It's true, there is "Jason Fisk on Putting Art Out into the World" at LitReactor. I had this to say in the introduction about Jason: "Let me put my cards on the table. Full-disclosure. Transparency. All of it. I’m a fan of the poet, essayist and now debut novelist Jason Fisk. His take on human nature and all its frailties, frustrations and sadness never doesn’t feel spot-on to me. Jason Fisk is also a long-time friend, and drinking buddy. And now a client as well. Which I would suggest gives me at least some insight into what I might ask him in an interview." You can read the interview in its entirety here and some excerpt below. Cool? Totally, I know. Enjoy.
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Given that The Craiglist Incident is a departure from your previous publications, can you please talk about the reception to the book so far?
Being told what your book is about is one of the most bizarre things that has happened to me as a writer. Bizarre in the best possible way, of course.
I feel great about the reception so far; however, I was initially surprised by the mental health comments that reviewers were making. It was only after I read their comments that I realized I lacked a bit of perspective. I had a few blind spots. While I was writing, I was so invested and immersed in the characters on the page that I didn’t realize that it was, essentially, a commentary about mental health.
I worked at a residential school for 11 years with students with severe emotional disabilities; many of them were there due to court orders, or it was the end of the line for them after they had exhausted all of the foster homes that had been willing to take them. I also worked in a locked psychiatric unit for adults for a couple of years. I was so steeped in the mental-health scene that it became a part of my everyday life. It is only through hindsight that I realized it is an intense book. So intense that readers were giving trigger warnings (suicide, mental health issues, rape). To me that was simply part of my everyday life with students and patients.