Continuing with our series of Off The Record contributors put under the spotlight, today we have one of the coolest guys around the interwebs. AJ Hayes is not only one of the finest writers working, he's an excellent reviewer, and a massive supporter of new writers. AJ went for the song Light My Fire (eventually), and a short snippet follows...
LIGHT MY FIRE BY AJ HAYES
You don't catch a man like Paul. You track him, subtly, silently, through your network. You don't blunder about looking, calling attention to yourself. No, you sit quietly, a pale spider in the dark, listening to: a rumor in Paris about something someone said and someone repeated in an internet cafe in Port Au Prince; a fragment of a conversation in a bar half a world away; a whisper on the internet that a miniature oil painting was bought in a bazaar in Marrakesh by a nameless Japanese collector of such works. You listen and you listen. For twenty years. Until you catch a break. Until you know where he is.
***
A faceless building, white with blue shutters, on a nameless street in Athens. I climb the midnight stairs carefully staying to the inside edge of the flats. I am smoke. A ghost. Silence moving. The door yields without sound and I slip inside, ready. But not ready for the flash of light, the sudden pain in my chest and the long fall into deeper darkness.
When I open my eyes again, Paul fills them. Sitting in a small, yellow chair under a single ceiling light. I lunge and find my arms and legs restrained by steel bands that hold me upright.
‘Hello, David,’ he says. ‘Long time.’
And now, an interview with the man himself, AJ Hayes...
So AJ, you're one of the multitude of writers involved with OFF THE RECORD, can you tell us what song title you went for and why?
Mainly, Luca -- you dirty rat -- because you told me my first choice, Nights In White Satin, had already been taken but, Light My Fire, was available, so I went with that.
What's the story about, and how much was inspired by the song itself?
The story is about love, mostly. Love and the way the reality of that state can be changed forever by a single, irretrievable act. In the end though, in the most awful way, it concludes that love endures; that life without it is unbearable. The title song -- when the dirty rat, Luca Veste, made me take it -- actually changed my ending drastically. In fact it made the whole piece better. The first ending was more relenting than I wanted. The one suggested by Light My Fire made my subconscious put on its track shoes and start tap dancing on my head. So, yeah, the song inspired me.
Do you think music has much influence on your writing?
In spite of being a musician (a very poor one) I'd say, no, music doesn't figure real big in my writing. Having said that, I must confess that when I'm in the pre-writing state -- you know that place where you got a story or poem rummaging around in your head and nothing is formed solid yet because that bastard sub-conscious just won't let you in on what the story you want to write is about -- I do sit up late at night just staring into space thinking about nothing, listening to Pandora or Groove Shark and playing nothing but the saddest songs I can find. That seems to make me so morose that the bastard sub-conscious finally tells me the story, just to escape the vast depression I'm causing it to experience.
OTR is being published in Ebook format, so the question is...what are your feelings about the current Ebook revolution occurring at the moment?
I love it! E-books have let me find writers that knock my socks off. The only caveat I have with electronic publishing is it seems to be creating niche markets for writers. Niche markets are fine and lots of people find well paying places within that scope, but, because it is a small market, it scares off most bookstores -- especially the indie ones -- because they just don't understand it or -- a bigger reason -- don't quite get how to market the e-product and still make a profit. OTR is available in trade paperback and that gives us a talking point with store owners; gives them a physical point of purchase book for their shelves. Right now that's important, though maybe not so important a few years from now. Every phenomenon takes some getting used to, the e-book is no different.
Apart from music, what other aspects of life do you use for inspiration?
I walk around with my eyes and ears open. I think about my life, the hard, hard lessons I learned from living it. I read and read and read some more. I look in my granddaughter's eyes. I look in the mirror and think things like you dumb fuck, you made it in spite of you. Stuff like that. I guess. Dunno.
Did you read as a kid growing up and if so, what authors did you read?
Yeah, on a farm in rural Virginia with no TV, radio, movies, you damn betcha I read. Still will read the side of a cereal box if there's nothing else around -- especially in the bathroom. I read comic books, classics, Victorian romance, whatever books were on my grandparents shelves, my neighbors and relatives shelves. When you're a kid, you are an omnivore about reading. After we moved to California I found the El Cajon Public Library. Read every single book in it (in collusion with the librarian, Mrs. Mann, who signed the permission slips for me to read all the books eight-year-old were not supposed to). There's a special place in heaven for people like that lady.
What authors do you always look forward to reading?
Hah! Another list. There's just too many to name. You know their names. Hell, in our community we all know each other and our work. If you're talking famous folks, you know, wire rack super market best selling juggernauts. Conelly, Ellroy, Gibson, Heinlein (re-read of course, man's been dead for twenty years and STILL stirs 'em up). Every now and then I go back to Harper Lee, Big Jack the K, ST Colderige, Kipling, Twain all those folks. lately, thanks again to all my crazy friends, the short story has come back into my life. There just ain't enough paper in the world for that list you asked for, so I'll stop now.
If you could name just one book which inspired you to start writing, what would it be?
Robert Anson Heinlein's, Space Cadet. Picked it up at the library and thought I want to DO that.
What other books, short stories, or anthologies do you have out there at the moment?
Pulp Ink, edited by Rhatigan and Bird. Got a couple poems coming out this month and next in Yellow Mama and A Shot Of Ink. Right now, Yellow Mama Christmas issue. Jack Bates Flash Jab Fiction. Couple more, but I forget.
What are your future plans, in terms of writing?
Couple other things kicking around in my head soon's I come out of the Christmas/New Years fog. Thinking about an anthology, soon as I get another couple of stories about Jimmy and Bobby's world.
And now 2 questions I always ask of writers…
Describe your perfect writing environment.
Oh sure. A small house in the mountains outside Prescott, Az. In a bookshelf packed tiny room with a view out over the pines. Just the wind and the crackling fireplace. With of course dozens of fans gathered in that small town below, waiting with baited breath (they're eating anchovies and meal worms) for the next novel from the reclusive genius.
Describe your actual writing environment.
Secondhand office chair with a sprung back and ratty grape colored upholstery. In front of my computer at my tiny 'puter desk. Or, in my car -- getting strange looks from the other vehicles because I'm obviously talking to myself -- with gestures yet. Or on Starbucks patio watching the old Caldean guys at the next wire topped table playing backgammon. Places like that. Lots of places like that.
