I'd like to introduce you all to Morgan Bell, author extraordinaire!
Let's find out all about this wonderful writer, shall we?
Morgan is the author of the book entitled “Sniggerless Boundulations” which is a collection of short stories. Her book has an amazing 20 five star reviews out of the 22 reviews given on Amazon. That is truly wonderful, and it tells you a whole lot about what kind of writer she is. Now, let's get to some questions!
ME:
Tell us a little about yourself...where did you grow up...family life...where are you now...where do you see yourself (physically) in the future?
MORGAN:
I currently live in Sydney Australia, I have spent most of my adult life in Sydney and Newcastle (where I went to high school). My parents are Glenys Joy and Stephen Paul, first generation immigrants from New Zealand and England respectively. I have a younger sister who I am close with, and talk on the phone most days. I don’t have much extended family so I have adopted the families of many of my close friends, my three main adopted families are the Aspinalls, the McNaughtons and the Balconnells. I have an adopted niece Piper who turns one year old this weekend. I see myself living in Sydney/Newcastle and surrounds in the future. Ideally I would be a millionaire and spent the Australian summer in Nordic Northern Europe and have white Christmases every year. I would need a massive private plane so I could bring my sister and all of my non-biological kin with me.
ME:
It sounds as though you aren't lonely there in Australia, Morgan. So, the next question doesn't really need asking, but I'm going to ask it anyway, because we all have dreams. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would that be?
MORGAN:
I am a little bit fascinated with Iceland. I’ve never been there, but it seems like somewhere I would like due to the cool weather, high book readership, and geological features like hot springs and volcanic formations.
ME:
As for myself, I'd much rather be anyplace warm and sunny...Arizona is nice! Okay, so what do you like to do in your spare time, if you have any?
MORGAN:
I used to be a big drinker and now I can’t drink due to medication so I have all this new-found spare time that used to be filled with getting plastered and being hung-over. It’s basically called the weekend. My favourite thing to do is watching movies. I also watch a lot of YouTube like The Young Turks, The David Pakman Show, and The Drunken Peasants. I will go on photography excursions or spend time with my pets. But mostly I write and promote my writing and do laundry.
ME:
That all sounds familiar, especially the laundry part. Tell us, what inspired you to become a writer?
MORGAN:
I like the physical act of writing, whether it be on a keyboard or a pen and paper, it requires the kind of focus that blurs out the rest of my worries in the world. My parents taught us how to read and write before school and kept up the reading and writing homework when we were on the road, so I always wrote in diaries and penpal letters to my old friends. But why I am a creative writer is because I've got something to say. Creative writing is a light and timeless way to convey ideas about life. It is important to me to share my ideas and feel understood.
ME:
That's my reason for writing, as well. I believe many writers write so that they can be heard. What is your favorite genre to read?
MORGAN:
Contemporary literary fiction and mystery/horror with social commentary. But I like to read broadly, and read the classics. Above all I like short fiction.
ME:
I, too, am a reader of all things, but I absolutely love the longer fiction. Give me a novel that's over 800 pages, and I feel like I've gone to heaven! Who is your favorite author?
MORGAN:
Of all time: Angela Carter. Current: Kazuo Ishiguro, Karen Joy Fowler, Gillian Flynn, Michael Cunningham, John Irving.
ME:
Well, the only name that rings any bells there is John Irving. I'll have to look into the others soon and see what they're all about. If you could have only one book, which book would it be?
MORGAN:
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.
ME:
What a wonderful book to choose! Okay, so now tell us what you dislike the most about writing?
MORGAN:
I have a bad back with two ruptured discs in my lumbar spine, so sometimes it is frustrating that I can’t sit up to write for long periods of time like other writers. I have a few work-arounds like lying reclined and using a laptop, but it is easier to concentrate sitting up straight in a chair. I also hate finding typos in my published stories. Even just one incorrect punctuation mark, an error most people would never see, will feel like it’s glaring at me once I notice it.
ME:
I'm sorry to hear about your back issues, Morgan, but I do know how that feels. I have my own issues with that. I also know how you feel about the typos, I have found errors in my own work as well. Makes me wish that I had a beta reader and an editor! Now that we know what you like least about writing, tell us what you like most about writing?
MORGAN:
How great is finishing a story and hitting save. It’s like wrapping a big present to yourself and tying a big red bow on top. So satisfying. I also love picking out or making up names for characters and places. I am a baby name buff, always watching blogs on the latest names and historical names. I love etymology of names, like country or origin and word meaning, and how the usage of the name changes over the ages. That’s where I put a lot of post-modern references in my stories, little intertextual nods to other works and inspiration.
ME:
I'll give you a name that might interest you, Morgan. My grandson was born just three short days ago and his parents named him Massimo Matteo. I'd love to know what you think about that, when you've had a chance to look it up! Now for a more involved, sort of 'earthly' question...Is there any aspect of humanity and the world today that really gets you angry?
