Author Interview: Jamie Grefe: Author of the 2013 New Bizarro Author Series: The Mondo Vixen Massacre

Jamie Grefe is an author and educator who pens the realms of the bizarre, the darkly comedic, the surreal, the horrific, and the cinematic. His short fiction appears in such venues as Birkensnake, New Dead Families, The Bacon Review, and Lies/Isle. He is the author of the 2013 "New Bizarro Author Series" book, The Mondo Vixen Massacre, published by Eraserhead Press, as well as Mutagon II and Cannibal Fatales, both published by Dynatox Ministries. Grefe lives in New Mexico. What languages you can speak and write? My native tongue is American English, but I can speak and write Japanese, as well. What is your biggest source of inspiration in life? This is a hard question to pin down. These days, it's the thought that this life I've been gifted with is going to, one day, run out and then I'll be gone. That seems to do the trick to inspire all sorts of necessity. What hurts you most in this world? Violence of all sorts, which is why it factors so deeply into my fiction. What is your favorite genre and why? I tend to like books that flirt with multiple genres.  Sometimes I like to be pulled in until the words on the page disappear, but other times I love reading certain books that pay close attention to the power of the sentence, to the magic of complex and surprising grammar. Maybe it's those books that fit both those worlds that pull me in the most, books that have a tremendous story and tremendous sentences. I wish E.M. Cioran would have penned a novel. When did you start writing? What is the purpose of your writing? I've written for years, privately. I used to write screenplays in notebooks when I was a child. I still have those notebooks. I've also written my fair share of sappy lyrics. Later, I fell in love with academic writing and the possibilities of the essay form. In the last five or so years, I've been obsessed with fiction. My purpose is simply to tell those stories I feel I need to tell, stories that will resonate and stick in the ear of the reader. What are your forthcoming writings? I'm working on two novellas right now, but I don't know if they will remain novellas. They are psychodramatic love stories focused on the idea of excess. How much real life goes into a fiction writing? Some pieces seem to sit at a distance from this real life, while other stories are dangerously close. Your favorite time of the day? I like easing into early mornings.  
Your favorite book and why? I want to answer this question, but it's impossible to nail down one book. As it goes, I'm more into the style and imagination of certain authors like Robert Coover, Eugene Marten, David Ohle, Stephen Graham, Jones, William Shakespeare, Martin McDonagh, Peter Markus, Grace Krilanovich, John Hawkes, Samuel Beckett, Brian Evenson, Nathanael West, P.G. Wodehouse, Joanna Ruocco, Denis Johnson, and Rudolph Wurlitzer to name but a few. Your favorite movie and why? Right now, my favorite film is Zulawski's Possession, but Fragasso's Troll 2, Gallo's The Brown Bunny, Refn's Only God Forgives, Rodriguez's Planet Terror, Kelly's Southland Tales, and Six's The Human Centipede keep finding their way back to my screen. Links: Website: http://jamiegrefe.com Twitter handle: @Shreddedmaps Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/jgrefewriter Goodreads author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7207450.Jamie_Grefe Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Jamie-Grefe/e/B00G7RBA90