Welcome to minorprogression’s installment of The Next Big Thing, a self-interview game of blog-tag. I was tagged by Amanda Davidson, who was tagged by Deb Poe the wonderful poet, novella-ist, editor, teacher, and champion of the hybrid form. Other links to check out are Susana Gardner, Claire Donato, Matt Runkle, Jackie Clark, Ren Evans and Jenn McCreary and more will be added every Wednesday.

The idea of the project is that tagged people answer this set of questions on their blog. The questions are geared toward an in-the-works book, but Amanda suggested everyone take the liberty of broadening the criteria to include more amorphous entities or small projects people are currently working on and even went so far to suggest everyone change the questions… I’m suggesting anyone interested should tag themselves and become part of The Next Big Thing! If you do so, link your self in the comments section!

QUESTIONS:

What is the title of the book or project you want to talk about?

Parasite.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

After I read and hated JT Leroy’s The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things I knew a book for us and by us needed to be created. I know Parasite isn’t the first of this kind, but hopefully it’ll provide some justice in comparison to all the bullshit Sarah Albert created. Amazing writers like Dennis Cooper, Bruce Benderson, Dodie Bellamy and Kevin Killian got involved with Albert, thinking Albert was the real deal truck stop hooker she claimed to be and as Stephen Beachy later uncovered Albert was a fraud, the whole show ended up being the wrong kind of explosion, and hopefully Parasite will offer a more enjoyable-truthful-loving experience, with the hooker still the star. Not a heart of gold hooker, mind you, but you know, a hooker with some heart.

What genre does your book fall under?

It’s intended to be a genre buster! A little sci-fi, a little bit memoir, a little bit appropriated, ad a dash of glitter and heartbreak and maybe some methamphetamine?!

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Ezra Miller would be the perfect Joshua Boyer!

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

“Queer is just a word for people too busy talking…”

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

It was a continual process of layering and took me seven years to complete.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Life. Numerous writing workshops. And all of my favorite writers – Kathy Acker.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

There’s a lot of sex.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Publication Studios published it. It’s available here.

NOW! TAG! YOU’RE IT! PLEASE SEND ME YOUR LINKS TO YOUR PROJECTS!