5 Minutes with John McNally
John McNally is author of two novels, America’s Report Card and The Book of Ralph, both published by Free Press, a division of Simon and Schuster. His previous collection Troublemakers (
He held Michener (
John has edited five anthologies: When I Was a Loser (Free Press, 2007); Bottom of the Ninth: 24 Great Short Stories about Baseball (Southern Illinois, 2003); Humor Me: An Anthology of Humor by Writers of Color (Iowa, 2002); The Student Body: Short Stories about College Students and Professors (Wisconsin, 2001); and High Infidelity: 24 Great Short Stories about Adultery (Morrow, 1997).
He holds degrees from University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Ph.D.), University of Iowa (M.F.A.), and Southern Illinois University-Carbondale (B.A.). A native of
(On a personal note, Troublemakers is one of my favorite books of short fiction. Top 3 definitely. The Greatest Goddamn Thing is possibly the greatest goddamn thing I’ve ever read.)
Zebulon Huset: What was the last book or poem you’ve read that you absolutely loved?
John McNally: I just re-read Russell Banks’ The Sweet Hereafter. I think it’s a really good book. Maybe I have commitment phobia, because I rarely say that I “absolutely love” a book. That’s a tall order for me. But this past semester I did teach, for the sixth or seventh time, Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, and I absolutely love that book.
ZH: Are there any writers you just don’t get the attraction to?
JM: Yes. One in particular. I’d rather not say in an interview, but people who know me know who it is. And in my next collection of short stories, a character named John McNally, after a night out drinking, expresses his opinion over this writer just before he sucker-punches the person he’s with – a person, I should note, who likes the writer in question.
ZH: What is your position on the semi-colon?
JM: I overuse it, but I can’t live without it.
ZH: What is your favorite two-word color?
JM: Steel-blue.
ZH: Do you have any guilty pleasure movies?
JM: Something Wild is in my top three of all-time favorites, but I’m not sure that’s a guilty pleasure movie because I’m convinced it’s a masterpiece. I’ve watched Michael Keaton in Pacific Heights about two dozen times. That movie, which is pure B-movie fare, must tap into something dark and deeply buried in my subconscious.
ZH: If you were stranded on a desert island with three books, what would they be?
JM: Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
Masters of Atlantis by Charles Portis
The Unabridged O.E.D.
ZH: What’s your poison?
JM: Radiator fluid. It shuts down the kidneys, and if you’re lucky, you end up on dialysis; if you’re not so lucky, well… But if you mean what’s my favorite drink…vodka tonic (preferably with Absolut).
ZH: Is there any particular popular songs that just irk you for some reason?
JM: I hate the Barenaked Ladies song “Pinch Me” because I hate the line in it that goes “You’ll notice I’m not around/I could hide out under there/I just made you say ‘underwear.’” Why does that drive me crazy? I don’t know. I change the station (with a scream and a quick finger-jab at the radio buttons) as soon as I realize that the song playing is “Pinch Me.”
ZH: Do you have a favorite presidential candidate for ‘08?
JM: Not yet. It won’t be a Republican. I wish some new Democrat would emerge, some crazy motherfucker who wears a holster and pair of six-shooters that he or she fires into the air right after taking the stage for the stump speech. Someone who would walk onto the set of “Meet the Press” before his or her time-slot just to break Dick Cheney’s jaw with a nice right hook. I want a candidate who says “fuck you” a lot and isn’t afraid to taunt Bush by calling him a “pussy” and a “drunk.” I think that was the appeal of Jim Webb, but I want to see someone crazier than Webb, a candidate who’ll stand outside the gates of the White House with a bullhorn, yelling, “Get your ass out here right now, you pansy-ass mama’s boy.”
ZH: If they made a movie of any period of your life, who would you want to portray you?
JM: The Little Rascal’s Joe Cobb to play me as a child? I’ll have to think on this.
ZH: What is the best title you’ve ever come across (the actual work notwithstanding)
JM: RETURN TO A PLACE LIT BY A GLASS OF MILK by Charles Simic (It would be a terrible title for a novel, but it’s a brilliant title for a poetry collection.)
Check out BookofRalph.com for more info on John and his work.