Interview Sessions: Volume 2.5

Maggie Thistle: "Less 'emo-vampire-teen' and more 'Courtney Love circa 1993'."

How to best describe Maggie Thistle? This is the question we've been asking ourselves for the past few hours.
Talented? Of course.
Clever? Absolutely.
Charming? Sure, if you think that dry wit, a serene demeanor, and a finger on the pulse of culture is charming. (So: yes.)

But none of these things really comes close to capturing the essence of the reticent, red-haired riddle that is Maggie. Here in the Ruckus basement offices, after a maddeningly long afternoon of attempting to put a thumb down on a decent description, the bit that follows is the closest we've been able to come to really painting an accurate picture of our fourth and final reader for the July 28th show. It is an intimate, if imagined, portrait of a life in the day of a woman we admire and respect. Please enjoy. (Also, Christopher Nolan, if you're reading this, please feel free to get in touch about the film rights.)

FADE IN:

Toronto, at night. A few lone streetlights glow weakly. We zoom into a grungy alleyway. Three punks have an orphan up against the brick wall.. They shove him intermittently, and we can hear the usual assortment of threats and blue language directed toward the poor kid. In his arms, the orphan clutches a canvas. 

PUNK 1: Come on, kid! Your perspective is all wrong! You think that's how a human leg would look from that vantage point?

PUNK 2: Your colour choices could also use work in my opinion.

PUNK 2 shoves the orphan again. Suddenly, we see a flash of movement from above. Into the frame drops BAT-MAGGIE, a woman dressed in an intimidating (if well-coordinated) outfit, a shock of red hair dangling from her cowl. She growls politely: 

BAT-MAGGIE: Let the kid go.

The PUNKS turn away from the orphan, and assume aggressive positions toward BAT-MAGGIE. BAT-MAGGIE moves quick as lightning, and delivers an enormous roundhouse kick to each of their chins with the bottom of her tasteful battle-flat (functional AND fashionable!). The PUNKS fall to the ground, out cold. 

ORPHAN: Gee, thanks *pitiful cough* Bat-Maggie!

BAT-MAGGIE: No problem, kiddo.

BAT-MAGGIE takes a glance at the ORPHAN'S painting. 

BAT-MAGGIE: ... I would have made different colour choices on this, though.

---FIN---

Okay, so Aaron Sorkin we are certainly not. Regardless, this is a pretty decent way of thinking about Maggie: part badass mystery, part benevolent artist, all wrapped up in one fashionable package - complete with battle-flats! (ED.'S NOTE: No, battle-flats are not actually a thing. (Yet.))

All jokes aside, Maggie is a young artist worth keeping an eye on. Though we are focusing on her writing, Maggie is also a talented visual artist and well educated in Art History, having interned for Luminato and placed in Art Writing competitions in the past few years. She's also a mom, which leads us to believe that she somehow has access to hours of the day that most people are not allowed to use (barring that, we have no idea how she could possibly accomplish everything she does).

Her fiction is balancing act between electric imagery and a deep-seated authorial compassion that binds you to the characters she writes about. With Maggie's writing, the heartbreak is often in the details - she has a talent for knowing exactly which minute points to focus on at pivotal moments in her stories in order to emotionally invest a reader more fully in her work. Combine that with a sense of humour that, when it needs to be, is sharp as a whip, and you have an author whose work never fails to win over the uninitiated. Of course, why bother hearing us talk about it when could get a profile straight from the author herself? Check out our interview with Maggie below.

1) To give people who have never experienced your work before an idea of what they’re getting themselves into (and in the cinematic spirit of ‘famous sequels’), riddle me this: If your body of work was a Hollywood movie, what would it be about, what genre of film would it be, and who would star?

If my body of work was a Hollywood movie, it would be documentary meets musical meets film noir meets manga. Obviously Raquel Welch would play me, (the resemblance being uncanny) but it would also star Christopher Walken and have cameo appearances by Tarantino and Burt Reynolds.

2) And (most importantly), what would its 80s-action-blockbuster style tagline be?
“Serenity now, Insanity later…”

3) Can you identify when it was that you really began to write (seriously or otherwise)? Was there anyone or anything that inspired you to start writing?
I have been writing ever since I can remember (my first completed classic being a completely illustrated 23 page epic about a killer whale named Kayla) and I am lucky enough to have had consistent encouragement. I was a shy child so writing allowed me the opportunity to say what I wanted without having to actually participate socially. Initially, I was much more focused on my visual art work but as I grew older, I began to gravitate more towards writing as my craft of choice. Ani Difranco and Kerouac could probably be named my earliest writing inspirations.

4) Now that you’ve gotten a little older, are there any themes or images you find yourself coming back to? If so, what are they, and why do you think resonate with you?
I tend to focus on colour and texture, perhaps because of my visual art training. Colour is something that is so vital to description but also highly interpretative so I think I like to play around with the dualities, inconsistencies and manipulations of it. I also focus a lot on the theme of endings, specifically where one thing ends and another begins, and the relationship (whether broken or continuous) of the two. There tends to be a solid dose of angst in my writing as well, but in a way that is, hopefully, much less “emo-vampire-teen” and more “Courtney Love circa 1993”.

5) In the works of other authors, are there any particular subjects or styles you are drawn towards? For that matter, are there any writers who you specifically admire?

I admire anyone who is ballsy enough to sit down and write something with the intent of having others want to read it. It’s not always an easy process and I think writers don’t get enough praise for their required brazenness.

