far away and on our own over there. There really is a big, squat tree where kids carve their names. I think I took that space and just remembered the things that we talked about, the type of games that we played, and just allowed the story to fill it in with a different set of characters, a different set of parents.

OHP: Besides short stories what other writing endeavors are you currently engaged in?

R.D.: I’m currently marketing my first two unpublished novels, a speculative western and an epic romp through the afterlife of dogs.

My first, Canis Infinitum, hasn’t been published yet. My mother succumbed to leukemia in 2006, and shortly thereafter her dog Kirby was hit by a car. So my book is the story of her dog trying to reach her in the afterlife. It’s pretty weird and outrageous, and was very emotionally draining to write, but I think it put my head in a good place, and I think people will connect with it.

My second novel, A Bloody Fable of Skullduggery & Dust, is the tale of a vengeful Quaker hunting down his brother in the U.S. territories in 1870. It involves elements of magical realism and steampunk, though they’re admittedly sparing. I decided on the term “fable” after the third and final draft, when the moral implications of everyone’s actions really came together. It was a real labor of love (and hate). There’s a blind bounty killer and an exiled outlaw who physically does not possess a heart. It’s interesting.

I just started writing my third novel yesterday, which has a little bit to do with my Catholic upbringing. And (gasp) vampires. Is there a difference? Other than that, I don’t really want to say.

I want to get back to actual writing, and I’ve been seesawing back and forth about which new project to start: a story of a vampire clan in the throes of eighties camp or a tale of robots and cancer in Newport, Rhode Island. Once the cold weather forces me indoors, I’ll probably be able to concentrate on one of them.

OHP: It sounds fantastic to me. Send one of them our way we’d be happy to read it. You have some interesting story ideas there, where do you draw your inspiration from?

R.D.: Everything and anything. Real life, stupid things I think of in the shower, fleeting moments when I’ve had too much to drink. It’s funny, because I’ve never really had a drought of things to write about, just a lack of fortitude and outlets to get them published. It sounds cheesy, but everything in my life inspires me.

OHP: Are there any authors, besides yourself, that you enjoy reading?

R.D.: Good God. Again, in no particular order: Hemingway, Garcia Marquez, Cormac McCarthy, Flannery O’Connor. It’s easy, as a writer, to get enamored with the classics. Do you know why? Because you’re poor, and you can’t afford to buy the work of your contemporaries, and used books are very cheap. But I try. I loved Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, I read Michael Chabon. I haven’t read Tim Davvy’s Amberville yet, but I’m salivating over it. I’d say I fall in love with novels themselves rather than authors.

OHP: I can agree with that, I can fall in love with the idea, the anticipation of the story. But someone had to write them right? Who would you say is your writing mentor/ hero?

R.D.: Easily, Stephen King. When I was twelve I read Cujo because I was afraid of scary movies, and I wanted to be able to face that fear. I was terrified, but I kept reading him, and I’ve read just about everything he’s ever written. I don’t write horror, per se, but his powers of characterization are unmatched, and he never fails to connect with his reader. On Writing is easily the best advice I’ve ever received about the craft from anywhere, and no one will ever match his prolific career. Not even James Patterson.

OHP: I couldn’t agree more. I love King and still have a box full of well thumbed paperbacks. Dude is truly a Mentor/Hero. Do you have a writing nemesis?

R.D.: No. I think all writers need to stick together, because its so difficult, and only seems to get more difficult.

OHP: The business can be harsh and our fellow writers cutthroat. But even with all the slots available out there every month, there are still only so many. Besides writing, what other sorts of deviant behavior do you happen to enjoy?

R.D.: In no particular order, I enjoy flag football, pickup basketball, beer pong, the beach, trying to play musical instruments, home brewing, and grilling red meat.

OHP: We are coming up on the end of the interview here. It has truly been a pleasure getting into your head a bit. I am going to throw a few at you, say what you like. Do you think writers should call Ernest Hemmingway, Papa?

R.D.: I’m a Red Sox fan for life, and David Ortiz has never had any problem being called Big Papi. I’d like to think of Ernest Hemmingway as the Big Papi of the literary world. In fact, he makes an un-credited appearance in an unpublished novel of mine. I’m still debating whether my allusion makes sense or not, but I’d really like to think it does, because if there’s anywhere in the afterlife Ernest Hemingway would want to be, it’s in this spot in my book.

OHP: If there were a million monkeys in a room, each with its own typewriter, how long would it take for them to realize you haven’t provided them with any paper on which to compose masterpieces of fine literature?

