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A conversation with Jon Raymond

Portland feels like a city barely carved from a forest that could at any second reclaim it.

The internet, even more than the library, is a foodless, drinkless paragon of the Naked Lunch—in Burroughs’ words, “a frozen moment when everyone sees what is on the end of every fork.”

“The best kind of museum is where you’re free to experience the art because the museum is experiencing it as well.”

“Sometimes the most creative choice we can make is just to say no to a project, and to start over again.”

I think that’s it means to write like a motherfucker. It’s actually about going all the way and telling that one thing that might be too much. A lot of times writers will want to take that one thing out, because it’s scary. But if they leave that in, that’s when people understand it and feel it the most profoundly.

I had a strange experience while reading Brian Evenson’s new story collection, Windeye. Maybe that’s to be expected. No one—and I mean no one—is better at excavating the strangeness of our everyday lives, not that mimesis is a primary concern here. I heard Evenson read the title story at Temple University back in October, so [...]

“Waiting for Godot just hit something in me. I got what Beckett was available and published it. He flew into the web and got trapped.”

“Sometimes I tell her that she should go into business worrying over children, spouses, the climate, the election, etc. for people who are too busy. Like those ladies who will pray for you, only less optimistic.”