ALAN Online

Can you describe LONG GONE DADDY for our readers?
LONG GONE DADDY is essentially a bildungsroman with a sense of humor. The plot revolves around the relationships of a rebellious fourteen-year-old boy named Harlan Q. Stank, his straight-laced, Bible-thumping father Paps, and the corpse of the boy's grandfather.

After a twenty-year absence from his family, the grandfather shows up back home in the small town of Bean's Creek, Texas but dies of a heart attack before he can contact anyone. In order to get his inheritance, Harlan and Paps set out on a long road trip to Las Vegas, with the grandfather's corpse in the back of the family station wagon. Secretly, Harlan plots to use the trip as an opportunity to get away from Paps and his religious ranting.

Along the way, Harlan and Paps pickup Warrior, a Zen-spouting would be actor who provides a foil to Paps's preaching. Once in Las Vegas, Harlan visits his grandfather's bar, Long Gone Daddy's, and ends up on an adventure that could damn his very soul.

Incidentally, the seed of the story is true. Around a fire one winter night a couple of years ago, Jim, a good friend, started telling tales about his childhood. One was a story about his dead grandfather in a station wagon. Who could resist? The book is dedicated to him.

Who were your favorite authors growing up? Who are your favorite authors today?
I was a huge fan of THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND by Elizabeth George Speare. I think I had most of it memorized, and imagined myself as Kit for the entire summer before sixth grade. I also loved the Bronte sisters, Nancy Drew, and lots of adventure classics-ROBIN HOOD, THE THREE MUSKATEERS, THE SWORD AND THE STONE. As an adolescent, I read a ton of poetry and had a fairly long Lawrence Ferlinghetti period. I also loved Ken Kesey. In the past year or so, I've been reading mostly Southern writers. I admit I'm a bit of a Faulkner groupie anyway…I made the trip to Oxford a few years ago and still haven't gotten over it. I just reread THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER. It doesn't get much better than Carson McCullers.

How do you approach a new story? Some authors plan, some don't. Some outline, some don't…
I'm somewhere in the middle. I kind of live in my head sometimes, so I do a lot of thinking. I have a nasty habit of writing on scrips and scraps of paper when I have ideas I want to remember. I need to get a notebook or journal and keep up with it, I suppose. After the thinking process, I write a one-page summary so I have some idea of where I'm trying to write to in the end, but ultimately, I take lots of diversions along the way. Sometimes the characters seem to take over the story, and I'm just doing the typing, so that's kind of strange. The novel never ends up as the one page summary, which is a good thing.

What are your plans for your next novel? Can you give us a peek?
I'm working on revisions for a novel for Front Street that will be out next year. The working title is RUNAROUND. Actually, it was my creative thesis in the MFA program at Vermont, so it was the first novel I ever wrote, but the story is significantly different now. Let me just say it's a love story set in Kentucky in 1964 about a girl obsessed with romance magazines. I also have another novel in draft that's about half way finished, THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF DEADWOOD JONES. It's a wild cowboy tale set in 1876.

Is there anything special you like to wear or do while you write? Where is your favorite place to write?
One of the real perks of doing the MFA in Writing for Children and YA at Vermont College was learning to knit. (Oh, those cold winter residencies!) So I have this shawl that I actually knitted myself, with the help of my dear friend Laura who helped me unravel the thing about ten times when I dropped stitches. I wear my shawl not so much as a talisman but because I'm cold natured. I write at home in my office with my books and lots of pictures …I like visual images while I'm working.

Are you interested in visiting libraries or schools? If so, how can interested teachers and librarians contact you?
I love working with students. I taught writing for four years in the middle grades and am an education Artist in Residence for the Tennessee Arts Commission. Interested teachers or librarians can contact me via my web site www.helenhemphill.com.

What is a question you wish interviewers would ask–but never do?
Few people really want to talk much about a novel's setting. LONG GONE DADDY is set in the summer of 1972, which is kind of an interesting summer to think about in terms of a boy's coming of age-Watergate had just happened, we were still in the throws of Viet Nam, the sexual revolution hadn't quite made the landscape of small town America. It was a summer full of conflict and cynicism, and so it felt very natural to have issues of faith and doubt swirling around Harlan on his journey. Also, I took the same drive from Texas to Las Vegas doing research for the book. I drove a convertible, and a girlfriend came along. No corpse and no station wagon, but a fun time. Oh, my, a fun time.