Naben Ruthnum, "Canopy"

It’s December 5. Naben Ruthnum, author of Helpmeet, politely bites his tongue at the gallery opening.

How would you describe your story?

NABEN RUTHNUM: Revisiting it, I’d describe it as strange, and much more of a noir than I remember it being. I hadn’t read Jim Thompson’s The Alcoholics when I wrote “Canopy,” but there are some similarities between the two tales: the grey moralities of private rehabilitation facilities that depend on cash from hopeful relatives. My story is also about art, the making and overpraise of bad art by the rich, in particular, and the possibility of new forms in new places.

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

NR: I wrote it in 2017, in a few long sittings. Most of my short stories, though I rarely write them now, are composed in a short period of time, based around a vivid impression or idea that I try to see through before the subconscious connections that will get me to the end of the story vanish. My novels and screenplays tend to be written overtop of each other.

What kind of research went into this story?

NR: No specific research, just the usual years of collected and stolen impressions.

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

NR: It can make a degree of shallowness in exploration a necessary virtue of the piece, instead of a flaw.

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

NR: I’m websiteless, but Googleable.

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

NR: Epiphone Les Paul Custom in 1998. 

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