6) Moving away from written work for a moment: what sorts of things do you do when you’re not writing?

Sleep. Drink. Parent. Cook. Hike. Gallery Hop. (The order of these activities vary depending on the day)

7) In the booze-friendly spirit of Ruckus, give us a pairing: one of your favourite works/authors and one of your favourite beverages (alcoholic or not). Why do they go together? How do they complement one another?

There should be a drink named “The Atwood”. It would be one part Canadian Club Whiskey, one part screech, one part club soda, a touch of lemon juice and a maraschino cherry to package it all together.

8) Can you give us a little written trailer of what you’re going to be reading on July 28th?
I am not sure yet but it will most likely be reading the nutritional information listings from the back of my favourite breakfast cereal boxes.

9) Last question: give us a short (less than 75 words) third-person bio blurb about yourself which covers any awards/distinctions you're proud of and what you're tackling right now.

Maggie Thistle holds a BA in Art History and English from the University of Toronto. In 2012 she was awarded second place in Canadian Art Magazine’s Annual Art Writing competition with her review of Grayson Perry’s exhibition and publication, “The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman.” She has recently completed an internship with the Luminato Festival, where two of her pieces, a reverse Proust Questionnaire and a Pros and Con’s argument (subject Booze vs. Pot) were featured in the daily festival newspaper. She is currently attempting to expand her knitting skills beyond the sole production of scarves while also scouring the world for solid work experience and contemplating graduate school.


It is our extreme pleasure to also announce that Maggie will be reading not only once, but twice on July 28th: As one of the distinguished winners of the UTSC creative writing contest, she will first be reading for the UTSC Creative Writing Showcase at 5pm, then later for RUCKUS VOL. II at 7pm. Twice as nice, at half the price! (Free divided by two = still free.)

Interview Sessions: Volume 2.4

Lucy Rose Coren: Wit, (Wine) and Wisdom

If you're interested in having your thumb on the pulse of what is up and coming (and wonderful) in the Canadian theatre world, then you should definitely keep reading. We are going to introduce you to a lady named Lucy Rose Coren. Though she is still just a hot-out-of-the-oven graduate from the University of Toronto, Lucy is already a very accomplished stage director and playwright. In her last year of high school, she won an award for being the Best Original Playwright at the Sears Drama Festival for her play, There Ain't No Sanity Clause. With a regretfully self-acknowledged knack for clever titles, Lucy's newer work won over another panel of judges at U of T's Hart House Theatre Company in 2011, earning the privilege of having her play performed in their much-adored, much-coveted venue. This year, she also served as Assistant Director of Hart House's hilariously hip-hop production of Romeo and Juliet.

Let the glasses and the charming I've-read-pretty-much-everything smile she is sporting in her photograph fool you — what you assume probably won't be too far off. At twenty-three, we'd be willing to bet that Lucy has seen more plays and read more books than many people do in like, seventeen lifetimes. Lucy's awareness of her ancestry as a writer and thinker, which she's cultivated through reading, is evident in her work. She knows what's been said, thought and done before (i.e. almost everything) by her predecessors, as well as how well they have done it (hello, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare). As a result, her work has a kind of lightness to it, an it's-not-even-possible-to-take-myself-too-seriously vibe that is neither lazy or reactionary. With her sharp wit and clever humor, Lucy's work humorously explores the difficulties of being young, intelligent, sensitive, and alive to all life's inevitable tragedies and desires that have been explored again and again over centuries but which still demand to be felt, witnessed, written about. The self-conscious and self-questioning nature of her work allows her to meet and address an attitude of skepticism and disillusionment that fails to eradicate our real need for belief and truth — even if it sometimes is illusionary. Though her themes may be dark and deep, Lucy's work remains hilariously fun, sharp, insightful and full of hope.

If that's not enough to convince you that you absolutely have to make it out to see Lucy read on July 28th, here is one more reason. In early August, she is flying off to New Zealand for a while to farm kiwis and make cheese or something, which means this will be your last chance to see her for quite some time. (Don't worry. Her friends are totally not upset about this.) So do come!

Here is what Lucy had to tell us about herself and her work.

1) To give people who have never experienced your work before an idea of what they’re getting themselves into (and in the cinematic spirit of ‘famous sequels’), riddle me this: If your body of work was a Hollywood movie, what would it be about, what genre of film would it be, and who would star?

Oh definitely something written and directed by Michael Haneke. Misanthropic. Dark. Sexually twisted.

No, it would probably be an action movie. And it would be extremely well written. And star Sylvester Stallone..

I just really want to write Expendables 3.

2) And (most importantly), what would its 80s-action-blockbuster style tagline be?

"People said it shouldn't happen..."

3) Can you identify when it was that you really began to write (seriously or otherwise)? Was there anyone or anything that inspired you to start writing?

I always remember reading. I remember sitting for hours getting lost in books (and eating mustard on bread..that's weird right?). Writing just seemed a natural progression from that. Whenever I'd read a story that I thought should have ended or developed differently, I would write it myself. Then as I got older, themes and style changed from simple straight-forward story-telling to the inevitable pretentious idiosyncratic stuff of age 18-20, to where I (think) I am now at 23 — satirical, character driven comedy.

4) Now that you’ve gotten a little older, are there any themes or images you find yourself coming back to? If so, what are they, and why do you think resonate with you?

A recurring theme I seem to keep engaging in is the negotiation of ambiguity. The older I get and the more people that I meet, the more interesting I find learning about different people's methods of either ignoring or entering into dialogue with it, and the result.

