James Roderick Burns

James Roderick Burns' collections include 'The Salesman's Shoes' (tanka), 'Greetings from Luna Park' (a narrative sedoka sequence exploring turn of the century Coney Island) and a short fiction chapbook, 'A Bunch of Fives'. He is managing editor of the journal Other Poetry, lives in Edinburgh and is currently working on an agented novel about the nineteenth century 'scourge of the pornographers', Anthony Comstock, and his fifty year vice campaign in and around New York City.

Credentials

James Roderick Burns in 60 seconds

When did you start writing?

1988 Danby, North Yorkshire.

What do you love about short stories?

Precision, density, control.

Do you write in other forms?

Yes - I write novels, short/flash fiction and Japanese short-form poetry (haiku, tanka, sedoka).

What distracts you from writing?

I can't write if I'm not regularly distracted.

Outside of writing, what are your other passions?

Bicycles, social policy.

What is your favourite book?

'The Tractate Middoth' (MR James).

Who are your favourite writers?

Paul Auster, Sue Grafton and Michael Connelly.

Where is your dream location?

Manhattan.

What one item would you put into Room 101?

Plotting.

Do you have any advice for new writers?

Write it, send it out, forget it, repeat.