Jacob
M. Appel’s first novel, The Man Who Wouldn’t Stand Up, won the 2012
Dundee International Book Award and was published by Cargo. His short
story collection, Scouting for the Reaper, won the 2012 Hudson Prize and
was published by Black Lawrence Press in 2014. His most recent books
include a novel, The Biology of Luck (Elephant Rock, 2013), an essay
collection, Phoning Home (University of South Carolina Press, 2014) and
a short story collection, Einstein’s Beach House (Pressgang/Butler
University, 2014). Two additional collections, Miracles and
Conundrums of the Secondary Planets (Black Lawrence) and The Magic
Laundry (Snake Nation) are due out in 2015. He holds an MFA in
fiction from NYU, an MFA in playwriting from Queens College and an MD from
Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons.
**
Curt Smith: You’re widely
published in the lit journal world, yet you waited a relatively long time
before publishing your first story collection. Can you describe your journey?
Jacob Appel: My
long apprenticeship was not entirely by choice. I had published
nearly two hundred stories in literary journals before I managed to sell my
first collection. I suspect one of the reasons for this is that my
stories are rarely connected in the tangible ways (eg. geography, subject
matters, common characters) that make a collection easier to place with a
publisher. Whenever I sit down to write a story, I try to imagine a world
as different from the worlds of my previous stories as possible. This
approach leads to more original work, but less cohesion. The result is
that I was out lurking in the literary ether for many years. I sold my
first serious story to the journal Fugue in 1997, but didn’t sell my
first collection until Scouting for the Reaper in 2012. In
between, I toiled away below the radar screen and prayed to the patron saint of
small miracles; of course, I’m not a Catholic, which may explain why he took so
long to answer my prayers.
CS: Anyone
checking out your bio will realize you’ve got a very diverse educational
background. You have degrees in law and medicine, and you publish in scientific
fields such as bioethics. How have these studies impacted your writing?
JA: One of
the best things about being a doctor is that there are no starving
doctors. At present, I’m a psychiatrist at Beth Israel Hospital in New
York City and I teach at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. That means I
never have to depend upon my writing for income, nor do I have to rely upon
placing stories or selling novels to affirm my societal worth. Everything
that does come my way in terms of literary success is just extra gravy.
That takes the pressure off and makes both of my careers more fun. So my
advice to aspiring writers is stunningly simple: Go to medical school.
CS: And you’re a
sightseeing guide in NYC.
JA: I carry
my license with me in my pocket. My second novel, The Biology of Luck, is about a hapless
sightseeing guide in New York City. People often ask if he is based upon
me. Absolutely not. I do not have nearly enough
self-confidence to reveal myself so directly.
CS: You have an
essay collection out. And you’ve also had a lot of success in writing plays.
Can you describe how this switching of gears/genres helps the cause? How is the
process different between writing a story and an essay? Between a story and a
play? Do you see a project all the way through or do you juggle them?
JA: I’ve
discovered over the years that, at least for me, every story cannot be told in every
medium. So I have a number of stories that I know I want to tell someday,
and I slowly figure out that some are plays and other are stories and, often
with a sense of despair, that some are novels. Then, depending on whether
I’m in the mood to write fiction or drama, I dive into a project. It’s
most rewarding when it turns out to be a play, because with a play, you get to
see the audience’s reaction. Frequently, you get to work with beautiful
actresses too, which is always an added benefit.
CS: I think
pulling off the humorous literary story is one of the hardest tasks a writer
can tackle. Any hints?
JA: I
learned from the grand doyenne of comedic American theater, Tina Howe, that
comedy comes from desperation. You can see that in Chaplin, the Marx
Brothers, Mike Nichols & Elaine May, Woody Allen, even in Norman Lear
sitcoms. It’s the desperation, the frustration, the desire to call
in the artillery, that raises the stakes. Of course, the subject
matter can be of trivial importance to any reasonable person—for example, in
one of my stories, a depressed hedgehog—as long as it matters deeply to the
characters involved.
CS: What’s next?
JA:
You want more? I thought I was done. Harper Lee
announces she’s publishing a second book and she’s the belle of the county,
while I give you numbers eight and nine, and already you’re asking what’s
next? Social security, that’s what’s next. Unless it’s already
belly-up. Early retirement. Can you say Deanna Durbin? Bjorn
Borg? And I have high aspirations for that retirement. Mark
Thatcher, the former prime minister’s son, has recruited me to help him try
another coup attempt against the brutal kleptocracy in Equatorial Guinea.
My clairvoyant also predicts I may be Karen Russell’s second husband, although
Ms. Russell has yet to confirm this prophesy…..Or I may come out of retirement,
Richard Nixon style, and write another novel….
**
Visit
Jacob M. Appel HERE.
Interviewer
bio: Curtis Smith's latest book is Beasts and Men, a story collection from Press 53. In early
2015, Dock Street Press will release Communion,
his next essay collection. In 2016, Aqueous Books will publish his next novel, Lovepain.