Also ships. I think that's just because I want to be a pirate.

5) In the works of other authors, are there any particular subjects or styles you are drawn towards? For that matter, are there any writers who you specifically admire?

Absolutely, although I'd have to distinguish between authors who I admire, and authors who I wish or have tried to emulate. I specialized in Shakespeare and Renaissance drama in university, so those sort of themes and how they ambitiously approached them are constantly on my mind, but I've never tried to emulate their style (except for a collection of sonnets that have since been burned — you're welcome). I suppose the writer who's been the most informative thematically is Graham Greene. His characters are so morally ambiguous, so deliciously human — not bad, not good. Stylistically, I suppose William Goldman has been a massive influence. Stylistically and professionally. He's a screenwriter who began by adapting his own novels to film. If you ever had a sec, pick up Magic by him. Then watch the movie with Anthony Hopkins. He's a writer's dream.

Also Tom Stoppard. That talented bastard.

6) Moving away from written work for a moment: what sorts of things do you do when you’re not writing?

Ohhh God, this is all going to sound so generic. No, fuck that — I breed llamas. Got a whole farm of em. They wear sweater vests and are irritatingly literate in continental philosophy.

Also I love films, listen to music, see a lot of theater and work out. And drink wine (you can't see it but I'm drinking some now).

7) In the booze-friendly spirit of Ruckus, give us a pairing: one of your favourite works/authors and one of your favourite beverages (alcoholic or not). Why do they go together? How do they complement one another?

My favorite play that isn't from the late 16th/17th century, is Arcadia by Tom Stoppard. Sitting down with that and half a bottle of Shiraz after a hot shower may be one of the most pleasurable thing ever. And I've had conversations about Kierkegaard with llamas, so...

8) Can you give us a little written trailer of what you’re going to be reading on July 28th?

I'm going to be presenting three characters from my new play, Footnotes, and some dialogue that occurs in and outside of the action of the play. Footnotes is a play I've been working on for the past year. It's a movement away from the material I was writing before (again, plays) and more toward subjects, situations and characters that are more immediately relevant. Footnotes is about five people, four of whom have just graduated from university in some sort of arts program. They all shrewdly decide to move in together for a week in order to come up with a practical and lucrative arts project, in the hope of preempting a life of poverty, struggle and cliche. Obviously, it all goes horribly wrong.

You'll be introduced to Daisy, Rita and Nick.

9) Last question: give us a short (less than 75 words) third-person bio blurb about yourself which covers any awards/distinctions you're proud of and what you're tackling right now.

Lucy Coren has been writing for stage for about seven years now. She won Best Original Playwright award at the Sears Drama Festival in 2008 for her play, There Ain't No Sanity Clause. Her next play was performed at Hart House Theater as part of their student festival in 2011. Called, Civilization and its Dissed Contents, she now recognizes the trend of bad puns and has put a stop to it. Subsequently, her new play that she is currently finishing is called, Footnotes, material from which she will be presenting at Ruckus Readings II. Lucy has also been the arts editor for The Mike newspaper at U of T where she had a weekly column.

Interview Sessions: Volume 2.3

Daniel Scott Tysdal: A Poet! With Hair Like a Side Full Order of Curly Fries.

Okay, so maybe that title riffs on a theme slightly less related to movies than these other interviews have. But it's only right of us to defy your expectations while introducing you to the work of Daniel Scott Tysdal: work in which formal experimentation is a given; in which cut up photographs, chicken-scratched napkins, and YouTube stills are par for the course; in which arrows, blackout bars and instructions to "Fold" and "Cut" are not uncommon; in which Stephen Harper can appear as a haughty chair and you can still be left thinking, I want more, more, more!

Unlike our glib title, the unexpected in Tysdal's poetry does far more than just stir things up for the sake of making a cheap point. He is continuously stretching the limits and boundaries of poetic form not merely to be strange and novel and new as a poet, but rather to meet squarely what is strange and novel and new in the world that calls for, demands this stretching of form. Whether he is stretching to give depth and significance to the click-accessible pixels of an unknown man's suicide in "How We Know We Are Being Addressed by the Man Who Shot Himself Online," or to find an unlikely meeting place between hey-look-at-that! internet meme representation (i.e. LOL Chair) and political representation (i.e. Stephen Harper) in "The Chair" (featuring Stephen Harper Chair), Tysdal's experimentation is reliably stimulating and rewarding. If you doubt a poet this playful is lacking anything by way of insight, depth or heart, just check out this poem, "Mors Finis Non Est," written in memory of David Foster Wallace, on Tysdal's blog, Notes on Our Swirling Return to Ourselves.

When he isn't championing hearts and minds on the written page, Tysdal is performing the same feats in person as a professor of creative writing and English literature at the University of Toronto Scarborough — a place where we, the fingers and knees behing Ruckus Readings, can personally verify that he is universally adored and admired, since we have been there, and in fact, still continue to go back. Moreover, it is in large part the infectious passion and enthusiasm Professor Tysdal brings to his teaching, his willingness to support and be excited about any and (almost) all of his own and his student's creative whims that led us to believe that it would be reasonable to actually act on a half-baked idea that, hey, it might be fun to start our own reading series! Professor Tysdal has single-handedly brought to life a thriving community of writers in the short time he's been positioned at the university: he facilitates a weekly creative writing group in his office; he runs an annual creative writing competition; he runs a self-explanitory event called Poetry Idol; he runs Sound Poetry workshops and organizes writerly trips to the AGO; he has successfully lobbied to have Creative Writing turned into an official Minor program at the UTSC campus; and, above all, he has a lot of really, really fantastic hair.

