Q: You published your first book, Flights, in 1983. Over twenty years later, how do you think you have changed as a writer? Do you feel that your voice or process has changed or progressed at all?
A: Ha! I love that “at all.” Now I’m demoralized. I think I’ve gotten significantly more ambitious, and wilder with my subject matter.
The above quotes are taken from Knopf’s Q & A series, specifically from a recent conversation they had with Jim Shepard about the release of his latest collection of short stories You Think That’s Bad. This book is Shepard’s fourth collection of short stories (he has also written six novels), and our May First Editions Club pick.
While I can’t personally speak for the ambition and wildness in Shepard’s earlier work, this new collection is certainly ambitious. Several of us Lemurians were reading You Think That’s Bad while debating May’s FEC pick, and though none of us had the same opinion on the stories, we could all definitely agree that they were unlike anything we’d read before. Don’t be intimidated by this fact though–Shepard’s collection is fun, and it’s so exciting for us Lemurians to encounter something we haven’t seen before.
The New York Times recently hailed Shepard as the “master of the historical short story,” and I think that’s a perfect title for him. Many of the stories in You Think That’s Bad are based on the lives of real historical figures including Freya Stark (a British travel writer most well known for being the first Western woman to travel through the Arabian deserts), Eiji Tsuburaya (the special effects director for many Japanese sci-fi films, including Godzilla), and Gilles de Rais (Breton knight, companion-in-arms to Joan of Arc, and serial killer who targeted young boys). Many of Shepard’s stories are “research dependent” (another NY Times comment), making the collection not a pure escapism read, but should you be willing to do the work, you will be rewarded. It’s worth it to see Shepard’s mastery in play and perhaps you’ll even learn a little bit of history while you’re at it.
Going back to that interview question, I don’t think Shepard should feel demoralized at all. He’s quite a talent, and I personally cannot wait to meet Mr. Shepard and ask him more about his writing style and topic choices in person. I feel sure that it will be a fascinating discussion.
Jim Shepard’s third story collection, Like You’d Understand, Anyway, was a finalist for the National Book Award and won The Story Prize. Project X won the 2005 Library of Congress/Massachusetts Book Award for Fiction, as well as the ALEX Award from the American Library Association.
His short fiction has appeared in, among other magazines, Harper’s, McSweeney’s, The Paris Review, The Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, DoubleTake, the New Yorker, Granta, Zoetrope: All-Story, and Playboy, and he was a columnist on film for the magazine The Believer. Four of his stories have been chosen for the Best American Short Stories, and one for a Pushcart Prize. He teaches at Williams College and in the Warren Wilson MFA program, and lives in Williamstown with his wife Karen Shepard, his three children, and two beagles. (Bio Source: http://jimshepard.wordpress.com/)
-Kaycie
Jim Shepard will be here on Monday, May 2, 2011.
The signing will be at 5pm and the reading at 5:30.
You Think That’s Bad is published by Knopf with a first printing of 30,000.
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