Monthly Archives: January 2018

An Interview with Author Dennis Kastendiek

Posted on by

Dennis Kastendiek uses a lifetime of observation and adds in imagination and a unique voice to create memorable stories. His first book, …and Something Blue: 21 Tales of Love Lost and Found (2017), is an anthology of short stories full of subtle wit and charming characters. When not reading or writing, Dennis plays guitar, helps writers refine their craft at an Albuquerque community center, and serves on the board of directors of SouthWest Writers.

Like many authors, you’ve struggled with your writing. Does the following quote ring true for you? “Fear is felt by writers at every level. Anxiety accompanies the first word they put on paper and the last.” ~ Ralph Keyes
Except for buffoons, plutocrats, and a handful of people suffering from affluenza, I think we all function in an atmosphere of some anxiety. For the writer, it’s “do those words on the page accurately and cleanly reflect the message in my heart and bones and sinew?” Eric Burdon and the Animals had that song with the powerful couplet, “I’m just a soul whose intentions are good/Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood.” One of my dictionary (Encarta, 1999) definitions of fear is “awe or reverence, as toward God.” Most of us are aware that life involves risk. Sharing a noncommissioned story with a stranger is one such.

When readers turn the last page of …and Something Blue what do you hope they’ll take away from it?
That life can be looked at in so many different ways, from so many different angles. One of my story characters wears an amber pendant, a dying ant captured within its resin. It might be a beautiful piece of jewelry, but a tragedy is captured within its diorama. How must family members of someone who fell into wet cement pilings while a bridge was being built long ago, how do they feel when they cross that bridge today? Conversely, there are joys and raptures that some of us experience from music or sculpture that others of us pass by without a glance. So short answer—to see or feel a little deeper.

Tell us about a few of your favorite characters from the anthology.
Taranjula, Wally, Frank—exaggerated shades of me in each of them. They all go through a crucible and come out, I hope, a little stronger at the end. I hope readers connect because these characters, as flawed as they might be, are basically good at heart and trying to deal with this world as best they can. Carter Hork had his shallow dreams of wealth and luxury. Well, now he has everything to the gills. But he’s also in a kind of arranged marriage, with all the responsibilities and sacrifices and attempt to love that the situation is going to require. Taranjula has to fight for his friends. Craig has to somehow convince Mona of his love and his willing and patient atonement. One of my favorites was Peter Grindle, who wanted to get back to civilization in the worst way, but we haven’t heard from him since 1972.

What part does setting play in your stories?
Setting is a big part of the title story and also looms large in “The Dawn of Civilization.” Interestingly, I have never set foot on a tropical or desert island, or spent time in a castle or in a medieval prison. But the research was fun. Even though I realize that elements in those stories are stretched and zany. Setting, for me, varies in importance from story to story. I do drop hints here or there that we are in Illinois, or California, in a small town bar, at a Michigan B&B. While setting is important, I was influenced early on by minimalists like Raymond Carver or Lorrie Moore. Characters foremost.

How did the book come together?
Sixty-nine years in the making. Some of these stories are from college days in the 70s. Some from the 80s as I crossed my fingers and tried for a few of the “bigs.” I still have my rejection from McCall’s with the hand-scrawled addition, “Nice work but not right for us. Thanks!” And some are relatively new rejections. But I’ve always revised like mad. Some critics find my sentences too lush and run-on. But I was guided in that direction (and I’m thankful for it) by an instructor from the University of Iowa named Ralph Berry who detected “anecdotalism” in some of my early stories. He encouraged richness, flow, the sprawl of a jazz solo riff as the band is winding up its final set. If a reader feels he’s on a magic carpet ride, I’m happy for him. A good story should feel like a ride through time and space.

