Michael Nye is the author of the story collection STRATEGIES AGAINST EXTINCTION (2012) and the novel ALL THE CASTLES BURNED (2018). His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in American Literary Review, Cincinnati Review, Crab Orchard Review, Epoch, Hobart, Kenyon Review and Normal School, among many others. The former managing editor of the Missouri Review, he currently lives with his family in Washington, D.C. Visit him online at mpnye.com or on Twitter: @mpnye
Eckleburg: What captures your interest most in your work, now, as a reader of your work?
Michael Nye:
I continue to be fascinated with issues of class and inequality, and how people try to (and often fail) to define who they are through their work. I’m also thinking quite a bit about subtext and resonance, how gestures and images remind a reader of earlier passages in the narrative. This probably sounds incredibly self-indulgent as a writer, but, hey, words matter. As a reader, I’m thinking about novel structure, since I just sent novel revisions to my publisher, and how a book’s scaffolding shapes the experience in conscious and unconscious ways.
Eckleburg: What are you working on now?
Michael Nye:
I just sent the most recent edits on my forthcoming novel back to my editor, so I’m starting the messy first draft of a new novel. I’m about halfway through, but it has a bumpy, recursive, disjointed first draft, so I’ll be working on this one for the foreseeable future.
Eckleburg: Who and what are your artistic influences?
Michael Nye:
Fitzgerald has always been a strong influence for me; I’ve reread all his novels multiple times, his language is precise and gorgeous and insightful, and his themes of class and money continue to matter in American life today. I also feel the heavy influence of Richard Yates, William Maxwell, and Alice Munro in my writing. In addition (to try to sound smarter and more diverse): the paintings of George Bellows, 90’s hip-hop, and movies in which lots of things explode in spectacular fashion.
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I’ve had more compelling conversations about Hanya Yanagihara’s amazing, frustrating, beautiful novel about four friends living their post-college life in New York. Over the course of several decades and navigating into past and present, we see these four men struggle to succeed and often fail spectacularly in both their personal and professional lives. I don’t know a reader that hasn’t torn through this book, but the emotional responses to this book are all over the spectrum. It may be an uneven mess; it may be genius. Either way, it is unforgettable.
Michael Nye’s debut novel ALL THE CASTLES BURNED is forthcoming in Feburary 2018. His work has appeared in American Literary Review, Boulevard, Epoch, Kenyon Review, and the Normal School, among many others. Get at him on Twitter: @mpnye
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The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review was founded in 2010 as an online and print literary and arts journal. We take our title from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and include the full archives of our predecessor Moon Milk Review. Our aesthetic is eclectic, literary mainstream to experimental. We appreciate fusion forms including magical realist, surrealist, meta- realist and realist works with an offbeat spin. We value character-focused storytelling and language and welcome both edge and mainstream with punch aesthetics. We like humor that explores the gritty realities of world and human experiences. Our issues include original content from both emerging and established writers, poets, artists and comedians such as authors, Rick Moody, Cris Mazza, Steve Almond, Stephen Dixon, poets, Moira Egan and David Wagoner and actor/comedian, Zach Galifianakis.
Currently, Eckleburg runs online, daily content of original fiction, poetry, nonfiction, translations, and more with featured artwork–visual and intermedia–from our Gallery. We run annual print issues, the Rue de Fleurus Salon & Reading Series (DC, Baltimore and New York), as well as, the annual Gertrude Stein Award in Fiction, first prize $1000 and print publication, guest-judged by award-winning authors such as Rick Moody and Cris Mazza.
Rarely will readers/viewers find a themed issue at Eckleburg, but rather a mix of eclectic works. It is Eckleburg’s intention to represent writers, artists, musicians, and comedians as a contemporary and noninvasive collective, each work evidence of its own artistry, not as a reflection of an editor’s vision of what an issue “should” be. Outside of kismet and special issues, Eckleburg will read and accept unsolicited submissions based upon individual merit, not theme cohesiveness. It is our intention to create an experience in which readers and viewers can think artistically, intellectually, socially, and independently. We welcome brave, honest voices. To submit, please read our guidelines.
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