Actually, what we haven't yet announced is that Ruckus is teaming up with Professor Tysdal to present to you a prologue of sorts to our upcoming event on July 28th. Starting at 5 PM, Ruckus and The Only Cafe will be hosting an additional reading, featuring the winners of the UTSC Creative Writing Competition in 2012 and 2013. More information and the facebook event for this part of the evening can be found here. (Knowing many of these authors and their writing personally, we can say with certainty that it will be worth your time and bus fare to come to this event.)

But back to Tysdal. Luckily for you, and for us, Tysdal is known to bring all of the above mentioned talent, enthusiasm and energy to his performances. He has been known to make the mirthless laugh, the heartless cry. If you've never had the privilege of hearing him read before, you're in for a treat. No spoilers though: you'll just have to come out and see for yourself! We're so certain you'll enjoy yourself though that we can guarantee a refund of your free admission if you're unimpressed. That's right. You can hold us to that.

And now, we present without further delay (except perhaps to excitedly squeeze in one last minute interjection to excitedly report that Daniel is our only reader yet to have his own Wikipedia page), an interview with Daniel Scott Tysdal.

1) To give people who have never experienced your work before an idea of what they’re getting themselves into (and in the cinematic spirit of ‘famous sequels’), riddle me this: If your body of work was a Hollywood movie, what would it be about, what genre of film would it be, and who would star?

Actually, my work has already been translated into movie form by Canadian independent filmmaker, Grimm Lines. Lines created his provocative, four-hour epic, The Wizard of Now, by digitally combining MGM’s take on Dorothy’s trip down the yellow brick road with Willard’s search for Kurtz in the jungles of Vietnam as documented by Coppola. The film’s a trip: flying monkeys drop napalm on Munchkinland, a massive tornado strikes Saigon, and Martin Sheen absolutely nails “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” In the end, Dorothy assassinates Kurtz as the locals sacrifice the Cowardly Lion. Willard reaches the Wizard, only to be shown by Oz that he already always was a faithful Judas. There used to be clips on YouTube, but it looks like the Hollywood suits yanked them again. I know Lines has had a lot of problems trying to screen the thing. Lawyers breathing down his neck and what not. I did manage to track down the poster, though. (See below.)

2) And (most importantly), what would its 80s-action-blockbuster style tagline be?

The Wizard of Now had two taglines: “There’s no place like horror” and “You must make a friend of home.”

3) Can you identify when it was that you really began to write (seriously or otherwise)? Was there anyone or anything that inspired you to start writing?

I had the good fortune of attending an elementary school and a high school that encouraged creative writing right from the start. (We even had a cool filmmaking class (shout out to Mrs. McIntyre) in grade eight (Lindale Lions! Represent!). I remember in grade two we’d get a piece of paper with the image of a season/holiday-related icon: a pumpkin, snowman, Easter egg, etc. There were lines inside the icon, where we could print our stories (in that creepy, serial killer-esque hand of little kids). The only piece I remember writing is “Frosty the Snowman Gets Divorced.” In true spirit of Christmas, Frosty is eaten by a boa constrictor (which, if memory serves, is what almost happened to Baby Jesus).

4) Now that you’ve gotten a little older, are there any themes or images you find yourself coming back to? If so, what are they, and why do you think resonate with you?

There are a number of themes, images, and strategies that I keep coming back to (intentionally and unintentionally): loss, mediation, billowing figures, the landscape of the page, to name a few. However, what’s really been resonating with me lately is the writing process itself. I think this has to do with a number of things. For one, I’ve been trying out a whole whack of new forms, practices, subjects, and this has really inspired an attention-spurring and process-addicting sense of wonder and awe. Teaching is a big part of it, too. I’ve been teaching a full load for a few years now, so my writing time is rarer and more precious. Teaching has also given me the chance to delve into discussions and acts of practice with a whole bunch of very keen and cool burgeoning writers. Always an invigorating experience.

5) In the works of other authors, are there any particular subjects or styles you are drawn towards? For that matter, are there any writers who you specifically admire?

My favourite writers are the writers who enthral and transform and surprise their readers with a firmness and breadth and originality of voice and vision. I could write a list that runs on to always, so instead I’ll just say this: I love writing that does whatever the hell it is that Don DeLillo does in the opening section of Mao II and the last few pages of Underworld.

6) Moving away from written work for a moment: what sorts of things do you do when you’re not writing?

My second love after writing is definitely the cinema, both the movies and the theatre experience itself.

7) In the booze-friendly spirit of Ruckus, give us a pairing: one of your favourite works/authors and one of your favourite beverages (alcoholic or not). Why do they go together? How do they complement one another?

I would pair up David Foster Wallace with this cocktail (can’t recall the name) I recently had at a lounge called The Chandelier in Vegas. I believe the cocktail was tequila-centred, but the kicker was that it came with this little, sort of fuzzy berry (“from Africa,” to quote the bartender). You start by chewing on the berry, and using your tongue to rub it all around your mouth. Within a minute, your tongue is completely numb (I mean, like, you-can-no-longer-form-consonants-numb), and your task at this point is to sip the drink slowly. As your mouth gradually un-numbs, the cocktail takes on completely new dimensions of taste and general sensuousness. This cocktail pairs perfectly with Wallace’s fiction and essays because his work has the exact same effect: as you sip and re-sip Wallace, you uncover new (often in-tension) dimensions of insight and emotion and aesthetic highs forming where his words and your world converge.