What was the most rewarding aspect of writing …and Something Blue?
I guess it was noticing that I haven’t written the same story over and over. I do some realism. I do some madcap. Some are tragic. Others comic. I coined an expression for some of my stuff that I call “magical claptrap.” A writer conceiving his next story while getting a root canal. A small-town bar and the sudden appearance of Beelzebub’s agent. A newspaper want ad for a professional daydreamer. A little Rod Serling, some William Goldman, a dash of Vonnegut.

Who are your favorite authors, and what do you admire most about their writing?
I avoid choosing favorites, which can vary by season, mood, recent experience and so forth, but Kurt Vonnegut, David Morrell, Rod Serling, William Goldman, Doctorow, Salinger and others are certainly up there. And some of their magic is cinematic. From my reading of Morrell and Goldman, I learned they were both heavily influenced by movies. My mother worked second shift at Western Electric when I was a kid, so my grandma often took me to movies for diversion and to get those cool dishes and plates and cups and stuff they gave away. I vividly recall how ANYTHING could happen in the movies. Recently, an interviewer asked a young kid why he liked to read J.K. Rowling’s stories. He looked at her as if she had a screw loose. “I don’t read her stories,” he answered, “I WATCH them.” From the mouths…but what a great way to phrase it.

When did you know you were a writer?
When I was being raised Catholic as a kid, I was intrigued by the confessional. The priest was in the middle and lines formed to the left and right of him. I would see a red light go on shortly after someone entered the booth. I’d look up at the high, high ceiling and wonder how the church paid to heat this huge place. I knew it had to be expensive because my mother and grandma constantly complained about the price of coal that was stored in our basement. Suddenly it came to me. The red light over the confessionals was like the red light on the top of elevator booths. There was probably a big coal mine underneath every church, and the priest was taking these people down to dig coal as penance for their sins. That was why some took longer than others. And how the church was able to afford the heating costs. I puzzled over how their clothes looked so clean, but I figured the priest listened to their sins while they changed into overalls and got their picks and pails and stuff. Then a fast shower before the elevator came up again would explain the beading on some of their foreheads when they walked out of the booth. It would be years before I came to realize the red light was from a switch under the kneeling pads, but my imagination had worked out another answer. I likely had a glimmer then that I could write.

KLWagoner150_2KL Wagoner (writing as Cate Macabe) is the author of This New Mountain: a memoir of AJ Jackson, private investigator, repossessor, and grandmother. She has a new speculative fiction blog at klwagoner.com and writes about memoir at ThisNewMountain.com.



An Interview with Author Mary Quinalty

Posted on by

Former journalist Mary Quinalty is an advocate for the immigrant and homeless population in Albuquerque, New Mexico where she volunteers for Catholic Worker House. She spent three years writing her memoir, Mountaintop Milagro (2017), which brings to light a life-changing mountaintop experience she believes can happen to anyone. Visit Mary on her website MaryQuinalty.com and on Facebook.

Why did you write Mountaintop Milagro, and who did you write it for?
I received first-hand knowledge of the power of God when I saw the brilliant light of a vision on a mountaintop in Mexico. It changed my life forever. On the University of New Mexico (UNM) campus, students who had heard about my encounter asked me for an interview. Eagerly, I sat in front of Aquinas Newman Center after mass and answered questions. When I finished, I was astonished to see many students crowded around, taking notes. Week after week, the interviewing continued. It was humbling to shake their hands and look into their young faces, full of desire to know how I could say, “I know God is real.” It was then I realized how many souls could be inspired by my transformative life if I wrote a book. After living a new spiritual life under God’s guiding hand over 25 years, I was inspired to tell every human being, every soul, “It can happen to you.” That gave birth to my book Mountaintop Milagro in 2016.

When readers turn the last page in the book, what do you hope they’ll take away from it?
It is my hope that when readers finish the book, they’ll know God has a plan for each one of them. Our challenge is to ask God to show us what that is and then do it.

