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Books Comics

Exclusive Interview: “Feeding Ghosts” Writer / Artist Tessa Hulls

 

When people write memoirs, they often can’t help but bring their parents and other relatives into their story.

But in her new graphic novel memoir Feeding Ghosts (hardcover, Kindle), author and artist Tessa Hulls didn’t just include her mom and grandmother, she invoked her grandmother’s memoir in telling her multi-generational story.

In the following email interview, Hull discusses why she decided to write this book, and as a graphic novel, as well as what influenced both the words and images.

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Books

Exclusive Interview: “Capturing Skunk Alpha” Writer Raúl Herrera

 

Fifty-six years ago, a young Mexican American man named Raúl Herrera found himself on a Swift Boat during the Vietnam War. It’s an experience that’s stayed with him all these years, and one he’s now exploring, publicly, with his new memoir Capturing Skunk Alpha: A Barrio Sailor’s Journey In Vietnam (paperback, Kindle). In the following email interview, Herrera discusses why he wanted to tell this story, as well as why it took him so long.

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Books Video Games

Exclusive Interview: “Control Freak” Author Cliff Bleszinski

 

As the very public face of such iconic video game franchises as Gears Of War and Unreal Tournament, designer Cliff “CliffyB” Bleszinski was, for years, one of the most recognizable faces in videos games. While fellow designers Shigeru Miyamoto (the Mario man) and Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid) were called auteurs, Bleszinski was considered a rock star designer, one that earned the nickname “Dude Huge.” But while the game industry is usually as tightly controlled as the opening mission in a Call Of Duty game, Bleszinski is being far more open, and honest, about himself in his new memoir, Control Freak: My Epic Adventures Making Video Games (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook). In the following email interview, Bleszinski — who I know from my own career covering games — talks about why he took this approach to telling his own story.

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Books Comics

Exclusive Interview: Death Threat Artist Ness Lee

Towards the end of 2017, writer and musician Vivek Shraya received some graphic transphobic hate mail from someone she didn’t know. It’s an experience she’s chosen to share in the graphic novel Death Threat (hardcover). But given the nature of the story — and, admittedly, Vivek’s unavailability — I wondered what it would be like to draw something this personal about someone else. In the following email interview, Death Threat artist Ness Lee discusses what it was like to draw this graphic novel, why she wanted to do it, and what she hopes people will get out of reading it.

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Books

Exclusive Interview: The Deer Camp Writer Dean Kuipers

Some men never change, and some bad fathers remain bad fathers until their dying days. But there are some who do turn it around before it’s too late. Take the dad in Dean Kuipers’ new memoir, The Deer Camp: A Memoir Of A Father, A Family, And The Land That Healed Them (hardcover, Kindle), who managed to mend his relationship with Dean and his other sons by bonding over the natural world. In the following email interview, Kuipers — who, it should be noted, is a pal and former coworker — discusses this emotional and environmental recollection. In addition, we also talk about him editing Ray Gun: The Bible Of Music And Style (hardcover), an art book about the music magazine published by the company where he and I met.

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Books

Exclusive Interview: “Sister Of Darkness” Writer R.H. Stavis

 

Despite what INXS may have insisted, not every single one of us has the devil inside. Which is good news for R.H. Stavis, an exorcist who also works as a screenwriter, and thus doesn’t have time to cast the demons out of your extended family. Though she did, oddly, find time to respond to my email questions about her new memoir, Sister Of Darkness: The Chronicles Of A Modern Exorcist (hardcover, Kindle), which she co-wrote with Sarah Durand.