Interviews

I think language will always fail in some ways, that no matter how well we write, the words will ultimately never fully capture and convey an experience.

Nature is scary-beautiful, especially in the backcountry. I always carry a simmering fear of what I’ll find or what will find me alone on the trail: bears, storms, men.

That’s a concern that one might have in the middle of one’s life: “How much time do I have left? What did I not do? What do I still need to do?”

If you are reading the story of the last human on Earth, then you should expect to have to do some work.

I want to see a novel with POC characters but that’s the least interesting part of the book. . . . Just write a great book that happens to inhabit this world.

When entering a narrative that has great emotion, it’s important to commit to capturing the emotion and portraying it. But also knowing when to stop.

. . . it’s the poet or artist’s job to open up a new dialogue, to ask questions that aren’t being asked

All of life is simultaneity for everyone. We’re all inside of many different tracks of experience at once.

I want my readers to get whatever comes to their hearts and minds as they read the novel.

An oral tradition is something you can add to a story that already exists, and you can now retell in a way.

Humor and self-deprecation can impose an ironizing distance, but at what cost?