Amy Dupcak, author of Dust (2016, Lucid River Press) stops by to answer some questions for National Short Story Month. It's a collection I look forward to reading.
EWN: Your short story collection, Dust, was published in 2016. What story within the collection had the earliest publication history outside of being in the collection, and what was that history?
Amy: The short story with the earliest publication history appears first in my collection: “The Garden,” published in Runaway Parade on July 1, 2012. Now defunct, Runaway Parade was “a bimonthly publication of literary and artistic works by up-and-coming artists responding to a central theme, crafted through a variety of mediums.” I published “The Garden” in their abyss-themed issue, but also published nine other stories in other issues. One of these stories, “Testify,” appeared in their print anthology.
EWN: How did the publication of this particular collection come about? Were you solicited by the publisher, win a contest, agent submission, etc.?
Amy: Dust was published on Lucid River Press, which publishes work by emerging writers. As a small DIY press based in New York City, they’re dedicated to promoting fiction and nonfiction that fall outside the mainstream, and they also host a bimonthly performance series called Lyrics, Lit & Liquor. I’m good friends with the founder of the press, Amanda Miller, so after several failed attempts at submitting my manuscript to other small presses, I decided to publish the book on Lucid River. Amanda gave me complete creative freedom, and she also hosted my book launch party at Bluestockings Bookstore.
EWN: Where do short stories fit within your life as an author? Primary form to work with, or something you write when an idea hits, or …?
Amy: Although I’ve finished one novel and am currently working on a second, I’ve always been drawn to the short story form. I prefer writing subtle moments of impact to high-stakes drama, and since an epiphany is often at the heart of a short story, I can focus on a character’s personal realization or observation rather than a show-stopping climax. Also, short stories are less of a time commitment for a reader, which grants me the freedom to experiment from story to story. I come up with new ideas for stories quite frequently, so even though I took a break from writing them after publishing Dust, I’m excited to write more stories in the future and hopefully publish another collection.
EWN: Where do short stories fit within your life as a reader?
Amy: I adore reading short story collections and often re-read my favorites, which include How To Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer, No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July, Self-Help by Lorrie Moore, and Emerald City by Jennifer Egan, as well as collections by Aimee Bender, Mary Gaitskill, Alice Munro, and other writers. When I taught creative writing to high school seniors, and then undergraduate English courses as an adjunct professor, I took the opportunity to assign my favorite stories, like “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, “Wild Berry Blue,” by Rivka Galchen, “The Slough” by Pasha Malla, “The Pigeon” by Patrick Suskind, “Egg” by Shelley Jackson, and “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, among many others. I know some of those stories inside and out, and I’ve probably analyzed them more than even the writers themselves!
EWN: How will you be celebrating National Short Story Month this May?
Amy: Great question! I love reading stories published in literary journals, so I plan to continue reading those to discover new short story writers.
EWN: Thank you very much for your time!
Amy Dupcak is the author of the short story collection Dust (Lucid River Press, 2016), and she has published fiction and creative nonfiction in Litro, Fringe, Sonora Review, Hypertext, Phoebe, Chicago Literati, Runaway Parade, Broken Pencil, The Dirty Napkin, Slush Pile, and other publications. She earned her MFA in Fiction from the New School and currently teaches creative writing workshops to kids and teens at Writopia Lab in New York City.
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