1. When did you first want to become a writer? What were your writing ambitions then? Have they changed since then?

 

I think it’s less about wanting to become a writer and more about discovering I was a writer. This would have happened at a young age, pre-teen, being exposed to creative stuff and wanting to be part of it. Nothing serious happened until I returned jobless after a few months traveling in Europe at age twenty and decided I’d use the time to write. I thought it would be easy and there might possibly be money and fame in it. Thirty years later it’s become easy, but there’s still no money or fame. And in some respects, for that I’m grateful as it allows me to write what I want to write without market considerations.

 

2. What made you want to write a piece on Zelda?

 

Rhys Hughes referred me to the guidelines for the anthology and automatically I knew I wanted to write something. Over the past couple of years I’ve been writing death stories in any event, focusing on film stars, for a collection I’m working on, so this was a natural progression. Choosing Zelda was easy. I noticed the list of writers already selected and realized most were men, so selecting a female was a decision I wanted to make. I’d had many conversations with my partner about the Zelda/F. Scott relationship as we are also both writers who play off each other’s skills, so Zelda came first to mind. Doing some research cemented that.

 

3. Do you have a favorite book or piece of writing by Zelda?

 

Ironically, considering the argument is that much of Zelda’s life and diaries were creatively used by F Scott Fitzgerald and that her own work—mostly her only novel, “Save Me The Waltz”—has been ignored, I also haven’t read anything other than snippets. Something I should—and will—rectify.

 

4. Do you believe in the possibility of an afterlife? And if so, where would you like to go in your afterlife, and what might you do?

 

Regrettably I don’t think an afterlife is likely, but I’d love to believe in one. It would make life much simpler. If there was an afterlife, I wouldn’t like to be judged—too many unwise decisions for that. I’d much rather be allowed to go exploring.

 

5. What's the next writing project you're working on?

 

I’ve just finished collaborating with the legendary avant-garde San Francisco collective, The Residents, but can’t talk much about that right now. I’ve begun working on a novel titled “The Non-Conformists”. I have no idea what it’s going to be about. I look forward to finding out.