Hello and Welcome to another episode of Interview-Like Substance! I’m your host What a Fool Believes.
Today on the Substance our guest is writer Kevin Fanning. Kevin, working out of Cambridge, MA, likes “to write about celebrities and internet culture and technology and relationships” and does it damn well. He has been writing on the Internet since 1998 on sites of his own (kfan, whygodwhy, The Cold Inclusive) and sites not his own (The Morning News, Monkeybicycle). He has also written several books including his latest, How I Learned To Love You From So Far Away, which is a wonderfully concise, smart and funny collection of stories about love and technology.
You know the rules: I request the interviewee to provide me five to ten answers, only I don’t ask them any questions. Thus, the answers can be about whatever they’d like. When I, the interviewer, receive their answers, I attempt, Jeopardy-like, to figure out what the questions would be.
Let the Interview-Like Substance begin!
Answer 1: That’s a good question. I don’t know. I’ve always been interested in how celebrities affect our culture and the idea of the stories and gossip we tell about celebrities being sort of our modern mythology. But why I chose to focus on Jennifer Love Hewitt, I don’t know. She just seemed kind of perfect, in that she’s talked about a lot, but she still seems kind of private. We don’t know tons about her, the way we do about some celebrities.
Question 1: Let’s get right down to it, shall we? Much of your work deals with celebrities. One celebrity in particular, Jennifer Love Hewitt, with her parties numbering in five, apparitional whispers and knowledge of all things done in previous summers, seemed to be a particularly bountiful muse for you in 2007. Kevin Fanning, what gives?
Answer 2: A long time. Much longer than it feels safe to admit. But the stories in this book were written over the last year or so.
Question 2: This is a two-part question: A.) How long did it take you to build the kfan Pyramid of Literature and Unofficial Pasha Malla Resource Center, located in Northwestern Brazil along the Amazon River, and B.) How long did it take you to write the stories in How I Learned To Love You From So Far Away, your first work completed in the Pyramid?
Answer 3: Not really. I respect it and have tried to read it, but it’s so hard to find the really good writing. So much of it is not amazing.
Question 3: One of the major trends in the literary world currently is the reading of old car manuals. The trend began early last year and is going strong in 2010 with The 1982 Pontiac Grand LeMans Owner’s Manual maintaining the number one spot on The New York Times Best Seller List. Fans of these manuals claim to find poetry in the instructional narration and technical jargon. Do you have any interest in these manuals, whether as a reader or writer?
Answer 4: It’s so insular. It’s like, that person’s own personal fantasies and ideas, writ large. I guess sort of due to its very nature, it’s not accessible to a wide audience. Hopefully that’s not the case here, but I have a very strong suspicion that it will be.
Question 4: Last night was one of those nights where nothing was going right for the Knicks. But I don’t want to talk about that. Tell me about your new blog project, kfan Fiction, where fans of your work write fiction about you. Is this something you’d like to have mass appeal? It’s a great idea that could definitely blow up but also seems insular.
Answer 5: I guess I do. I haven’t quite figured out my feelings about religion and the afterlife, which is certainly one of the reasons why I wrote this, but I would say that for the most part I do believe in ghosts, on some level.
Question 5: Let’s talk about one of your previous works, Fever Dream Ghost Book. Do you have a fear of Death, Kevin Fanning? Do you believe in ghosts? Tell me why you wrote this. But please. Please, please, please. I beg you. Make your answer exactly 221 characters. As you know, speaking about Death in more than 221 characters will cause him to appear and that’s something that I really do not want to deal with right now. Last time Death appeared I ended up in the Rocky Mountains, playing Old Maid and drinking Mr. Pibb, while he blabbered on and on and on about the TV shows JAG and NCIS, discussing character development and plot points and blah blah blah.
Answer 6: I’ve written about ghosts and celebrities, things like that before. A lot of these stories don’t have definite beginnings and endings, which is what I like to write about. The process of being comfortable in your life where you are, being on the path and not knowing what lies ahead. That’s what I struggle with.
Question 6: Mr. Fanning I see that you’ve also brought the kfan Klone here with you. If you don’t mind, I’m going to ask it a question, seeing as how it is also a writer. kfan Klone, what do you like to write about? What subjects or themes do you struggle with?
Answer 7: I don’t have one. I’ve seen her movies and some of her shows, but I wouldn’t describe myself as an ardent follower. She was on one really excellent episode of Boy Meets World though.
Question 7: Tell me your absolute favorite work by Kathy Ireland.
Answer 8: Celebrity gossip blogs, definitely, although I wouldn’t say they’re something I love, just something that I can acknowledge being an influential part of our culture. World folklore, Greek mythology. Ukiyo-e, actually. I’m a big fan of Hokusai and Hiroshige and Yoshitoshi and I like their approach to storytelling.
Question 8: What are some of your influences? And please, include one that will make some of my readers and I look it up on Wikipedia and go, “Oh yeah! I know those. Those are cool!”
Answer 9: God, I hope not.
Question 9: Last question: Do you think that too much is going to be added to True Blood in Season 3 causing the show to suck?
Next time on Interview-Like Substance: Don Delillo!