8) Can you give us a little written trailer of what you’re going to be reading on July 28th?

How about a radio promo instead of a trailer? Old classics, and new hits!

9) Last question: give us a short (less than 75 words) third-person bio blurb about yourself which covers any awards/distinctions you're proud of and what you're tackling right now.

Daniel Scott Tysdal is the author of two books of poetry, The Mourner’s Book of Albums (Tightrope 2010) and Predicting the Next Big Advertising Breakthrough Using a Potentially Dangerous Method (Coteau 2006). Predicting received the ReLit Award for Poetry (2007) and the Anne Szumigalski Poetry Award (2006). His poetry textbook, The Writing Moment: A Practical Guide to Creating Poems, is forthcoming from Oxford University Press. He currently teaches creative writing and English literature at the University of Toronto Scarborough.

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Interview Sessions: Volume 2.2

Nicholas Daniel Michelis: "A Curveball Sort of Year." 

If you've ever been to The Only Cafe outside of a Ruckus Reading, you may well already be familiar with Nicholas Daniel Michelis. It's not unlikely that he was there, under the sun on the patio with a beer in his hand, or maybe quietly typing away at one of the tables, a steaming americano close by. In fact, of all the writers and musicians who have submitted to read for us thus far, Nicholas is unique in that he's the only one to show up to the venue several years early. 

A thoughtful and often reserved man, the depth and labyrinthine turns of his writing can easily take a reader by surprise — like the writer himself, there is more to his stories than a first glance can possibly prepare you for. 

In the fall of 2012, Nicholas' life was on track and humming along nicely. Having graduated the previous year from Ryerson University with a Bachelor's of Fine Arts in Film Studies, he planned to pursue a growing passion for the written word. He had just been accepted to the University of New Brunswick for an MA in creative writing on the strength of his stories "The Bad Word" and "Grazers," and was, he remembers, "so ready for the move." Everything was moving according to plan.

But by Halloween night of that year, plans changed.

Nicholas describes the past twelve months as "a curveball sort of year." Shortly after arriving in Fredericton, he began to experience debilitating panic attacks and severe anxiety. In his own words: "Silence became noise. Gentle morning light, a searing blaze. I began to push further and further away from my goals. Making food to eat became difficult. Some days I would need to hold myself between a doorway just to feel the stability of a solid structure."

At the end of October, he made the difficult choice to return home to Toronto. 

"I hated to leave," he says. "I am so grateful to everyone I met at UNB."

Looking back, it seems strange that the Christmas that followed passed with relative ease. He slipped back into his job as a video editor for a satellite television, but began to feel increasingly alone and apart from his life and his identity. 

"I procrastinated my way through days," he recalls. "Sleeping until 3 or 4pm. Working from 8pm 'til 3am. I was clearly depressed but it wasn't clear to me or anyone around what was going on."

Then, in January of this year, Nicholas and his family suffered a crushing blow: without warning, in the middle of the night, his father suffered a fatal heart attack. 

"I still remember the opalescent blue of his skin as I held his hand on what would become, in my memory, his deathbed," he tells us. "He wore a Team USA hockey t-shirt the night he passed away. He ate pizza before going to bed. These are the kind of mundane things that clutter my mind when I try to remember that dark time."

"As humans, it's only natural that we try to figure out, whether it be through a way of speaking, writing, dressing, etc., how we want to be remembered by those we love and will eventually leave behind in our lives. We attempt, sometimes, to provide them with a packet of our best self in 140 characters, give them our best opening line, pick out a thoughtful birthday card from the shelf. In the end, the defining packet my father left for me was not anything he mulled over, shaped or distorted. The final image of my father that I carry with me is of a balding, sweaty, slightly overweight man helping me carry a couch down two flights of stairs and out of a Fredericton apartment. And by no means do I consider that to be an intentionally unflattering depiction of the man; that just happens to be exactly who he was in the moment I finally realized how much I needed him in my life. Months later, without saying goodbye, without any warning, he was gone."

After the passing of his father, Nicholas quit his job. Soon thereafter, he began to seek help for what would eventually be diagnosed as clinical depression. The battle is ongoing, but through work with a cognitive behaviour therapist and anti-depressant medication, Nicholas feels like he is starting to make progress.

"My sleep schedule is still mostly erratic but I beat myself up less about it. I drink less. I don't use alcohol to self-medicate any more. I can walk through malls without feeling like I am going to explode. I feel about level again like that shaky feeling in your knees just before you regain your balance."

Now, Nicholas is working with the experience in an attempt to reconcile the turmoil into a short story. Though the emotional turmoil caused by his father's death had severely altered Nicholas' writing habits, he finds himself returning to story writing, slowly but surely — and the future of his work is starting to look a little brighter.

"Receiving the opportunity to read at Ruckus has given me the confidence to revisit [my] work," he says. "And I hope for more good things to come."

Above all else, one thing is clear: Nicholas' future work will be writing to watch out for. Drawing inspiration from the elaborate complexity of David Foster Wallace and the explosive, manic prose of Mark Anthony Jarman, Nicholas' stories are so solid that they often bear more of a resemblance to architecture than to writing. He isn't one to just dash things off, either — for "The Bad Word" and "Grazers," the aforementioned stories which procured admittance to UNB, he tells us that the process took around two years. Unsurprisingly, the time he's taken shows. 

