Things are really humming in the Open Heart Publishing hive right now. The band is up and we are doing the dance let me tell you. We’re coming up on it fast so just a few things before I introduce you to our next author.

Remember you can pre-order your copies of An Honest Lie Volume 2: Delusions of Insignificance in our store and while you’re there you can see what all the hype is about and pick up some of our other books. Also, if you want updates about what’s to come follow us on facebook and twitter @ohpublishing
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And now allow me to introduce you to Patrick Scalisi. Patrick sent us a great tale called “The Registry of Lost Socks.” It’s a thrilling tale of lost and found and they way things get that way in the first place. You will never see lost laundry in the same way again. And now … Patrick Scalisi.

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

Patrick Scalisi: This is definitely a misguiding phrase. I think most people — myself included — automatically see the word “insignificance” and assume the worst: weakness, a tendency toward introversion, etc. Thinking about the whole phrase, though, I think it takes on a different meaning; I think it means that a person is stronger than he or she may know — but hasn’t realized it yet. This is certainly true of Peggy Hawthorne, the heroine in my story, “The Registry of Lost Socks.”

OHP: What is An Honest Lie?

P.S.: An oxymoron for one — certainly one of the coolest literary devices in the English language. As a definition, I would say that it’s a lie we tell ourselves so often that we come to believe that it’s true. It’s the airs we take on when we’re in the company of others — the armor, the masks. It’s what we are when we’re with everyone but our most trusted loved ones.

OHP:Why do you feel the need to write?

P.S.:For me, there’s something endlessly fulfilling about creating a world from scratch. That would probably explain all the projects I’ve started but never finished. Starting something — be it a writing project or a book or a video game — always delivers the best rush.

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

P.S.:There’s a Billy Joel song called “Angry Young Man” that really sums up how I felt in adolescence. I was going to fight every battle I could: ageism, freedom of speech, censorship, the right of 16-year-old teens to see R-rated movies without a parent or guardian. I’d like to think I’ve mellowed a bit (“I believe I’ve passed the age of consciousness and righteous rage,” as the song says), but I’m still concerned with freedom-of-speech issues and censorship. These are two things worth revolting for.

OHP:Do you think writers should call Ernest Hemmingway, Papa?

P.S.:The man had such a patriarchal beard! But I think there are other, more important writers that might deserve that particular term of endearment. Speculative fiction — which are the genres I’m most interested in — owe a lot to Poe and his contemporaries. Plus, there are the true greats to consider: the Beowulf author, Chaucer, Milton, Shakespeare. Hemmingway is one of the pantheon, certainly. I’d be proud to call him cousin, or even teacher.

OHP:I agree completely. But I too am a fan of Speculative Fiction. Why did you decide to submit your work to An Honest Lie?

P.S.:I was not familiar with An Honest Lie or Open Heart Publishing until the publication was featured on Duotrope Digest. The theme of the anthology intrigued me, but I wasn’t sure if “The Registry of Lost Socks” would fit. I was actually on the verge of not submitting until I read the description to my girlfriend, and she convinced me to try. “Socks,” at that point, had been rejected from about 18 markets.
OHP: We thought it was a great read, creative and original. Besides writing, what other sorts of deviant behavior do you happen to enjoy?

P.S.:I’ve always been a real movie buff. I worked for Blockbuster Inc. for six years while in high school and college, which afforded me five free rentals a week. After I resigned, not having those free rentals was like trying to quit a meth habit. I also like to visit historical sites and museums, and I like to get outdoors to hike when I can. I recently discovered an activity called Letterboxing, which involves searching for stamps in waterproof boxes that have been hidden in public places. You keep a log of the ones you’ve found, but you also get to discover some neat places that you may have passed a hundred times but never explored.

OHP:Do atheists pray?

P.S.:Prayer by definition indicates an entreaty to a higher power. Most atheists would vehemently deny belief in any kind of god, but I suspect they have just transplanted a traditional deity for one of modernity: technology, science, communications, etc. The idea of praying to the God of Genetics or the Heavenly Host of the Internet is intriguing — very cyberpunk, very William Gibson/Neil Gaiman.

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

P.S.: My biggest writing project right now is a Weird Western collection of five short stories and one novella. The stories take place in a traditional Western milieu where cars have replaced horses. Right now I’m procrastinating working on it in order to do this interview. I’m on the third draft and would like for the collection to be complete in the next few months so I can begin searching for a literary agent. Besides that, I have another short story — a ghost story — that I’m trying to publish and an idea for a sci-fi/cyberpunk story knocking around in my head.

