Mark Anthony Jarman, "Executions and Horses"

It’s December 15. Mark Anthony Jarman, author of Knife Party at the Hotel Europa, knows the value of a pair of good socks.

How would you describe your story?

MARK ANTHONY JARMAN: “Executions and Horses” is historical fiction set during the Red River Rebellion.  Riel’s shooting of Thomas Scott at Fort Garry is often viewed as his big mistake and that Riel was hanged in 1885 because of this shooting. The Prime Minister said Riel will hang though every dog in Quebec howl.  This still echoes in Canadian politics.

When did you write it, and how did the writing process compare to your other work?

MAJ: This is a long-term Wild West project that I may never finish. My collection 19 Knives has a story about Custer at Little Big Horn (“Skin a Flea for Hide and Tallow”) and my collection My White Planet has a story about moving the wounded and terrified soldiers after the battles in darkness to a distant steamship waiting for them on the Yellowstone (“Night March in the Territory”). Hard for me to tell, but the writing process seems much the same no matter what I’m working on; I just write a bit at a time and I revise a ton. 

What kind of research went into this story?

MAJ: I’m not scholarly, but I’ve always been interested in Riel and Gabriel Dumont and I’m interested that Riel was teaching school in Montana as Custer moved into the same territory to pay for his sins.  I don’t do much research, but I’m happy to stumble on odd books that may supply strange details.  Sometimes the material comes to you.

What, to you, makes the short story a special form? What can it do that other kinds of writing can’t? 

MAJ: It’s the best!  My evidence is Flannery O’Connor, Babel, Ha Jin, William Trevor, Alice Munro, Barry Hannah, Denis Johnson, Lorrie Moore, Ali Smith, Carver, Cheever, James Salter, James Purdy, James McPherson, Maile Meloy, Thomas King, Lydia Millet, Linda Svendsen, Hassan Blasim, Tamas Dobozy, Clark Blaise, Bharati Mukherjee, and Mavis Gallant (went to visit her grave in Paris).  Many novels are flabby and too many poems are just cut-up prose; the short story is sharper. It’s the best form.

Where should people go to learn more about you and your work?

MAJ: I am Luddite City, no blog, not on social media at all, but some of my stories are online, e.g., The Barcelona Review, Hinterland, Queen’s Quarterly, Brick, Geist, The Honest Ulsterman, and others. My most recent book is Knife Party at the Hotel Europa, stories set in Italy.

What's the best gift you've ever been given?

MAJ: It’s not momentous or the best, but as kids we would get brand-new moccasins every Christmas. They were inexpensive, soft and supple, and the smooth soles meant we could grab onto passing car bumpers and ride along icy streets in Edmonton. We had stern lectures to not do this, but the moccasins are a fond minor memory.

* * * * *

What did you think of today's story? Use the hashtag #ssac2019 on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to check in with your fellow advent calendarians.