Trying out something new around here. A book review, and an interview with that book’s author. Do let me know if you enjoy it, and if it’s something you’d like to see more of on the blog.

The Book:

I have little use for experimental fiction that seems to have been written only to prove how very clever its writer is. If work is to push boundaries and challenge what we think of as narrative, that should come organically from the work and its creator. The work must not be forced into an unnatural shape for the sole egotistical purpose of the experimental stance.

Light Boxes is an experimental novel in that it breaks with traditional ways of storytelling, does not conform to our standard expectations of how novels, their characters, and their creators are to behave. But there is no posturing here, no self-conscious forcing of the work. What unfolds in these pages is Shane Jones’ singular voice, the world as only he can show it to us, and it is a beautiful thing.

What on the surface appears to be a spare, well-written surrealist dreamscape of a novel by the end reveals itself to be an achingly honest expression of love and our feeble attempts to express all we contain. Light Boxes is one of those very rare works of art that actually merit the word astonishing. Something shifted in my brain as I reached the end, and I am changed for having read it. This has happened before, and I hope it will happen again, but it’s something only the very best books can do for me.

To say anything of the story is to give it away, I think. There is no talking about what it’s about without spoilers. You just need to read for yourself. This book is special. Buy it. Read it. Tell people about it.

The Writer:

Shane Jones kindly allowed me to interview him. Brave man, subjecting himself to questions from random blogging strangers. We agreed on this before I’d read the book. Yes, it’s a relief to find that I love Light Boxes. If I’d hated it, the interview might have proven a bit awkward…

Where did Light Boxes begin? A line? An idea? A character? And how does the finished book compare to the initial book that lived in your head?

I can remember pretty clearly how the book began. I was in bed writing and came up with what remained, for the most part, the first section of the book. I think I wrote that in one mad spurt, maybe ten minutes or so. With that opening, with that section, this whole world, the town, the community, it just opened up. It felt right and it was a matter of just putting it down on paper. I think what I mean is I could see the structure and main points of the book. I could see the small sections, the changing viewpoints, the idea of February, etc. From there I just wrote all the sections, sometimes in different order, in about 4 months. The finished book is close to what I envisioned. Of course, there were many surprises and delights while writing that I didn’t see coming originally and I just followed those images or characters or scenes when they opened up. I think the combination of those two things – the first moment of seeing the book and locking in to the structure, and the surprises along the way, and not editing those surprises, is something that really makes Light Boxes interesting. It gives it this feeling of being a very tight and loose book at the same time.

I think you’re right about the book being both very tight and loose. There’s a spareness to it, which gives a sense of precision in the language, but it doesn’t feel controlled or constricted. It’s somehow both spare and expansive.

I’m also interested in the fact that you say you didn’t edit the surprises. The way a novel or story can surprise you, the things you could never have imagined or predicted until the story gave it to you…for me that’s one of the most exciting parts of writing. One of my writing teachers once told me that “our books are smarter than us,” and I think that’s generally true. But sometimes the surprises, for me, lead to wrong turns and I have to double back. Were you just exceptionally plugged in in the writing of this book, or is this also part of your process?

Light Boxes was the first time I knew I was writing something longer, something that would be a book. Before that, I spent years writing poems and short stories, but never wrote anything over a few thousand words. I was writing with the burden of advice like “writing is hard, you need to edit for months, even years,” kind of thing. I think I picked this up from reading too many Iowa Workshop books, too much Raymond Carver, and just too much academia seeping in. Not that that is bad advice, but it wasn’t helping me. To spend several months on a short story was actually hurting my writing than helping it. So with Light Boxes I would just write a few of those little sections each day, sometimes on my laptop, on notes I kept in my pockets, at work, on friends computers, anywhere really. I just made sure to write two or three a day. I have a thing about even numbers, so I usually made sure to write an even number of sections a day. I probably wrote about 120 of these sections before starting to connect them into what became the book. Each section was written in a different Word file. So when I opened the folder for Light Boxes, there were 1-120 documents. It was very exciting to do that. I felt like something was being built. As far as “editing the surprises” goes, the book itself kind of lends itself to being a bit loose and strange with scenes and images. The magic of the town and the set-up that anything can really happen here means as a writer I could let my imagination go anywhere I wanted it to, so I did. It’s fun for me to write like that. I want to follow my imagination into new places that will make me feel a sense of delight. I never got into trouble with having to double back on the story, because the many narratives in the book meant that with the next section I could just kind of start over, if that makes sense. I do think I was very plugged into this book. For those four months or so when I wasn’t writing I was moving the characters and dreaming up scenes/happenings while going about my daily life. And that’s something that is also really important for me. When I get an idea for something, I daydream about it constantly.

You’ve published a great deal of short fiction and poetry in the indie lit world. Light Boxes is published by a small independent press, as will be your two forthcoming books. Why the small independent presses rather than the larger trade houses, or one of the larger independents? What should readers know about what’s going on outside the world of the big traditional publishing houses?

I never sent the book to any “larger trade houses” because none of them would have accepted it. I’m not trying to be modest there, it’s just true. The size of the book, the content, etc, don’t match up for a larger house to pay money to support it. I know that and I’m fine with that. My publishers, like PGP for Light Boxes, and my next book from Fugue State, are incredibly supportive, work endless hours with me, and probably most importantly, I can contact them any time of the day I want to and I’ll get a response within the hour. There’s this really small one on one approach that is great. Of course, the downsides of working with a small press is the lack of money, distribution, and maybe professionalism. I don’t know if those things are really that important or if I’m that concerned with them. I just want to write interesting books. What should readers know about what’s going on outside the world of the big traditional publishing houses? I’m not sure really. I think there’s a lot of interesting work being produced and people should seek it out. It’s an exciting place to be and I’m humbled to be a part of it.

What are you working on now?

I have a full-length poetry book I’m beginning to send around called A CAKE APPEARED that I’m really excited about. It’s full of strange prose poems and some longer poetry work that shows a different side to my writing I think. I need to send the final version of the book Fugue State is publishing in January 2010, which the publisher would like to get in the next month or so, so the layout can begin. I need to read that book again (it’s a novella) because it’s truly a first draft, written in a week, and I need to re-visit it. Probably the most important thing, or what I really can’t wait to do is write another novel. I have some ideas in my head that I’ve been thinking about. The beginning I started a month ago, but I just haven’t sat down to write it yet. Most likely, when I do sit down to write it, it will change drastically. For me, ideas and stories are constantly changing and it’s important to kind of lock-in to the present and get the story down.

Anything else you’d like readers to know about you and/or Light Boxes before I urge them to click through to Publishing Genius and buy a copy?

I’d like the people who read this blog to know that my book will surprise and delight them. I’d like them to know that I put everything I had creatively into this book. I think that’s about it.

Buy Light Boxes.
Read Shane’s blog.
The Light Boxes website.