What was the most challenging aspect of completing this work, and what was the easiest?
The most challenging aspect was re-living the truths I learned of how one attains a close spiritual relationship with God. I faced the pain of realizing what a sinful life I was living. That was the most difficult—and then how to put it all down in words. The rewrites were bitter. I was tormented at the time it happened, and I was tormented re-living it. I leaned on my faith and found it was the support of the religious around me that encouraged me to keep writing. Priests, theologians, teachers, and even my soul mate, knew meanings of the Holy Scriptures that I had missed long ago. The easiest part was working with an editor who patiently helped me find the words that laid it all out. I was a first-time book writer, and I had to learn the basics of how to keep my audience reading. That was a pleasant, enlightening learning experience. It raised the bar on my self-confidence.

When did you know you wanted to write your memoir?
In living my spiritual life, I accepted a divine calling to move to Mexico to a village where extreme poverty prevailed. My goal was to establish a mission site in this underserved third-world country where Spanish was the first language. Me? I couldn’t speak Spanish fluently. The Holy Spirit covered my ineptness as I lived alone and worked among the poor, sick, and suffering. Messenger after messenger appeared suddenly with insights that kept me safe from hostilities and helped me develop an understanding of the people I was there to serve. As we resolved each community problem, I became part of the culture and fell in love with the people, the young ones, the elderly frail.

I kept journals week after week during the ten years I lived there. When I returned home, I brought with me boxes of journals and the photos I’d taken to document life in the village. It all captured the quality of life that had been raised by the efforts of my organization and that of the people of the village themselves. God had richly blessed us all. I knew then I had to tell the story. My book covers the life changes of the two heroes of the book, of my changes and how they all blended to accomplish the mission I envisioned. And it certainly humbled me to know, with God’s help, we had reached our goal of developing a village that could be self-sustaining. All the more reason to write the book.

Is there a scene in your book you’d love to see in a movie?
That has to be the scene where I saw the vision. The wonderment of that scene, my inability to understand what it was. And how I didn’t want to be moved from the scene, my refusal to leave. I was on sacred ground but didn’t realize it. The power of God was like a giant wave sweeping my mind, pulling at me. I wanted to go with it. Later in my religious education, I related my experience to the Holy Scriptures where disciples of Christ threw down their nets and followed Christ. That was exactly my feeling. It’s been over 27 years since my vision, and the tears and feelings I had then are as fresh as the day it happened.

What is the best compliment you’ve received as an author?
The best compliment was in a review from Father Rich Litzau, the priest at UNM Newman Center who helped me accurately write the priestly comments and phrases. In his review he says Mountaintop Milagro is “a powerful tale of how God works through individuals over whatever years it takes to accomplish the task. A deeply personal account, written in language that we all can identify with of God being in one’s life in real, quantifiable ways. Mary draws the reader into her experience as one would a fellow traveler on a spiritual journey.”

You’re in the process of writing a sequel to Mountaintop Milagro. What challenges are you encountering with this second book?
Self-publishing Mountaintop Milagro lowered my cash reserves. With that book I learned what a challenge it is to get rejection after rejection from publishing houses and agents who no longer take “first-time” writers. I’m writing the second book, knowing I can’t self-publish it due to low cash flow. I must find a publisher if I’m to see this book in print. I’m hopeful I’ll be successful because the sequel tells the rest of the story. Again, I come back to my faith—if God wants this second book published, he will provide the means.

Do you have advice for other writers?
If self-publishing, don’t enter the marketing field without extensive study of all the avenues of marketing and distribution. Knowledge of social media, including Facebook, Twitter, websites and blogging is essential. In marketing, writers wear a new hat. Be aware that it demands a seemingly endless journey of exposure to the public with dynamics of sales and showmanship, as well as other time commitments. It all taxes one physically and mentally. It can be done, and I’m doing it, but I never imagined how much time and energy it would take.

KLWagoner150_2KL Wagoner (writing as Cate Macabe) is the author of This New Mountain: a memoir of AJ Jackson, private investigator, repossessor, and grandmother. She has a new speculative fiction blog at klwagoner.com and writes about memoir at ThisNewMountain.com.



In Archive