Aeryn Rudel — An interview with the author of Never Quit Your Post
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Do you have any cats?
Do I ever! I have four, three Maine Coons and one feral trash cat adoptee. It’s roughly eighty pounds of cat. Their names are Fergie, Fiona, Fidget, and Phoebe. I thought it would be cute to give them all F-names, but all it did was ensure that I would call them all by the wrong name multiple times per day.
Would you trust your cats if your life was in danger?
I’d trust the girls, Phoebe and Fiona. Those two have their shit together. They know who they are, what they want, and how to get it. The boys, Fergie and Fidget, unfortunately, are useful only as slightly ambulatory throw pillows.
Would you trust them (or anyone else in your life) if they told you you were unwell and having a mental episode?
Absolutely. As someone who struggles with OCD and depression, I know what it’s like to feel like you’re losing control, losing your mind, and I can definitely empathize with someone going through the same thing.
What’s your go-to WingStop order?
So, full confession. I’m more of a Buffalo Wild Wings guy, and I don’t know why I used WingStop in the story, to be honest. That said, I’m a traditionalist when it comes to wings. Give me the classic sauce as hot as possible.
Do you think there’s a deeper reason for the aquatic animals?
Nope! The reason there’s an aquatic mammal in the story is because this one originated in a one-hour flash fiction contest that I’ve been running and participating in for over a decade. The prompt that served as the genesis of this story was a photo of a manatee, and for whatever reason, this is what my harried brain came up with in an hour.
How long do you think Barry has been holding down the fort?
I think it’s a couple of months max. Long enough for him to get into a kind of routine, which is shown in the story, but not long enough for his activities to be noticed by family and friends OR the evil aquatic mammal mafia.
How many times has this story been rejected by other markets?
Ooh, good question. Four times, which is not unusual for my stories. On average I sell flash stories (if I sell them) on the fourth or fifth submission. This was a weird one, of course, so it wasn’t a fit for my usual suspects, which are primarily horror and sci-fi markets. So, four of the five markets, including Foofaraw, are ones I’d never subbed to before.
What’s a great short story you’ve read recently?
I often go back and reread my favorite short stories, kind of luxuriating in them, seeing what else I can absorb on a third, fourth, fifth, or, hell, fifteenth read. I did this a few days ago with Stephen King’s “1408”, which is a haunted hotel room story with a little Lovecraftian spice. The thing about this story that sticks with me is not the down-and-dirty supernatural stuff that happens in the room; it’s the ten-page conversation between the protagonist and the hotel manager about the room. It’s all exposition, of course, but it has the same energy as the Baba Yaga scene from John Wick. Hearing about it is somehow more frightening than experiencing it.
What book are you reading right now?
I’m reading two books that are somewhat out of the norm for me. Generally, I read what I write: horror and crime fiction, with a smattering of sci-fi. However, on the recommendation of a friend, I’m reading a fantasy novel, Joe Abercrombie’s The Devils, and absolutely loving it. The other is a book by Dan Abnett called Hive, a media tie-in novel for the game Warhammer 40k. Despite working in the gaming industry and writing media tie-in myself, I don’t read much of it (not that there’s anything wrong with it, of course), but this one had so much buzz around it, I had to pick it up. Boy, am I glad I did. Great stuff.