Featured Interview With Larry Hochwald
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. That may not seem particularly special because a lot of people are from Brooklyn, but Brooklyn isn’t like anywhere else. It’s vibrant and diverse and the epitome of what people think of when they imagine the great things about the city. These qualities in your landscape help to develop a writer. Then, I had the good sense to grow up poor, with parents who had an unhappy marriage. That’s like author’s gold, a writer’s Nirvana! Growing up happy might allow one in a hundred thousand to write well, if they even try to write, in between soccer practice and the prom. But growing up poor and in chaos, ensures that your artistic impulses are built on a strong foundation of anger and misery. A writer couldn’t ask for much more than that!
Besides writing fiction, I write about improving healthcare and am a health care advocate; speaking, writing and acting on behalf of those challenged by mental illness and other chronic disease. My writing on those subjects has been published in print and on blogs.
My fiction and OpEd pieces have been published on some popular websites since 2011. Some of my fiction has been featured content. I’ve had thousands of readers and scores of fans online, which prompted me to take the plunge and come out with my first book. Not From Around Here is that book, my first collection of short fiction.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I started reading voraciously as young as I can remember. I started writing somewhere between 12 and 14 years old.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I read everything by Stephen King, Harlan Ellison, Isaac Asimov, Jane Austen, John Irving and Piers Anthony. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Algernon Blackwood and H.P. Lovecraft have also been influential favorites. I enjoy the work of Alice Munro. I learned about connected collections of short fiction in part from her work.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Not From Around Here is a collection of 18 connected stories that come together in the final, title story. The stories span many genres: literary, humor, horror, speculative and science fiction, fantasy, paranormal and thriller. In it you’ll walk into a world where very real people find themselves in unreal situations, and witness things such as: young man is sitting in a salon getting his haircut, when he sees someone waving to him in the mirror. He looks around and realizes…the man waving isn’t in the room….. A college student meets a beautiful girl that wants
to fulfill all his fantasies, but first he must join her club, and the initiation…is a horror. A man reaches out to his mother, he tries to connect, but she’s just not the same anymore. Another
man’s life is in a shambles until a little boy with a special gift reminds him of healing power of friendship. From meeting yourself walking down the street to surviving a homicidal groundhog, you’ll go places and meet people that are more familiar than you might expect. You’ll go on 18 journeys filled with excitement, suspense and laughter.
I worked many months on putting this book together. I had written about half the stories during the previous 2 years, but once I decided I wanted to come out with the collection, I spent another 5 months writing several more, than while m,y editors worked on it (about 2 months turn around time) I worked on putting together the order, format and artwork. I hope you like the result!
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