Interview: James Quinton

by Sean McGahey

 

If I weren’t talking to you right now I’d be …

Putting together issue 20 of Open Wide Magazine. I hadn’t quite realised how many submissions we’d received in the past couple of months; it’s taken me two full days to get up to the beginning of June!

A phrase I use far too often …

At the moment it’s: ’sadly, on this occasion, it (x’s submission) has been unsuccessful….’

The most surprising thing that ever happened to me was …

Falling in love, properly, you know… like in the movies…

I am not a politician but …

Where to start! Re-nationalise everything… tax the rich… four day working week… increase minimum wage… reduce the role of the monarchy to a tourist attraction (the Queen will be required for matinees and evening performances)… I’d eventually want to drag the country back to a pre-industrial revolution state… we’d all be living in the country growing vegetables.

You know me as a writer but in truer life I’d have been …

A massive Doctor Who fan.

In a nutshell, my philosophy is this:

‘Who gives a fuck’.

What kind of music are you listening to?

I use to really be into music but everything is so overproduced it all sounds the same whether it be goth rock or pop, so I tend not to bother, on occasion I dig out a bit vinyl and give it a spin.

What do you think of the more alternative, cultural phenomenon of the Internet based lit-Zine scene? Is it a good thing? Or is it killing off the traditional paper based publishing industry??

I don’t think the traditional ‘mainstream’ paper based publishing industry has too much to worry about; people will always want to hold a book in their hands.

But I think the hard copy or print copy small press has suffered, especially literary magazines; why pay when you can read new stuff online for free?

There does seem to be a divide between the two; print vs online publishing, many thinking that if you’re published online it means less than being published in print. To a certain extent I think that argument has some credence. Fortunately there are as many dedicated online publishers as there are print publishers and these guys/gals are dedicated to publishing quality work instead of any old tosh just to fill their pages. However I do think we will see resurgence in print magazines; there is something special about holding a mag in your hand, even if it’s just a photocopied effort.

What role has the Internet played in your writing?

Well, it’s good for me as seven times out of ten I’m too lazy to write a letter and print off a story. I *heart* cut ‘n’ paste.

Do you write a novel/short story for a reaction or do you write novels/short stories for personal reasons?

I like to get a reaction and try to do something different, play with the form so to speak. I think writing for personal reasons would be incredibly dull. 

Is what you write about purely literary, or is it a depiction of a certain world you’ve been a part of?

I occasionally take elements from real life i.e. characteristics or situations and use them in a story, but you can’t exist on recollections entirely, a writer needs to be able to create his or hers own worlds.

Top 5 books you’d rescue from a burning building?

Black Spring – Henry Miller, On The Road – Jack Kerouac, Last Gang in Town: Story of The Clash – Marcus Gray, 1984 – George Orwell, Billy’s Rain – Hugo Williams

A common misconception of me is …

I don’t think there is one, maybe that I somekinda Bukowski freak – I’m not.

If you could have a beer with any writer dead or alive who’d it be, and why?

Oh, this is a bit obvious but it would probably have to be Henry Miller circa Paris years. He is my favourite writer and Black Spring is my favourite novel.

What are you currently working on?

Short story collection, novel, poetry, and as previously mention OWM, and also Open Wide Books.

Anyone else on the scene you’d recommend?

Well, the wonderful Heidi James, who keeps me on my toes but also Ben Barton, Emily McPhillips, Sarah Fouts, Phil Knight and Philip D. Harvey.

What is the one thing you truly want people to get out of your work?

That they’re reading something new, something different, something good.

~~~~

A collection of poetry and a novel is forthcoming from:

http://www.myspace.com/jamesquinton.

He has had a myriad of short fiction and poetry published worldwide and is Managing Editor of the much vaunted Open Wide Magazine
http://www.openwidemagazine.co.uk/

 

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