James Patrick Kelly - Jack of Genres

by Jeremiah Tolbert

Where have you come from, and where are you going?

I was born in Mineola, New York and lived in bedroom towns around NYC until I left home for college. I've lived in New Hampshire since 1975 and intend to petition the Secretary of State to make me a native one of these days. I hope to drop dead writing - but not anytime soon. I have this vision of the last thing that anyone ever hears from me is what happens when my forehead hits the keyboard -- as;dlkfas[dpfqmwertq0tqwt0iqrt5

What was the inspiration for the title of your latest anthology, Strange, But Not a Stranger?

I am a big Talking Heads fan. If you are too, then you know.

The afterword of your latest collection mentions that you have written several plays based on your short fiction. Could you share with us some of your experiences crossing over from the world of genre writing into theatre? What have you liked and disliked about working in these areas?

I like most everything about the theater. I like the collaboration of talented artists across various disciplines and the community that inevitably forms among the cast of a project. I've been personally involved in many of the productions of my work. And yes, I especially like the applause, since writers very rarely get that kind of visceral feedback. I guess the only thing I don't like is how evanescent theater is. I hate watching great performances evaporate. You can reprint a story or a novel, but you can never duplicate a performance. You can only recreate it.

For the last several years, you've written a column for Asimov's focusing on the Internet. How do you feel that the internet has changed in the past 3 years? What kind of implications do you think those changes have for electronic magazines, and what implications do you see for speculative fiction as a whole?

The print sf magazines are in trouble (as are most print magazines) and if short science fiction has a long-term future, it is probably on the web. I expect that the physicality of the web experience will change the style of narrative. How? If I knew that, I'd found a writing school and charge for the advice! There is no viable economic model yet for electronic magazines (ie. one in which everyone gets paid enough to quit their day jobs) but I have high hopes that some micropayment scheme will eventually make one feasible.

Do you have a particular goal that you would like to accomplish as a writer? Are there goals that you've already accomplished?

When I was twenty, I wanted to be published -- period. When I was thirty, I wanted to publish a novel. When I was forty, I wanted to win an award. Well, okay. Been there, done all that. I'm fifty now, and I want to write and publish until I drop dead (see above).

Your stories deal with subjects ranging from ghosts, to time travelers, to tales of the far, far future. If there is a common element within your work, what do you think it is?

I think the plots often struggle with the notion of mortality. Can we beat it and would it be worth it if we did? And of course, there are a lot of aliens in my work. I like to think that I'm producing character-driven stories. I work hard as I can at writing women.

How do strangers react when you tell them what you do for a living?

Most of them think it's pretty cool. And then they ask if I can support myself writing science fiction. (Don't ask.)

In your story "The Propagation of Light in a Vacuum," you write in a fantastic, magic realism/slipstream-like style, but the work is set on a starship traveling faster than light.

The story seems to have multiple interpretations and meanings. Do you find that readers and fans ask you "what really happened?"

Well, there are a couple of stories in the book where this question arises. "The Pyramid of Amirah" is another. Ever so often I challenge myself to write a story where meaning is not easily extracted from incident. Hey, I find that life is kind of like that at times.

Which piece of your work, if you had to single out one, are you most proud of, and why?

The one I haven't written. I couldn't write word one of a new story if I didn't think that what I was about was the best thing I had ever attempted.

Can we expect more novels from you in the future?

Gosh, I hope so. My record isn't good on this, but I have 30,000 words of the best James Patrick Kelly novel ever written (see above).

Plug time. Is there a particular project that you would like to let everyone know about?

I have tried to slot my very best work into the June issue of Asimov's for the past eighteen years. I haven't finished the story yet, but if I make it, 2003 would make nineteen.

What is the most bizarre short story or novel you have ever read?

Faulkner's THE SOUND AND THE FURY

Who are your favorite authors (speculative or not) working today, and why?

John Kessel, Connie Willis, Kim Stanley Robinson, Karen Joy Fowler, Nancy Kress, Maureen McHugh, Alex Irvine, Alex Jablokov, Bruce Sterling, Kelly Link, Lucius Shepard, Andy Duncan, Gregory Frost, Ted Chiang. Why? Because they show me the way.

What are you currently reading?

Oh, this is so embarrassing, but I don't "read" for pleasure per se. I "listen" for pleasure on audio books. Currently I'm listening to Tolkien's "Fellowship of the Ring" (actually an aberration, but my local library unexpectedly had the tapes) and "Chasing the Dime" by Michael Connelly (I like mystery/decective/police procedurals).

You've been given the option to change the outcome of a single historical event. Would you use it, and if so, when?

Nope. Any change would probably wipe me out, and I'm quite fond of me.

What is the most unexplainable thing that you have witnessed?

I still can't believe I won the Hugo award in 2000. I know this seems self-serving, but look at the voting. http://www.chicon.org/hugos/hugovote.htm. Nobody gave me a chance. I didn't give me a chance. When they called my name, I about fainted.

Nanotechnology or genetic engineering? (as in, which would you prefer used on you, if either?)

Well, since I'm already me, GE ain't going to change much, So nano is the only way to go. Watch out for cancer, though!

Someone offers you a pill to "cure" you of the need for sleep. There's a one in a hundred chance that it will kill you, but if it doesn't, you'll never need to sleep again. Would you take it?

Jeez, this question doesn't address the necessity for dreaming. About a quarter of my stories have benefited from midnight (or thereabouts) inspiration. So no.

If you were given a choice, after death, of being reincarnated as any object or creature, what would you choose?

I'd like to come back as me, only I'd like to remember my life as a (semi)successful skiffy writer.

 

© 2002 Jeremiah Tolbert