Ask the Author: Paul Michael Anderson
Answered Questions (11)
Paul Michael Anderson
That's...not a question I expected? All right, then. So.
A lot of what I read falls under the umbrella of people breaking under pressure and one of the the elements of that is the strain put onto couples. The couples I can recall off the top of my head are terrible ones--Jack and Wendy Torrance in THE SHINING--or have already split from one another by the time the story begins. In my own writing, I think I've had one couple that, for the duration of the story, were together and stayed together ("All That You Leave Behind", which appeared first in the anthology LOST SIGNALS and, later, my own collection BONES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN).
The best example I have--I guess--is Rob and Laura from Nick Hornby's HIGH FIDELITY. In that book, if nowhere else in my collection, a relationship is front and center and, to the teen and twenty-something I was when I read and re-read the book, it gives the most honest overview of the ups and downs and ridiculousness of a relationship--particularly a relationship where one of the members is a hopeless pop culture addict.
So, Rob and Laura. HIGH FIDELITY.
(And, after I post this answer, I'll probably think of, like, 5 more.)
A lot of what I read falls under the umbrella of people breaking under pressure and one of the the elements of that is the strain put onto couples. The couples I can recall off the top of my head are terrible ones--Jack and Wendy Torrance in THE SHINING--or have already split from one another by the time the story begins. In my own writing, I think I've had one couple that, for the duration of the story, were together and stayed together ("All That You Leave Behind", which appeared first in the anthology LOST SIGNALS and, later, my own collection BONES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN).
The best example I have--I guess--is Rob and Laura from Nick Hornby's HIGH FIDELITY. In that book, if nowhere else in my collection, a relationship is front and center and, to the teen and twenty-something I was when I read and re-read the book, it gives the most honest overview of the ups and downs and ridiculousness of a relationship--particularly a relationship where one of the members is a hopeless pop culture addict.
So, Rob and Laura. HIGH FIDELITY.
(And, after I post this answer, I'll probably think of, like, 5 more.)
Paul Michael Anderson
Definitely not; that snarky-dig was my one shot at greatness and the rest is just diminishing returns. Like Nick Hornby, or Stephen Chbosky.
Paul Michael Anderson
Serious answer:
I wanted to edit something else--my first gig editing was 2012 TORN REALITIES--for more experience, and had been bugging Post Mortem Press's publisher Eric Beebe to do another anthology (I was a "creative consultant" to FEAR THE ABYSS--meaning, I hounding Harlan Ellison and, tangentially, wound up screaming at him when I thought he was someone else).
I wanted to do a crime antho--at least those were my nebulous thoughts before Beebe pinged me about working first as Acquisitions Editor for the 2014 line of books (basically, I reviewed and recommended 95% of the books Post Mortem Press published in the year of 2014) as a tryout for a magazine. The magazine was a compromise between doing no anthologies--which are hard financial burdens to bear, even for Big 5 publishers--and tons of anthos.
The magazine became JAMAIS VU and now I'm gray-haired.
Not-serious answer:
I didn't think I looked old enough and I wanted to do something that would really etch some wear into my face. I was tired of being carded for cigarettes.
I wanted to edit something else--my first gig editing was 2012 TORN REALITIES--for more experience, and had been bugging Post Mortem Press's publisher Eric Beebe to do another anthology (I was a "creative consultant" to FEAR THE ABYSS--meaning, I hounding Harlan Ellison and, tangentially, wound up screaming at him when I thought he was someone else).
I wanted to do a crime antho--at least those were my nebulous thoughts before Beebe pinged me about working first as Acquisitions Editor for the 2014 line of books (basically, I reviewed and recommended 95% of the books Post Mortem Press published in the year of 2014) as a tryout for a magazine. The magazine was a compromise between doing no anthologies--which are hard financial burdens to bear, even for Big 5 publishers--and tons of anthos.
The magazine became JAMAIS VU and now I'm gray-haired.
Not-serious answer:
I didn't think I looked old enough and I wanted to do something that would really etch some wear into my face. I was tired of being carded for cigarettes.
Paul Michael Anderson
So unbelievably shitty that I saw them in 2003, listen to their 2011 record WASTING LIGHT every single goddam time I write, and am in fact, right at this moment, wearing a Foo Fighters shirt.
Lawyer-ed.
Lawyer-ed.
Paul Michael Anderson
Chuck Lorre.
My longer answer--because GoodReads is a dominatrix that way--is Chuck Lorre.
My longer answer--because GoodReads is a dominatrix that way--is Chuck Lorre.
Paul Michael Anderson
Double-headed axe.
Paul Michael Anderson
Pants, and the lack of them.
Paul Michael Anderson
Get into the satisfying world of telemarketing.
Paul Michael Anderson
Stuff and...stuff. Short stories. Pitching the hell out of a novel.
Paul Michael Anderson
I'm a terrible shot, so "professional killer" was out. Unfortunately.
Paul Michael Anderson
Cincinnati, Ohio. Also, Columbus.
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