R.D.: Monkeys are pretty smart, but I don’t really have a handle on their concept of paper. I think the clicks, clacks, and dings would be very satisfactory to them. They might type several masterpieces of literature before they realize anything at all, if they ever do. Sounds like an installation at the NY MoMa (New York Museum of Modern Art (ed.) to me.

OHP: Have you ever contemplated becoming involved in a revolution?

R.D.: Yes, in fact. I dreamed of it for a long time, but I think your notion of a revolution when you’re a kid is one thing, and when you grow up you realize it’s something very different. A real revolution is something that consumes your whole being, and in my lifetime it’s always been very difficult to let anything do that.

OHP: What do you feel about the following quote “Imagination is more important than knowledge?”

R.D.: Knowledge is the raw material. Without the tools of imagination, it’s useless.

OHP: In your opinion, which is the more important discovery of humankind… plumbing or the written word?

R.D.: Plumbing, clearly, but it probably wouldn’t exist unless someone along the line could write technical instructions, so its sort of a chicken/egg conundrum.

OHP: According to Anatole France “To die for an idea is to set a rather high price on conjecture,” in your opinion what do you believe is worth dying for? What do you believe is worth living for?

R.D.: Your family is worth dying or living for. The people you love. Ideas are funny things, because usually when you’re in the position of dying for them, the people that put you there aren’t as interested in the same idea that you are. But does that really matter? Freedom is certainly worth dying for, but the concept is paradoxical, because when you’re dead, you certainly aren’t free. Then again, maybe you’re as free as it gets. Is death the ultimate price to pay for something, or is there a higher one?

OHP: Mark twain once said that “You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” What do you believe he meant by that?

R.D.: I’d heard a lot about A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court before I actually read it. I didn’t realize how bloody and satirical it really was. There’s a claymation movie that used to air on HBO when I was a kid, called The Adventures of Mark Twain. It was creepy and philosophical and magical, unlike anything you really see around today. The whole movie was inspired by Twain’s desire to die upon the return of Haley’s comet, because he had been born the last time it came around. I think his ability not just to understand, but to really, truly appreciate the poetry in that, is what he’s talking about. What does Haley’s comet mean to someone’s eyes when they can’t work the context of it into a subtext that fits into their own lives?

OHP: Most people have two stories for doing anything… a plausible excuse and the real reason, why do you really write?

R.D.: Here’s a secret: I don’t really like to write. I’m an active guy, and sitting for hours on end in front of my computer screen isn’t my idea of fantastic recreation. Out of all the arts, writing is probably the least rewarding. When you’re a painter, you can show someone the painting and they can say yes, that’s beautiful. If you’re a musician, you play your song in front of an audience, and they clap. It’s the same for actors. Writing is, for the most part, entirely thankless. You sit, you dream, you tap your keyboard. When a story does make it out into the living world, you must convince people to invest great amounts of time and emotions into black words on a white page and the spaces in between them.

If I could be another type of artist, I would be. I certainly don’t write for the money. I write for one reason alone, and that’s because I have to. Every so often, I think about quitting, about never turning to writing again. It’s a horrifying responsibility, being a writer, even a relatively unknown one. You constantly feel as though you should be doing something other than whatever it is you’re enjoying. It’s like forgetting to unplug the iron for eternity.

Then there are the moments when the cylinders are firing, when you are clacking away, and the story just happens. Stephen King said something to the effect that he does not really write his stories, but more discovers them, the way an archaeologist uncovers bones, and I’m very partial to this analogy. Once the stories get going, if they’re true to themselves, they write themselves, and you’re just carefully picking away the dust and the grime. When things really get hot, it’s like having a front row seat for the big bang.

OHP: Enough said.

Raleigh Dugal is a former teacher, lifeguard, private investigator, and roller skating DJ. He has fished for blue sharks off the coast of Nantucket, appeared on reality court television (and won), and has driven from Sacramento to Rhode Island in forty-five hours. From March to late August he practices the religion of pickup basketball. In September he converts to flag football. In 2003 he earned a B.A. in English Literature from Umass Dartmouth, and in 2008 completed his M.A. in Professional Writing. Raleigh finds inspiration in the stories of Ernest Hemingway, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Flannery O’Connor, and his fiction has been published in Temper and Encounters Magazine. He is intrigued by the places in reality where the truly strange is allowed, and inevitable, to happen: mall parking lots at three AM, public restrooms, and walks home from the bus stop. He currently lives in Massachusetts and is writing his second novel.

Davin Kimble Jr. Editor