MORGAN:
I am a public servant and I believe in community, diversity, equity, and merit. Income disparity, greed, and corruption really bothers me. I don’t like the privatization and de-funding of public services, especially for health (including mental health), education, and culture. I think affordable income-tested housing for individuals should be a focus of the future. If we all weren’t so squeezed financially and emotionally we would have more room for kindness towards other human beings pleading with us for political asylum and dignity.
ME:
Well said, and I tip my hat off to you. What a marvelous way of saying that we shouldn't be selfish, and try to make the world a better place for those that really need the world to be a better place! Okay, what quality do you admire most in a person, and least in a person?
MORGAN:
I love to laugh. I most admire people with unique senses of humour. I also admire generosity and honesty and inclusivity. I dislike smug couples who treat anniversaries like achievements. Knowing another person for an arbitrary amount of time is not an achievement.
ME:
Yes, I agree that laughing is a magical thing that can change a day, can change your life. I won't even ask about the couples thing because I might have my own distaste for those sorts of things as well. Let's talk a bit about your writing again. If you could write any type of book (at any length) that would be a best seller, and it only took you one day, what type of book would that be?
MORGAN:
I would like to write a book of movie reviews/essays of all my favourite movies and how they contribute to expanding our understanding of the human condition. I would bunch movies together in categories and use all of my favourite quotes and trivia. It would be like a very selective IMDB. I feel like I need to watch a lot more movies before I have the knowledge base to pull it off. I am very inspired by Vito Russo’s The Celluloid Closet, and would love a large portion of my analysis to center around queer characters and themes.
ME:
Then, get busy watching those flicks! I would love to read something like that...from you anyway!
All right, I'm going to move rapidly now, then we'll finish the interview. Hope you don't mind. Let's go!
Quick answers to quick questions:
Favorite food?
MORGAN: Chinese food, lemon chicken and special fried rice
Favorite movie?
MORGAN: Adaptation, A Serious Man, Last Days, Intolerable Cruelty, Down With Love, Forces of Nature, Locke, Whiplash, Inception, Broken Flowers, Step Brothers
Favorite fictional character?
MORGAN: Lisbeth Salander, Eustace Scrubb, Lord Henry Wotton. Also the Byronic heros of gothic fiction eg Heathcliff, Mr Rochester.
Most memorable moment in your life?
MORGAN: I lived in Tasmania for a brief period when my life felt completely upside down. One of my best friends came down to visit me and we stayed a night in this odd little pub in Launceston that was owned by a work acquaintance of a friend. The whole night was super surreal like we were in a Lynch film. As the night drew to a close we went to our room and ended up sitting on the edge of the bathtub smoking cigarettes out the window and just laughing for a good hour or so. It was pure bliss. I will write it up one day as a short story.
Most regrettable moment of your life?
MORGAN: There’s been a couple that mostly involve choosing to tread water waiting for something that never comes, hemorrhaging money in delaying the inevitable. Sometimes I linger too long over a dead body of a situation.
Most embarrassing Moment of your life?
MORGAN: My life is just a series of awkward events. I recently tried to roll my spare car tyre down the street a block and a half to the tyre repair place, thinking it was easier than driving. Someone who was driving past, another patron of the tyre shop, saw me awkwardly rolling the tyre, I’m very tall so I had to hunch down to reach it, and he said he couldn’t watch me struggle with it anymore. I had to throw it in his ute and get a lift for the trip home. Making other people uncomfortable, that’s what I’m all about.
What person, either alive or dead, would you most like to meet?
MORGAN: I would like to meet the Australian painter Charles Blackman and interview him. I would also like to meet grunge singer/songwriter Chris Cornell, and by meet I mean stare at him from across the room, because if I had to speak to him it would be more awkward that that tyre story.
What would you wish to do with that person?
MORGAN: Charles Blackman I would like to have a cup of tea and find out the stories behind all the paintings and just generally let him talk and be regaled by the details of his life. Chris Cornell (if we are just willing people to do things they would never do in real life) could sit in a rocking chair of my front porch (I have neither a rocking chair or a porch) and sing me the soft lullaby songs I imagine he sings to his children while I fall asleep on a hammock (I also don’t have a hammock). Basically Chris needs to provide the venue and equipment for this scenario.
Do you believe in fate?
MORGAN: No not in a literal sense, but I believe we all know ourselves and we ought to listen to our instincts about what is right and wrong more often.
Give us all of your links:
Website: http://sniggerlessboundulations.webs.com
Audiobook: http://www.amazon.com/Sniggerless-Boundulations/dp/B00UB2ARM8
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_Bell
Thank you, Morgan for taking time out of your busy day to talk with me and for opening yourself up for our readers, allowing them to get a small glimpse of who you are! Talk soon and best of luck in all you wish to accomplish in life!
