Here, author Rob Ehle succumbs to our nosy questions and talks about the difference between “chard” and “shard” (hint: one is tasty with bacon) and how to count in Czech! See him at the next Epicenter, April 24, which features a release party for ZYZZYVA’s spring issue (hint: he’s in the issue!).
- 1. What is your favorite book?
- The Sound and the Fury, if you put a gun to my head and I could choose only one. No, wait. Brothers Kara— (Bang.)
- 2. Who is your favorite writer?
- Faulkner, even without a gun to my head.
- 3. How old were you when you were first published?
- One “flash fiction” piece when I was about 26, then a real short story when I was 29. Didn’t publish again until 49, though I’ve been luckier since.
- 4. What writing style do you most abhor?
- The bad kind. I don’t have stylistic druthers, I just abhor ineptitude.
- 5. What is your favorite writing cliché?
- “Never end a sentence with a preposition.” That’s where it’s at.
- 6. What is your favorite word?
- I like the Czech word for “four,” čtyři, because I can say it, and most Americans can’t.
- 7. When and how do you write?
- Mostly on Caltrain on my commute to and from my day job. I use a laptop, because the jostling makes my handwriting go all jostly.
- 8. What is your greatest fear when you first turn in a manuscript?
- That I’ve used a word wrong. I once used “chard” for “shard” all the way through an otherwise very poignant section of a story. The whole effect was different with produce strewn over the floor instead of pieces of a broken vase.
- 9. In what era do you wish you’d been born?
- I’m pretty happy where I’m at. Wingsuits? iTunes? Should anyone even have to think about this?
- 10. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
- I’m neurotic enough about my writing, thank you very much, without thinking that one through.
- 11. Which talent would you most like to have?
- I will pay anyone $100 – I am not kidding – who can teach me, finally, to do that loud whistle thing with my fingers in my mouth. None of the YouTube videos have been effective. I mean $50.
- 12. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
- My kid, d’oh.
- 13. Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
- Not sure I have one for all time, but I’m partial to the young Ike McCaslin in The Bear. He’s one. I also like the widow in The Outlander, an amazing novel by Gil Adamson.
- 14. How would you like to die?
- I’d like to be beamed up.