"The Bad Word" starts as the story of a strange schoolyard game, but quickly begins to capture the fear and confusion of an era that many readers will be all too familiar with. Right from the first few intriguing sentences, the story begins to function on a dizzying number of levels, each closer to the reader's heart, until the final collapse of the story's close sums up what it was like to live through the events of September 11th, 2001. "Grazers" is a David Foster Wallace-esque journey down the rabbit hole of events that have shaped and defined the narrator's life, as told to a colleague. Equally darkly hilarious and unrelentingly complex, the story is as unbelievable as it is believable; a memory cribbed directly from almost-reality. Theft, Charlie Brown, and a man choking on a fine cut of steak all play a prominent role in a story that refuses to let you put it down until all threads have been accounted for. 

When Nicholas' books start coming out, and everyone keeps telling you how great they are, you're going to feel pretty dumb that you passed up the opportunity to see him read live before he was a household name. Why take that chance? Head out to RUCKUS READINGS VOL. II, JULY 28th, 7 PM, at THE ONLY CAFE (972 Danforth). Heck, maybe if you buy him a pint or an americano, he may even have a chat with you — and that alone would be worth your while. 

If you want a little taste of exactly what you're in for next Sunday, the following interview should whet your appetite for more. Consider this fair warning, though: if for whatever reason you aren't planning on attending, reading the interview is going to make it pretty hard to stay away. 

1) To give people who have never experienced your work before an idea of what they’re getting themselves into (and in the cinematic spirit of ‘famous sequels’), riddle me this: If your body of work was a Hollywood movie, what would it be about, what genre of film would it be, and who would star?

Somewhere on the G.I. axis of all stories, teetering on the fine line that separates good fortune (wealth, boisterous good health) and ill fortune (sickness, poverty), a little below average happiness, we find a young teen living in Toronto. Having recently lost his father to a sudden heart attack, his mother has remarried an aggressive, foul-mouthed alcoholic with equally nasty twin boys. The boy succumbs to depression, hiding out in east-end hipster bars eating take-out dim sum, stealing smart phones and sucking down as many Americanos as his weakened heart can handle. Then there’s a New Year’s Eve party at Nathan Philips Square with a special performance from the world’s most talented and admired pop star, Carly Rae Jepsen. The boy can’t go. He helps everyone prepare but has to stay home and watch his stepfather’s pit-bull chew through his Magic the Gathering card collection. But does he give up? No. He is a rugged young man, optimistic and brimming with hope and desire. Then Oona, Queen of the Fae shows up. Gives him vintage Air Jordans, gives him a cherry red Lambo, gives him pubic hair, gives him another four inches in every direction. He goes to the New Year’s Eve party, dances with Carly Rae on stage. Midnight strikes. His faerie gifts disappear. Does he sink back to the same level of sadness? Of course not! He has the memory of his dance with Carly Rae and the kiss that almost was. He will remember that dance for the rest of his life. Then he craps along for a bit hustling stolen cell phones, sucking down Intelligentsia, playing Magic cards. Carly Rae and her entourage find the boy’s missing Air Jordans. The shoes fit. He achieves infinite happiness. Starring: Carly Rae Jepsen as herself; Jessica Chastain as the mother; Sean Penn as the stepfather; Cate Blanchett as Oona; and Chris Colfer as the boy.

2) And (most importantly), what would its 80s-action-blockbuster style tagline be?

“Things are about to get a little faerie…”

3) Can you identify when it was that you really began to write (seriously or otherwise)? Was there anyone or anything that inspired you to start writing?

Seriously? May 2010. That was the beginning of a blistering three-month fever dream where all I did, it seemed, was drink coffee and read David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest. Hal Incandenza’s Bildungsroman, Don Gately’s metamorphosis story, the quest for the master copy of Infinite Jest…each narrative fractal captured my imagination and commanded my attention unlike any other piece of fiction I had read before.

Wallace’s novel taught me that the reader changes the fiction as much as the reader is changed by the fiction. The repetitive motion of flipping the weighty tome from footnote to chaining footnote, into the notes and errata section and back again, made me feel like I was toying with a delicate, insane machine designed to read like tricked-out hybrid of Mosby’s Medical Dictionary and Thomas Pynchon. I wanted to give writing a serious try shortly after completing Jest to see if I could recreate that clicking, electric high. I’m still trying.

4) Now that you’ve gotten a little older, are there any themes or images you find yourself coming back to? If so, what are they, and why do you think resonate with you?

I’m still trying to figure out 9/11, whatever that means. In 2001, my mother was pregnant with my baby brother, Matthew. She would give birth to him ten days after the event. There are only two memories I have of that year. In the first memory, I am holding my brother in my palms and examining his translucent, pink flesh, smelling that new baby smell. In the second memory, I am watching the twin pillars of flame pancake to the ground over, and over, and over again on the television for about a year. To help me cope with the latter memory, a former high school teacher of mine recommended I hunt down Jean Baudrillard’s essay, The Spirit of Terrorism. I found it at Circus Music and Books on the Danforth last month. Baudrillard writes, 

“We would forgive them [the terrorists] any massacre if it had a meaning, if it could be interpreted as historical violence – this is the moral axiom of good violence. We would pardon them any violence if it were not given media exposure (‘terrorism would be nothing without the media’). But this is all illusion. There is no ‘good’ use of the media; the media are part of the event, they are part of the terror, and they work in both directions.”

