Drew Buxton’s debut short story collection, So Much Heart, features a cadre of oddball, scheming protagonists, from a down-on-his-luck Seaworld employee attempting to sell an Orca Whale’s sperm to a public access television reporter hoping to nail the next big scoop. The eccentricity of these characters makes a natural fit for Buxton, who, despite his obscurity, has attempted to carve out a persona for himself that veers wildly back and forth between cerebral outsider and aggrieved indignation. Following a litany of late-night phone calls in which he desperately requested a meeting, I agreed to sit down with Buxton to interview him in the location of his choosing.
Chris Vanjonack
Thanks for taking the time to meet with me today, but I was a little surprised when you requested that we conduct this interview in a train station. It’s really hard for me to hear you with all the commotion. I’ve got to ask: Why’d you pick this spot?
Drew Buxton
Most writers these days prefer to write in solitude, or in the comfort of a corporate coffee shop. Not me though. For as long as I’ve been a writer, I’ve found myself drawn to train stations with a pen and a notebook. It inspires me. All the coming and going, the happy reunions, the tearful goodbyes, the desperation in a strangers’ eyes as they race toward a departing train and the relief as they barely catch it—just life being lived. It breathes life into my work.
CV
What? I can’t hear you over the train pulling in.
DB
I FIND MYSELF DRAWN HERE. THE LIFE. THE MOVEMENT. THE COMING AND GOING. IT BREATHES LIFE INTO MY WORK.
CV
I think I got most of that down. There’s a Starbucks down the street– maybe we should relocate before another train arrives?
DB
We’re not going anywhere. I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m doing you a favor in letting you interview me, so we’re doing it on my terms. Maybe if you spent a little more time in train stations and a little less time complaining about train stations, you’d be the one with a book coming out.
CV
You literally begged me for this interview.
DB
I’m just looking out for you, professionally.
CV
I think it’d be best if we moved along. I’m wondering if you can speak a little about how you manage your time as a writer. Although you’re not employed in the traditional sense, how do you weigh the time spent on your creative work against the time spent betting on horse racing and on your lawsuit against Marvel?
DB
I invented Ant-Man. I have pictures from Halloween ’93.
CV:
Okay.
DB:
Anyway, time isn’t a problem for me, honestly. Years ago I had a realization that time is just a man-made construct. I threw away my watch and put a little piece of tape on my phone and computer screens over where it shows the time, and it’s not a concern for me anymore.
CV:
Is that why you were fifty minutes late to this interview?
DB:
Exactly. It’s also part of why I spend so much time in train stations, too, what with all the trains I’m always missing. It’s a very free way of living. I’m never in a rush. I just listen to my body, and I can feel when my writing is done for the day. That’s when I head to the racetrack. I refuse to compromise my art for “jobs” or “human connections,” both of which are also man-made constructs, by the way.
CV:
That sounds lonely.
DB:
Has it alienated me from some friends and family? Absolutely. But I’ve never subscribed to a mainstream way of seeing the world, or a mainstream way of writing. I’m on the outside, the periphery.
CV:
I don’t think you can be an outsider artist if you did an MFA.
DB:
Whatever. I don’t need your approval or validation. I don’t need anyone’s validation. I’m totally free in a way you’ll never understand.
CV:
But what about that time you refused to shower until I called you a genius?
Train Station Employee:
I hate to do this, but do either of you have a ticket? You’ve both been sitting here for a while.
DB:
Yes, but it was for a train that departed several hours ago.
TSE:
I’m afraid you’ll need to purchase a new ticket if you’d like to stay here.
DB:
Chris, can I borrow $15 bucks for the next train out of town? I don’t care where to, anywhere with a horse track.
CV:
Okay, but it’s the last time.
TSE:
Next train is in just a few minutes. Good luck with the writing, Drew. And at the race track.
DB:
Thanks, Mike. All right, we should probably wrap this interview up, then.
CV:
Okay, last question: You’ve been claiming for a while that you also write poetry. How does that inform your fiction?
DB:
Fiction, poetry. These are just words. What do they mean? I mean, really? I would argue not much.
CV:
So you don’t believe in genre just like you don’t believe in time?
DB:
No, I’m really asking. What do they mean?
Train Station PA System:
The next train to Denton is now boarding and will depart in five minutes.
DB:
Gotta go. I got a lead on this Clydesdale who’s a sure thing. And make sure to preorder my book. I can see who ordered it.
Rejection Letters 