DOES DAN WICKETT HAVE THE ANSWER?

 

In honor of my new book, I Have the Answer, I’m going to spend the next year or so asking writers, readers, and random folks some silly questions. Here’s my first interview with the mysterious co-founder of Dzanc Books, Dan Wickett:

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Hi Dan, I’m just wondering if you have the answer?

I don’t believe I have the answer to nearly any questions I ever consider. I might search for them–yet they do a fine job of staying just out of (or sometimes quite far out of) reach.

That is very disappointing. 

Silence.

OK, um, Dan, given that you are clearly not going to lead us out of the abyss, what do you say to people who believe they have the answer?

To be succinct–I’m amazed by their confidence, or faith–whichever is the case.

What’s the first word that comes to mind when you think of the world right now?

>Sigh<

I know you visit the zoo frequently. Which is your favorite animal and why?

A seeming ever-changing answer to that one–right now, the pronghorns. They arrived a couple of months ago, seem quite young and so still interested in people. When they get moving they’re amazing–they’re basically created to not be able to be caught–able to jump sideways at near full speed and keep going. And their coloring of a light brown and white helps.

Picture of a Pronghorn by Dan Wickett, Detroit Zoo.

I’m assuming you bring books with you to the zoo and read aloud to the animals. If so, which ones have they enjoyed the most lately?

Ha! It IS indeed rare that I go out without some reading material. Not a ton of reading aloud to the animals, but the last book I took around with me and sat and read in view of more than one of the animals was Christina Kallery’s collection, Adult Night at Skate World.

Were the animals scandalized?

I think they survived it pretty well.

Thanks so much, Dan Wickett. You are the first person who has failed to provide the answer, but I predict you will not be the last. 

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If you want to see Dan Wickett in the real world you might try the Detroit Zoo or you might try Brain Candy events on the third Mondays of the month at Green Brain Comics in Dearborn where he hosts a poet, a prose writer, an artist, and a musician.

Dan Wickett founded the Emerging Writers Network in 2000, Co-Founded Dzanc Books in 2006, and Brain Candy in 2018.

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Perhaps the pronghorns have the answer?

Lewis and Clark made several other observations on the behavior of the pronghorn… They described the animal, which they referred to as the “Antelope” or the “Goat”, as follows: 

“Of all the animals we have seen the Antelope seems to possess the most wonderful fleetness. Shy and timorous they generally repose only on the ridges, which command a view of all the approaches of an enemy … When they first see the hunters they run with great velocity …”

 

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I am happy to announce that my new collection of short stories, I Have the Answer, is forthcoming from Wayne State University Press in one month and seven days! Woot!!

BUT I have a few copies now for the prelease low price of $15. If you are interested, see below:

The first official book launch is tentatively scheduled at the Grosse Pointe Public Library on May 5th at the Central branch (10 Kercheval) of the Grosse Pointe Libary at 7pm.

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