In a way, I think part of anyone who witnessed that event play out is still parked in front of the television of the mind watching the world burn for his or her entertainment.

5) In the works of other authors, are there any particular subjects or styles you are drawn towards? For that matter, are there any writers who you specifically admire?

A List of Authors, Subjects and Styles Nicholas Daniel Michelis is Drawn Toward: 

David Foster Wallace for Infinite Jest, Consider the Lobster (understanding television and the internet in relation to contemporary fiction writing, long multi-clause sentences); 

Mark Anthony Jarman for Salvage King, Ya!, 19 Knives (kinetic prose, drinking stories, hockey, Canadian freaks, writing the way you’d like to talk, cougars)

Mary Gaitskill for Bad Behaviour (longing, desire, angst, apartment living); 

Denis Johnson for Jesus’ Son (petty crime, drug use, murder, extra-sensory perception, rural America); 

Alain de Botton for Status Anxiety, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work (the anxiety of being, understanding of the beauty and horror of work).

6) Moving away from written work for a moment: what sorts of things do you do when you’re not writing?

When I am not writing I am often thinking about not writing, thinking about why I am not writing and blaming myself for not writing more. Slowly but surely, I’m learning that it’s not totally necessary to be writing all the time. I bully myself into writing and, often, my work seems pushed and bullied. Life writes itself whether we step out of the way or not. I am currently coping with the death of my father and hope to work my story and recovery from depression into words soon. I am also an avid reader and Magic the Gathering trading card player. When I’m not flipping cardboard or pages, I am completing a Teaching English as a Foreign Language certificate online through O.I.S.E. at the University of Toronto. My life goal is to teach English abroad and become a primary school teacher at home. I’ve listened to Kanye West’s Yeezus about 25 times since it was released. I’m not sure why yet… It might have something to do with this verse: “Bitch, I’m back out my coma/ Waking up on your sofa/ When I park my Range Rover/ Slightly scratch your Corolla/ OK, I smash your Corolla…” Pretty funny.

7) In the booze-friendly spirit of Ruckus, give us a pairing: one of your favourite works/authors and one of your favourite beverages (alcoholic or not). Why do they go together? How do they complement one another?

Mark Anthony Jarman’s 19 Knives is one of my favourite Canadian short story collections. Pair it McAuslan’s St. Amboise Oatmeal Stout. Dark malt and roasted barley, sweet espresso and dark, bitter chocolate snuggled under a long-lasting, mocha-coloured head. A stormy night in a pint glass. Intense, focused and darkly funny, 19 Knives is the perfect complement to this beer.

8) Can you give us a little written trailer of what you’re going to be reading on July 28th?

Depends on what Ruckus wants me to read! I submitted two stories and haven’t heard back about which one the jury has chosen. I’ll either be reading about little children trying to blow each other up with a word, or about a man choking to death on a piece of filet mignon.

9) Last question: give us a short (less than 75 words) third-person bio blurb about yourself which covers any awards/distinctions you're proud of and what you're tackling right now.

Nicholas Daniel Michelis is currently tackling cognitive behaviour therapy, a new short story about a Greek Orthodox funeral food and leftover coq au vin.


If you enjoyed this interview, you can get more of your Nicholas Daniel Michelis fix by following him on Twitter under the handle @tenitemsorless. Alternately, leave a fresh coffee under a box propped up with a stick on the Only's back patio — he'll find it. You just need to make sure you yank the stick away in time. 

Tweet Tweet, Y'all!

Aw yisssss we talkin' 'bout that Twitter account, y'all. 

@RuckusReadings

(add us now.)

This picture is actually way less relevant than you may have imagined. 

And if you don't use Twitter, send us a telegram or something I guess. 

Interview Sessions: Volume 2.1

Cameron Anderson: You'll Believe a Robot Can Feel! 

With our very first very second reading-event-slash-literature-party looming large on the horizon (and with the Ruckus Staff finally back on the continent), we felt that it was only right to start rolling out our artist interviews posthaste. First up for the second round is our favourite almost-superhero: Barrie-based musical sensation Robot Feels. 

Maybe we read too many Spider-man comics growing up. In fact, if you were to ask our mothers, we definitely read too many Spider-man comics growing up. In our own defense, though, they were a heck of a lot more interesting than Good Housekeeping. Something about them captured our imaginations: a seemingly ordinary man, leading a seemingly ordinary life full of bills and boredom, ducks out sight whenever trouble looms and steps into a secret identity. Nobody suspects that the shy photographer who has suddenly gone missing is the same person as the colourful hero throwing haymakers at Doctor Octopus or Doctor Doom or Doctor House or whatever other evil doctor was causing trouble that month.

Maybe that's why we're so fascinated by Cameron Anderson.

If you saw him in the street, you likely wouldn't recognize him as the man behind the solo musical act known as Robot Feels. By day, he's a mild-mannered lifeguard with a bright smile and a fair number of fashionable t-shirts. When he straps on his web-shooters sits down behind his keyboard, however, everything changes.

Unfortunately for the sake of our running comparison, Cameron was never bitten by a radioactive piano. In spite of that potential shortcoming, his music never fails to amaze. Inspired by the swelling melodies of musicians like Yann Tiersen and Clint Mansell, the songs Robot Feels produces are at once emotionally intricate and stunningly solid, delicate yet powerful.