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

P.S.: The first “big boy” author that I read was Terry Brooks, and he’ll always have a special place in my heart. The Sword of Shannara was a very formative novel for me, especially when I discovered the back-story behind how Brooks struggled to get it published. Since then, I’ve really come to like (in no particular order): J.R.R. Tolkien, William Gibson, Ian Fleming, Stephen King, D.M. Cornish, Jonathan Stroud, Frank Herbert, C.S. Lewis, Alan Moore, Terry Pratchett, Patrick Rothfuss, J.K. Rowling and dozens of others.

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

P.S.: Definitely Stephen King. I’ve been writing since childhood, but never with much conviction or with any clear idea of what I wanted to do with my work. I told myself that I was going to be a famous author someday, but never made any strides to even become published. Around 2007, I read King’s On Writing, which is both a very clever autobiography and a writing manual. That book really opened my eyes. I realized that if I wanted to become a writer, I really needed to take it more seriously. I started writing short fiction and published my first story titled “Warded” in Twisted Dreams magazine in the summer of 2008.

OHP:Do you have a writing nemesis?

P.S.: I have an absolute loathing hatred for James Frey. What he did with A Million Little Pieces was such a blatant breach of the covenant between writer and reader that to me it counts among the capital sins of writing. If I had my way, the man would never be allowed to publish again. Yet people continue to defend him and his work, and he keeps getting publishing deals while so many up-and-coming writers continue to struggle. Yeah, I’m a little bitter about the whole thing — even though it happened like a million years ago.

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

P.S.: The two should never compete with one another; they go hand-in-hand. Often the best ideas come from a bit of knowledge gleamed: some new scientific discovery, an obscure bit of history, etc. Knowledge and imagination are the yin and yang of the creative process.

OHP: Where do you believe humanity is headed as a whole?

P.S.: That’s a pretty loaded question. In a nutshell, the whole thing is very strange. Every day, you read about terrible things happening all over the world: rape, murder, genocide, war, environmental disasters, and so on. But then you hear about some guy who stopped to help a woman whose car had broken down on a remote road; or a doctor who perfected bionic legs for a cat; or a celebrity who did something for charity quietly with a real motivation to help his or her fellow man and not as a publicity stunt. For all the bad things that are happening, good things are happening, too. The universe is constantly trying to keep itself in balance.

OHP: Where do you draw your inspiration from?

P.S.: The very best inspiration comes from asking “What if?” questions — and again this may have been something I gleaned from Stephen King’s On Writing that I found true in my own creative process. For instance, what if my laundry room was populated by sentient appliances that occasionally stole my garments? Most of my story ideas come from learning or reading about something and then asking a “What if?” question.

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

P.S.: The written word, without a doubt, followed closely by the printing press. You know, I recently read an article about a British survey that ranked the iPhone as number eight among the greatest inventions of all time. The iPhone?! Do these people realize that without the written word, without the printing press, there would be no iPhone? And if we have to read a book (or use our cell phones) while visiting the outhouse, then so be it.

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?

P.S.: I guess the best answer to this question is that individuality is worth dying for. You could say that justice, the arts, principles — that these things are worth dying for. But all of these concepts are really subjective. Are individual. My idea of justice may differ from yours, and so on. I do, however, believe that creativity is worth living for. Whether it’s the visual arts or music or the written word — when you find something that speaks to you, you know you have on some level touched the rest of humanity. And maybe even the divine.

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

P.S.: Every bit of stimuli that we encounter each day is an opportunity to spark our imagination. Artists get their ideas from everywhere, often from the most mundane everyday things. Our eyes — and indeed all of our senses — work hand-in-hand to make us the creative people we are.

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

P.S.: As Indiana Jones once said, “Fortune and glory, kid. Fortune and glory.”

OHP: Amen brother, Amen.

Davin Kimble – Jr. Editor

Patrick Scalisi is a magazine editor and aspiring author from Connecticut. His writing career began when he started composing stories about his favorite video games and movies on his mother’s word processor. Since 2008, he has published fiction in several outlets, including The Willows, Twisted Dreams and Space Westerns. He is also working on completing a novella. When he’s not writing, Pat enjoys watching way too many movies than are good for him, reading more books than he has shelves for and listening to music (his tastes range from classical to classic and modern rock). Visit him online at www.patrickscalisi.com