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After coming across author Mickey Hess’s Big Wheel at the Cracker Factory [BUY]and then catching him reading at Powell’s Books, we were fortunate enough to catch up with him for a few minutes over the phone to talk writing, hip-hop and other things.

He was a pleasure to talk to and I feel as though, despite being off my game for a variety of reasons, I could’ve kept him on the phone all night.  If you have the chance you can look up some of his writings on McSweeney’s or The2ndhand.

Luckily for you, dear readers, we’ve been allowed to include one of his stories, Ghost Walk (PDF), to download and take with you, since Hess is a huge proponent of making his writing available to all through a variety of free methods.

But for real, you should get to know this writer since he’s that good.  Not in a show-offy kind of way, but in an easy-going enjoyable one.  He switches effortlessly between the funny and the serious, the absurd and the sincere.

Hi Mickey, how’s it going?  Are you still in Portland?

No, I flew back to Philadelphia after the reading.

So it was a quick visit then?

Usually the readings are a a hit and run and I got to spend the morning in Portland and visit Powell’s, which is what you’re supposed to do.

I know some authors love readings, like Chuck Palahniuk turns them into a big spectacle, and others loathe them.  What’s your take, especially because you’re still making a name for yourself and at your Portland reading there was a small crowd, but more than I thought would be there.

I think the readings are fun, it’s tough to get feedback when you write.  You can’t sit down and watch someone read your book, that would be weird.  At a reading you can see people in the crowd and see them laugh at parts and react to things and that’s great because it’s just another way to tell what works and what doesn’t in a book or story.

Is it difficult having yourself be a central character in your writing?  You’re very honest in both the good and the negative in terms of your portrayal of “Mickey Hess.”  Is there a tendency to alter things and make yourself come off better.

Surprisingly it’s easy and the trick is not changing anything when you look back at it. You always have your own perspective and then you go to revise it two or three months down the road you think I don’t believe any of this anymore and you want to tweak everything.  You lose that immediacy to the events that happened.  Once it’s down you have to question is it poorly written or am I embarrassed by it.

You’re smarter six-months later or you think differently about things that happened.  It’s a better perspective, so of course there’s a tendency to be embarrassed by things.  I work really hard to not change things I’m embarrassed by only if it’s poorly written.

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If you’re in the Portland area and looking for something cool to do Thursday (8.14) night, let me suggest swinging down to Powell’s on Hawthorne (3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd.) around 7:30ish to listen to Mickey Hess read from his new book Big Wheel at the Cracker Factory. [Buy]

Hess is a professor at Rider University, but he’s published two tomes on hip-hop and several short pieces at McSweeney’s and other places.  Anyhow, the question is why should you go see him read.  Well, I haven’t the foggiest and though that’s not the best sales pitch a person can offer, call it a hunch.

I’m about 80 pages (228 total) into Big Wheel and I’m loving every minute of it.  The book is technically creative non-ficiton, which means it’s mostly true in the conventional sense (non of that James Frey shit), but Hess probably changed enough to not get sued or make his family and friends hate him.

Big Wheel is a rollicking adventure of Hess’s early years trying to stay afloat in the world of college teaching.  To do so he takes a bunch of shit jobs like driving an ice cream truck, being a haunted house character and other fringe jobs that offer the benefits of money, flexibility and not caring about the stupid job in the first place.

It’s a light-hearted look dealing with that period in life when you have to go from being a reckless youth to an adult, without sacrificing anything.  That’s hard to do and for some people it just paralyzes them.

Wow, that sounds almost like an intentional blurb for the book?  Yeah, yeah what are you gonna do.  I suppose in a way what I like most about Hess’s writing is that he’s funny and self-aware enough to make great observations about himself and others, but mostly he’s enthusiastic. Punches are not pulled, but there’s very little angst.  We don’t like angsty white men around these parts.  Especially because being a white, angsty male is so 1915-1998.  Humor and enthusiasm counts for a lot, especially when so many people go for the detached irony aesthetic starting around 2001.

It’s hard not to feel like Hess is one of us, just someone doing what they have to do to get by so that he can do what he loves, which is write and consume hip-hop.

If that’s not enough he promises free stuff if you ask him nicely.  I’m going to ask him for a copy of his first book, El Cumpleanos de Paco, which he self-published and gave away to people.  It was a limited run, so hopefully he has one or two left.

When I actually finish the book in it’s entirety, I promise a more thorough review/examination of it.  For now though, it comes highly recommended.  And if you ask nicely, I’ll gladly pass it along once I’m done with it.  I’m sure Mickey wouldn’t have it any other way.