One on One ALTHEA WALTERS Fabian Kussman
On Critics and readers
Fabian Kussman discusses the topics of his work with ALTHEA WALTERS
Ana Cisne’s interview with you seem to focus on the nihilistic views in your books. Does the focus on this aspect of your writing get tiresome?
Not really. Well, a little. Especially when I suspect my stories are very different. Not great, just different, and about sending back a lonely, frustrated, broken or damaged, tortured person to interact with other people. There’s a difference between not giving a damn just because a character decides not to react in an appropriate ways but they do care.
I have been reading a short story called I am a man. I have been getting some rather intense reactions. I’ll confess to getting light-headed upon reading it, but I gather that’s a mild response?
I am a Man is by no means the upsetting. I know a guy, an ex soldier with no arms and no legs is not a fun character or a social butterfly, but he can have funny moments.
Talking to some women about Bashkin’s Abdication, they said they have to thank you for getting men in their lives to read again. Do you see your books as male in nature?
Good question. Maybe a man can relate. I don’t know. The female characters in Bashkin’s are quite intelligent or aggressive or street smart. Some male characters are not.
There’s a weird kind of poetic pace to your writing, the repetition of phrases and even character actions like the counting in The Man Who can Live without Music, how close do you feel your work is to poetry?
I would love to have some more sensitivity to appreciate poetry. Sadly is like music to me. I pay attention to one or two songs, after that I get bored. I can understand entirely the construction of poetry. I read Whitman and I can see he has a great deal of talent and it’s easy for me to read. Angelou’s Phenomenal Woman is powerful. Poe’s work too. Shakespeare, is always great too. Keats, Wilde, Twain.
Finally, your next book is a collection of short stories or novelettes. What are some of the topics you cover or you would like to cover?
Just a few are complete. I have some ideas, they are not totally clear, but I have some. Sports stories, Immigration, religion, street scams… the breed of a male elephant and a female ant in the North Pole… You know what they say: Nothing is impossible.
Althea Walters Canadian born blogger and journalist, authored more than 10 books on romance and American lifestyle. She is 34 years old and lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her cats Lilith and Tara.
