Featured Interview With Henry Pelifian
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Grew up in upstate New York on the Canadian border near the St. Lawrence River. Live in Western Nevada among the Sierra Nevada Mountains bordering California. No pets at this time, though I have looked at dogs the Humane Society for the last year which I am not interested because the majority (90%) are pit-bull mix and the rest a tiny lap dogs.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Around 16 and throughout high school I was interested in literature and started reading Hemingway, Melville, Thoreau, Chekhov and many others including Faulkner who was difficult to read initially. I really liked and read American playwrights like Arthur Miller, Eugene O’Neill and Tennessee Williams who are among our greatest writers. I was especially taken by Melville’s Typee in high school, which is a great book based on his experience in the Marquesas Islands.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I like de Maupasant, Somerset Maugham, Tolstoy and Thoreau. I like fiction and biography. I guess Henry David Thoreau is a great example for writers because he likes to the essence of life, though, of course, he wrote non-fiction, yet he encompasses the full range of the world we live in. A great story teller is Elmore Leonard, especially in his novel, Hombre which is superb.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
The most recent book has had many ups and downs trying to get it down because it is a work inhabited by people who are the least admirable and even despicable. How do you write about such people and remain true to the story without sentimentality and falsehood? I guess I am saying how do you write a book about such people who appear normal, yet in the environment they control to some extent interacting with others it becomes maddening but that is the challenge.
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