Sometimes I am lazy and copy an author’s bio right from their about page: “John Jodzio is a winner of the Loft-McKnight Fellowship. His stories have appeared in One Story, Opium, The Florida Review and Rake Magazine and a number of other places, both print and online. He's won a Minnesota Magazine fiction prize and both the Opium 500 Word Memoir competition and Opium Fiction Prize. His short story collection If You Lived Here, You'd Already Be Home will be published by Replacement Press in March 2010.”
What the about page doesn’t mention is that this the very first book published by Replacement Press which is really exciting. Also, John will be celebrating the launch of his book at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 19th at Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Ave. South. Tomorrow, I’ll tell you what I thought of this collection. Today you can read his answers to the 6 questions we always ask.
P.S. When you’re done reading John’s answers, you can go check out his Largehearted Boy Booknotes essay.
What book(s) are you currently reading?
I just finished Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon and now I’m starting Brian Evenson’s new short story collection, Fugue State.
Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character? Who?
I’m pretty smitten with The Great Gatsby’s Jordan Baker. I’m a big fan of acid tongued flappers who can golf.
If your favorite author came to Minnesota, who would it be and what bar would you take him/her to?
Living: I’d love to open some pulltabs with George Saunders [Ed note: George Saunders will be at The Fitz on April 29th] at Jimmy’s Bar and Lounge in Northeast. Dead: I’d love to take Donald Barthelme to Tracks on University. Maybe he could convince them that they need to clean out their fishtank.
What was your first favorite book?
I remember really loving Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes.
Let’s say Fahrenheit 451 comes to life, which book would you become in order to save it from annihilation?
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
What is one book you haven’t read but want to read before you die?
Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Everyone keeps telling me that Melville is hilarious. I’m semi-ashamed that I haven’t found out for myself yet.
Another member of the “I have an unrequited crush on Jordan Baker” camp! Congratulations to John and to Replacement Press! I’m excited to pick up a copy of this collection.
@Casey
I swear sometime soon I am going to go through and see how many people answered that question with Jordan Baker. Until then, I will do work or something.
Anyway, the collection’s good. I really enjoyed it.