Robot Feels' first EP, The World Around You, is an uplifting and atmospheric work that embraces a listener like a daydream on a sunny day. Starting with "Exploration," the album's opening track, The World Around You flows effortlessly from song to song, be it the playful fun of "The Lonely Gecko" or the insistent, measured rush of "The Storm." And when the album ends, it's usually only for as long as it takes you to get up and hit the "repeat" button. (If you are now intrigued — which you should be — the album is available for download by donation at Robot Feels' secret internet headquarters.)

By now, you're all probably asking yourselves: "How, without gamma rays, intensive martial arts training, or at least a Jack LaLanne Power Juicer, did the unassuming Mr. Anderson manage to get so good?" Well, read on, True Believer: he took a few minutes to answer some questions for us, and gave us some insight into his musical process.

1) To give people who have never experienced your music before an idea of what they’re getting themselves into (and in the cinematic spirit of ‘famous sequels’), riddle me this: If your body of work was a Hollywood movie, what would it be about, what genre of film would it be, and who would star?

If the music that I wrote was a movie, I think it would be about exploration and discovery; an adventure movie of sorts. I think Sam Rockwell could be the main character, as he did an awesome job in Moon, and is just a really good actor all around.

2) And (most importantly), what would its 80s-action-blockbuster style tagline be?

"Well, we've just unearthed something that might just be a big deal... maybe."

3) Can you identify when it was that you really began to play music (seriously or otherwise)? Was there anyone or anything that inspired you to start playing?

I started with piano lessons about eight years ago, and always tried to find pretty sounds, but never really composed anything that I considered a song until I was ten or eleven years old. I finally decided to start recording compositions of mine in January of last year and was super excited to receive such positive feedback from my friends and family, and so I kept writing, trying to make the songs more complicated as my knowledge of musical theory grew.

4) Now that you’ve gotten a little older, are there any themes or sounds you find yourself coming back to in your music? If so, what are they, and why do you think resonate with you?

I like to write music that could fit a scene, or be soundtrack music and so I still try to write music that people could listen to as background music to go along with their morning or evening commutes, or when they're going for a walk.

5) In the works of other musicians, are there any particular subjects or styles you are drawn towards? For that matter, are there any artists who you specifically admire?

As I mentioned earlier, I really admire soundtrack music, and when I was younger (about age twelve or thirteen), I was really inspired by Yann Tiersen's songs "Comptine d'un autre été : L'Après-midi" and "La Valse d'Amélie", and so I learned them, and they inspired me to start writing music. I also really like many of Clint Mansell's pieces too. I really like to write songs that are progressive, and hopeful.

6) Moving away from music for a moment: what sorts of things do you do when you’re not composing?

In my free time, I like to swim, and I listen to a lot of music. I also enjoy watching really good shows (like Boy Meets World), or hanging out and chatting with good friends!

7) In the booze-friendly spirit of Ruckus, give us a pairing: one of your favourite works/authors and one of your favourite beverages (alcoholic or not). Why do they go together? How do they complement one another?

Lately I've read a lot of John Green's books, and I really enjoy a cup of tea (usually chai, or orange pekoe) when I read. Tea goes with just about anything; it's calming, and not overpowering. John Green writes novels that are usually about teenagers who are flawed and he writes stories of adventure and love that follow common themes, but have human elements added to them that can make them realistic and tragic.

8) Last question: give us a short (less than 75 words) third-person bio blurb about yourself which covers any awards/distinctions you're proud of and what you're tackling right now.

Cameron Anderson is a composer and pianist from Barrie Ontario. He started his hobby as a composer in 2007 writing very basic songs, and was given the opportunity to play one of his compositions at a piano recital, by his first piano teacher, Caitlin. He received positive feedback from an encouraging audience which inspired him to continue writing. He released his first EP as Robot Feels entitled The World Around You in January 2012. He is currently writing and developing new compositions to soon be recorded and released online.


There you have it. An emerging artist, who just keeps getting better. And you can see him — for free — at RUCKUS READINGS, VOL. II (7 pm, July 28th, at The Only Cafe). AND there will be a line-up of incredible writers reading their latest and greatest. AND there are over 100 different beers to choose from (plus a great selection of coffees and teas — including a very nice orange pekoe).

Long story short, guys and gals: this is one show you don't wanna miss.

Ruckus Returns

We're back! Lungs still expending the last traces of sea breeze, jungle air, other people's breath absorbed in stuffy buses, and diesel fumes (what's the half-life of car exhaust in your alveoli anyway?), we're already getting those organs busy again spreading the word about our approaching event. Our approaching event? Yes, our approaching event. I know. We're excited too.

At 7 PM on July 28th, again, at the one and the only Only Cafe, we invite you to join us in a pseudo-scientific experiment, to join us as we test our limits against one of the strongest, most formidable, most indomitable forces of nature in the universe. That's right: Bad Sequel Gravity.

Keeping in mind brilliant examples of follow ups like T2: Judgement Day and The Return of Jafar, trying to forget about examples like The Phantom Menace, Bring it On Again, Caddyshack II, Legally Blonde II: Red, White and Blonde, Dumb and Dumberer, Grease II (if you haven't heard of it, there's a reason) — anyway, we're going to try and do our best, okay?

At least we've got a good cast on our side. Join us as we roll out the red carpet for the astonishing LUCY ROSE COREN, the mysterious NICHOLAS DANIEL MICHELIS, the enchanting MAGGIE THISTLE, and the charming DANIEL SCOTT TYSDAL.

We hope to see you there!