Interview With Angel Zapata

The Lost on the Rock team are pleased to present this short interview with contest winner Angel Zapata of Georgia, USA. If you have not done so drop over to Laurita Miller's blog, Calling Shotgun, to read Angel's 1st place story Keeners.

Have you ever been lost? Physically? Emotionally? Grammatically?

I was raised in a big city, so getting lost in a place with numbered streets was next to impossible. Emotionally? Don’t get me started. I’m always a bit lost at sea. Hell, I still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up. Grammatically? I’m very comfortable using my own compass. I never worry about syntax rules or utilizing completely logical structure. My experience tells me that most of us really don’t “speak well,” we just “talk good.” And that’s okay. It’s a realistic outlook I never want to lose. Of course this never excuses the avoidance of editing or use of spell-check.


Tell us about your writing. What is your favorite genre? Do you have a favorite story or character you’ve written?

Since most of my writing is flash fiction, there’s no time for drinks or appetizers. I begin at the meat. And by the end, my goal is to leave you happily sucking on the bones. In regards to genre, the horrific stands predominant, but I don’t mind it served alongside any sub-genre. And my favorite story I’ve written thus far is probably “The Mouth of Babes.” Who doesn’t like dead women with man-eating tattoos on their abdomens? Hmmm, there seems to be an odd food theme going on here…


Where is your writing space?

Unlike other writers I know, my writing space is a constantly moving island. At home, I have a dark corner in the bedroom; sometimes I move to the kitchen counter or my recliner. At my day job, I create outline after outline at any free moment. I can make myself comfortable anywhere. All I need is a flat surface and some sort of fluid or ash.


Are you working on anything right now?

I’ve been clocking in a mess of hours on a poetry chapbook. Short stories have only been in my life for about four years. Poetry has always been my first love. It feels good to return to her. I’m hoping to have it completed by this fall.


When you think of Newfoundland, what pops into your mind?

First thought is Discovery, which is a fitting irony for the “Lost” theme. New found land. It sounds like my writer’s paradise…only colder. Next thought would be Canada, immediately followed by Miller and Davidson. O Canada…you have been so good to me.

Angel Zapata respects the dead. His horror short story collection, The Man of Shadows is available in paperback or eBook through Panic Press and Amazon. He also edits 5x5 Fiction: 25-word stories told in 5 sentences of 5 words each. Visit his blogs A Rage of Angel and 5x5 Fiction.