1. Your books are different- both from each other and from the other
things out now. To whom do you hope to be compared, if anyone, and why?

My favorite writers include Haruki Murakami, Lorrie Moore, Tom Drury and
Ellen Gilchrist, but I fear that any comparisons with them would only
reveal how much I've cribbed.

2. Yours are not "feel good" books- though they are at times
hilarious - did you encounter any obstacles (other than the usual) in getting
published? Were you asked to give "happier endings" (or middles or
beginnings)?

It took a very long time to find publishers who were interested in
working with me, but once these noble people were found there were no editorial
problems whatsoever. I was asked by a number of dimmer editors, several
times, if I had considered changing Watch Your Mouth into the incest
memoir they believed I had in me, and they were always disappointed to
learn I had not slept with any immediate familiy members.

3. Please recommend three books around which you think the world should
organize books clubs.

I think I would only join a book club as a sort of support group while
reading long, difficult classics. The first three that come to mind are
Dante's Divine Comedy, Homer's Odyssey, and Proust's In Search Of
Lost Time. I am, in fact, sporadically attempting to organize a Dive Bar
Proust Club, in which members would meet in dive bars to discuss Proust.

4. You helped to organize a very successful benefit for the Tattered
Cover bookstore to raise funds for their legal defense when they were facing a
subpoena for some customer records. What prompted you to take action,
and did you fear any reprisals?

Any time our right to purchase and read any book we wish is threatened,
under any guise, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up in righteous
annoyance. It was hard work to put together an event which was noble
without being excessively earnest, but it was more than well worth it.
I feared, and received, no reprisals.

5. You wrote an op-ed piece about the importance of dark humor in times
of trouble and particularly in the wake of the events in September. Do you
feel that we are losing our senses of humour in general, or just in the
dark department?

"We?" There do seem to be people who have lost every crucial sense I can
think of, particularly irony and decency, but referring to them in the
first person plural - that is, letting them speak for us - only
encourages thoughtless behavior.

6. You have worked with The Magnetic Fields as an accordionist. Do you
like to collaborate with others and do you see yourself branching out
into further media?

I've very much enjoyed my work with The Magnetic Fields, and two
screenplays I have written are in the process of being filmed, so I
suppose I have branched out into other media, although I wouldn't expect any
paintings or dance routines forthcoming. I still have not achieved my
goal of writing liner notes for an album by Saint Etienne, but I'm still
young.

7. There are rumours of a musical in the works- are the rumours true and
when can we buy tickets?

It is true that I am working on a musical movie with Stephin Merritt of
the Magnetic Fields and other glorious sad pop ensembles. It is not yet
time to get in line for tickets, but I promise that people will be kept
well-informed.

8. If you were going to re-tell a myth, which one would it be?

I would retell the myth that military action is the antidote to violent
strife, and I would retell it in such a way that made it clear even to
the densest citizen that it is, in fact, a myth.

9. What is the most important thing in your world?

In my world, where I don't spend nearly enough time, we all drink
cocktails and play bridge, so the most important thing is elegant glassware.

10. What is the world coming to and what do you intend to do about it?

Hell in a handbasket; as much as I can.