Let's catch up with and learn a little more about Associate Editor James, including his favorite banned book, what he thinks of garden gnomes, and his best advice for how to read as a writer (we all think this is something everyone should talk more about).
What inspired you to become part of a lit journal?
It’s one of many ways to celebrate literature and help build a community of writers and readers. Being able to work on this alongside passionate friends is such a fun way to keep our writing dreams alive and to help others achieve their own.
What place does weirdness have in your life?
Existence itself is weird. To be alive at all is statistically a slim chance. Somehow emerging from the void to be a living consciously aware being is weird all on its own. Reading and writing the weird and surreal is like a celebration of life and how weird it is we’re here at all.
What kinds of things are you excited to read in a Weird Lit Mag submission?
I always love to see a character-driven story about a person or people confronting something that challenges their deepest beliefs about the world. Humanity versus the fear of the unknown or what is impossible to understand.
What kinds of things are you not excited to encounter in a Weird Lit Mag submission?
We have received pieces that I feel have been weird for weirdness' sake—a whole lot of weird without a whole lot of story or character. That and fanfiction. Please do not send us fanfiction.
What advice do you have for contributors?
Please read our submission guidelines :).
Where or how do you think many writers can improve their writing?
I highly recommend keeping a journal at your side while you read. Jot down passages from books that you find to be incredibly written and rewrite them and dig into them to see how they work. Learn why they move you. Don’t just “read more” as the common advice goes—the best way to learn from your favorite authors is to deeply engage with their work.
Has being a WLM reader/editor had an impact on your own work?
We are all sending out our own short stories. Being on the other end of the process has provided so much clarity and insight. The amount of focus and care I want to put into my own stories and submissions has shifted significantly.
What is your favorite banned book?
Though not the most banned book, it has to be Fahrenheit 451. It’s one of my favorite books, and the fact that it has been banned multiple times is some delicious irony.
What is the most recent record/album you bought or listened to?
Black Classical Music by Yussef Dayes is a spiritual experience.
What will your biography be titled?
Who the Hell is This Guy?
Is a hot dog a sandwich?
One of life’s great mysteries, and I’m afraid this is a journey you must take alone. It is a conundrum filled with danger but you have what it takes to navigate and, eventually, overcome it. The answers are out there, my friend. You have learned all you can from me. The rest is up to you.
Advice on creating that you’ve learned by trial and error?
Don’t be afraid to be embarrassing and to pretend you know what you’re doing. I look back on some of the things I’ve created and shared with people and, man, sometimes I cringe. But I’m also proud that I went for it and shared bad art. It was still good because it was a product of my own passion. And over time it only got better and better and will continue to do so! Don’t be afraid to make bad art. All of the greatest writers and artists had their “Day One.”
Unpopular opinion, go:
A hot dog is a sandwich.
What’s your favorite cryptid?
The obvious answer here is Bigfoot, which is absolutely true. But some love has to be given to fairies. There are people out there who truly believe in fairies. I may or may not be included among them.
There’s “good” weird…and there’s also "not-so-good" weird. What’s “good” weird to you?
Good weird to me is something that reflects something real. The weirdness within a good weird story is never just something random or weird for the sake of being weird. The weirdness factor is connected to a feeling in our real lives, something we’re afraid of, uncertain of, or curious about.
What is your writing theme song?
Tubthumping by Chumbawamba.
What do you think of garden gnomes?
Never really liked the way they look at me. And they don’t like the way I look at them either.
Name a book that made you cry (or feel like crying).
Not a book but a short story, "The Very Pulse of the Machine," by Michael Swanwick, is the last thing I read that made me cry.
Anything else you think would be cool/helpful to mention to the WLM universe?
Please go watch the HBO series The Leftovers. One of the most influential stories I’ve ever experienced.
James Montgomery is a Seattle-based writer and absurdist. A former bookseller, he is an advocate for free expression and the eradication of book banning. James is drawn to works that explore existentialist themes, conflicted characters, and triumph.
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