🎙️ K.A. Vargas — An interview with the author of A Bear Walks into a Bar
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Have you ever encountered a bear in real life?
I’m in NorCal, and while bears sometimes wander down from the hills to poke around neighborhoods (and snack on the occasional backyard pet), I’ve only seen them at the zoo or on the news.
So is the bear not real? Is there some kind of Fight Club thing happening?
I really wanted the reader to decide whether the bear was real, but in my mind, he was. I loved the idea of a snarky little bear covered in cherry juice.
How do we think the bar got so messy if the bear isn’t real?
With the back door unlocked, I thought another possible explanation could have been a burglary or just general vandalism.
Either way, do we think Max makes it out alive?
Oh no, he became a snack for our friend Ollie.
Is it a dive bar or a nice bar?
While writing, I was mentally in Napa at one of the nice riverfront bars. Having a rogue bear rampage through a nice bar was a very funny visual for me.
What’s your go-to drink at a bar?
It would have to be a gin and tonic with extra lime.
How many times has this story been rejected by other markets?
This was originally written for The Freewrite 500. It did not win that competition, but I loved this story and had just submitted to Foofaraw’s An Ordinary Contest. General submissions for the Foof were still open, so I submitted Ollie and hoped for the best. My Ordinary Contest short was not selected, but my cherry-juice-guzzling bear was.
What’s a great short story you’ve read recently?
I read a ton of short stories because I am a writing contest gremlin and really enjoy peer-judged competitions. Outside of competition reading, I just finished The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe and The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson, both of which were great.
What book are you reading right now?
I’m reading three: The Dog Stars by Peter Heller for book club, Broken Dove by Dani Francis just for fun, and Project Hail Mary to my six-year-old as his nightly bedtime story. My son loved the movie, is super into space, and saw me reading it last year, so he wanted me to read it to him.
Do you have anything else you’d like to share?
I had a Drabble recently published by Rat Bag Lit, a Dribble published in the last issue of Twist Magazine (volume 4), a short story in Coin Operated Press’s new Romantasy Zine, and won May 4th’s Monday Meet Cute for Micromance Magazine (it was Star Wars themed). I also co-host a podcast called Battle Hardened with my friend Allister, where we talk about short stories and writing and interview a new short-story writer every month. You can listen on RSS, Apple Music, or Spotify. If you’d like to read more of my stories, I am also on Substack https://substack.com/@kearstonsthoughts.