Ask the Author: Alec Bryan

Alec Bryan’s contribution to the January issue is quite epic, and he talks about selling himself, catching tears, and rattling questions among other matters.

1. When selling yourself, what is your slogan?

I am more than a piece of man meat. Respect the brain as well. Then I get serious and think, “Why not me? Who better to sell than myself? Prostitutes and authors have much in common.

2. What question has rattled you the most recently?

My writings are definitely not short and crisp, and I always am asked why I don’t leave more out. I often refer to a letter from Wolfe to Fitzgerald, where Wolfe said in correspondence, “…Well, don’t forget, Scott, that a great writer is not only a leaver-outer but also a putter-inner, and that Shakespeare and Cervantes and Dostoevsky were great putter-inners -…” Wolfe’s answer is mine. The other question that rattles is why my fascination with death? I answer again with someone else’s answer. Stevens said, “Death is the mother of beauty,” and I believe that. It is the cause of all ritual.

3. How did you choose the name of “Pinion Pitch” for your protagonist? Is this an actual Native American name or something cobbled together from an issue of Popular Mechanics?

I work with Pinion Pines, and my grandma is always asking me where to collect pine nuts. I never tell her because that is secret information. I made all the names up, but I did read about thirty books on the Navajo civilization before I put the pen to paper…it seemed believable.

4. What do you catch your tears in?

The ocean collects my tears, and one day they will swallow California. Actually, I take meds that make it impossible to cry, and that makes me sad. I want to cry, damn it. My cistern is empty.

5. How did you construct the weaving of the story within the story for “For Years He Caught Her Tears In A Cup”?

I learn from others. I really like to level my writing without giving clues for deeper meanings. For instance, the actual theme I dealt with in this story is the death of myth and how that can destroy a culture. American Civ plays a huge part in the story. One line specifically gives away my overall theme. “Sam was here.” Think about it. On a smaller level it is a story about a man struggling with modern and ancient modes of life. There are others as well, like trying to sell vacuums, but to explain too much is to ruin the journey of the reader.

6. What other song lyrics would you borrow as titles to future stories?

My second novel is titled “The Earth Died Screaming,” a Tom Waits song, but I doubt I’ll be able to use it. My third novel is titled “Details of the War,” a song by an indie band called Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. I feel indebted to musicians and painters. I study them perhaps more than writers. But I would love to use Dylan’s “It’s Not Dark Yet But It’s Getting There,” Cohen’s “I have Tried In My Own Way To Be Free,” and lastly, if I could just steal lyrics and call them my own poem, I would use these lines from “Classic Cars” by Bright Eyes:

And I keep looking for that blindfold faith
Lighting candles to a cynical saint
Who wants the last laugh at the fly trapped in the windowsill tape
You can go right out of your mind trying to escape
From the panicked paradox of day to day
If you can’t understand something then it’s best to be afraid