"COMPRESSED LANGUAGE": ABOUT THAT SNOWY EVENING'S
Stephen Spignesi, Andy Rausch, and Keith Lansdale got together to collaborate on ABOUT THAT SNOWY EVENING, one of the the most unique anthologies to come out since In Sunlight or In Shadow edited by Lawrence Block, that was an inspiration. Like that book we see how a work of art influences a writer. This time it is with poetry. The anthology that all three both edited together as well as contributed a story to, celebrates the form and idea of influence. Stephen, Andy, and Keith were kind enough to take time from their busy schedules to take some Hard Word questions.
SCOTT MONTGOMERY: How did the three of you come up with the idea for About That Snowy Evening
ANDY RAUSCH: I've got to be honest, the idea was entirely Stephen Spignesi's. I met Steve way back in 1998. We were introduced by another author named George Beahm. I was still very green and unpublished. Over time, little by little, Steve became a mentor to me. I remember wanting very badly to collaborate with him one day. We talked about a screenplay a long, long time ago. But we never collaborated. So when Steve came to me and asked if I wanted to collaborate, I said, "Hell yeah!" But the entire concept was Steve's. He deserves the lion's share of the credit.
STEPHEN SPIGNESI: I had bought a book called In Sunlight or in Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper, a collection of short stories to which Stephen King contributed a story, and the thought occurred to me, "Why not do that with poems?" and my co-editors approved the idea. We then worked to select the poems, and invite select writers to contribute stories.
KEITH LANSDALE: I was asked to join as a writer originally. After the story was turned in, I offered to help make it happen and joined the ranks as an editor.
S.M.: What drew you to poetry?
S.S: I love poetry and co-taught a course on Poetry Writing at the University of Bridgeport. When I understood the notion of "compressed language," and fully embraced understanding imagery, I was hooked. This seemed like an artistic, insightful way of exploring poems, as well as introducing some readers to new works, both in the poems and the short stories.
K.L.: Poetry is a tough medium. I have a lot of respect for those who pen poetry and believe it’s still one of those spots that I haven’t tried to tackle.
A.R.: I've never been a big fan of poetry. That's awful, isn't it? Or classical music. These are things that I know I should like but don't for whatever reason. I don't hate poetry at all, but it's not something I generally read when I'm reading for relaxation. But, having said that, I thought this was a really exciting idea that had real potential. And I wasn't wrong.
S.M.: What was the biggest challenge in editing the anthology?
K.L.; It’s a niche within a niche. You don’t have to love poetry to enjoy the book, but it helps. But you certainly need to enjoy themed short stories. It’s a unique idea, and not one that people immediately get.
A.R.: Steve did the hardest parts of the editing. I've edited several anthologies on my own or with other people, and asking people to change parts of their stories is always difficult. And sometimes when you edit an anthology, you find that some really talented authors don't know the first thing about proper punctuation and placement. So they're still great at putting words together and drawing you the picture they want to convey with those words, but punctuation can be a problem. Thankfully, there wasn't much of that on this project. These writers really knew their stuff. Again, Steve did a lot of the nuts and bolts stuff with Keith and I coming in after and doing more passes.
SS: For me personally, it was trying to work on a bunch of projects and be productive while dealing with Long Covid, going on 4 years now.
S.M.: What interpretation by an author surprised you the most?
S.S: I loved Kari Button's short story, "The March," an emotional and powerful re-interpretation of Walt Whitman's "O Captain, My Captain." Saying any more would be venturing into Spoiler territory.
A.R.: I love all of the stories in the book, which is a pretty rare thing to be able to say. With most of them, you think, this is really well written and I can clearly see how this poem inspired this story. It's a straightforward and logical leap. But the one that surprised me the most, and in a very good way, was B.R. Stateham's take on D.H. Lawrence's "New Heaven and Earth." Stateham is a good writer and a good friend, and I'm a fan of his work, but he wrote about a soldier on a unique mission during World War I in his story, "A New Earth." I really enjoyed the story and found that to be a really unique direction to take that poem. One of the very best, most exciting things about this project was to see where each writer would take their interpretations. All of them were surprising in one way or another, but B.R.'s stood out most to me in that way.
K.L.: Impossible to say. There’s so much creativity with the idea in the first place, that making it fit in whatever way the writer did, is impressive.
S.M.: How did each of you approach your own stories?
A.R.: The idea for my story, "Santa's Little Helper," which was loosely inspired by Clement Clarke Moore's "A Visit from St. Nicholas," first came to me a few years before when I had to explain to my daughter that Santa Claus wasn't real. She'd been asking and asking, so finally we had that talk with her. Since I tend to write crime fiction, I wanted to take it in that direction. When I sat down to write, I wasn't really sure where the story was going to go. And then it just kind of wrote itself and I ended up with a story about a burglar who convinces a young child that he's Santa Claus. Young children really want to believe that Santa is real, so the idea was that this kid would easily accept this explanation. So then I thought, how far can I take this premise? So then it becomes a story about this kid who unknowingly helps this burglar rip off his parents because he believes he's Santa. I think it's probably my cutest, funniest story, but there's a real darkside to that, too, where you think about how sad that kid will be when he realizes what he's done. But in the moments captured in the story, I tried to just keep it fun and light.
SS: I knew from the start that my poem would be "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot. I taught it at the University of New Haven and have always considered it my favorite poem. As to the story "You Can Call Me Al," it came together quickly. I live in New Haven, CT, minutes from Yale University and Yale Art Gallery and have spoken at Yale and used their resources for research. The idea of this wandering, dejected "New Haven-based Prufrock" was very appealing. Once I got started it (and apologies for the cliche") wrote itself.
K,L.: I've always liked the poem Ozymandias. It’s a theme that I tend to always be drawn towards. Life is humbling, and this poem embodies that.
S.M.: What do you hope people who only read poetry when they were forced to in school get from About That Snowy Evening?
SS: Poetry is the classical music of literature. It can be off-putting when initially considered, but when the intricacies of poetic language and the aforementioned "compressed language" elements factor in, it expands our literary consciousness and commonly offers a deeper understanding of the context of the topic. When you read a poem in our book, and then read a story "inspired" (not based on) the poem, it is an eye-opening revelation of the power of elegant and imagistic language. (Although, if some folks absolutely hate poetry but like short stories (and any or all of the authors collected in the book), they can approach the book as a short story anthology, too! :)
K.L.: An appreciation of it would be a huge ask, but just an idea that inspiration exists wherever you look is a fun idea.
A.R.: I have never read much poetry, which, again, is kind of an embarrassing thing to say. But reading this collection made me realize that poetry can be fun, and it covers a vast amount of ground that there should be something for everyone. So I would say that's what I hope the readers get from it too. And before you go, I'd like to mention something you didn't ask about if I may. I had a lot of fun collaborating with these two authors, both of whose work I love and admire. That made it a really special experience for me.
S.M.: I know all three of you guys always have irons in the fire, what else can we expect from you soon?
SS: The Overlook Connection Press is doing a combined edition of my "Stephen King Quiz Books" as a single volume this year, and Dave is also doing a new 2025 edition of my "Lost Work of Stephen King." Also, my latest novel, "Crystal Palace," co-written with my former student Rachel, is now available on
Amazon.
K.L.: Just released my story, “Elijah’s Elixir” in Dark Tide 18: Blood and Bullets. Also, two “Take Five Comics” and working on the production of my film “The Projectionist.”
A.R.: I have a book coming out about the filmmakers of the '90s called Generation Tarantino: The Last Wave of Young Turks in Hollywood and also a biography of the late cinematographer and director Gary Graver.
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