Hello from Derek

Do you have a nickname?
No

What do you like to read?
The farther I venture outside of what I thought was my literary comfort zone, the more I realize how hard it is to predict what I will or won't like... In theory I'm trying to get familiar with the classics but in practice that means far too few plays and far too many comic books. According to Goodreads my 10 favourite books read over the past year were The Golden Notebook, All the King's Men, The Stories of John Cheever, The Book of Disquietude, the collected Langston Hughes, Our Man in Havana, Possession, The Bonfire of the Vanities, The Child Garden, and Of Human Bondage.

What kind of stories do you write?
For several years now I've been fiddling with a sort of Menippean satire on the upcoming age of genetic engineering. At shorter lengths I tend to literalize metaphors or thought experiments and see if any interesting themes pop out that I can run with. I've never submitted anything for publication though - maybe if things go well this summer I'll have the nerve.

How would you describe your personality?
Phlegmatic, but also a bit of a humorist. (See what I did there?)

What would you do this summer if you hadn't been accepted to Clarion?
Keep working on my PhD thesis and visit my family in Vancouver.

Who will miss you most while you're in San Diego (cats, kids, partner, boss, coworkers)?
The family I would have visited in Vancouver if I had the vacation time - given that I'm only supposed to get two weeks a year it's actually sort of miraculous that I'm allowed to go to California for six, but fortunately my doctoral supervisor is a sci-fi nut.

Have you participated in an intensive writing workshop before?
I've participated in an intensive workshop and a writing workshop...

What scares you most about Clarion?
That I'll say something inadvertently cruel during the first set of critiques and spend the next six weeks convincing someone I don't hate them.

What do you do to relax or for recreation?
I captain McGill's Quiz Bowl team and watch a lot of art film, neither of which are particularly relaxing, come to think of it, and may explain the persistent twitch under my right eyelid

What 1-2 essential things will you bring to Clarion besides your laptop, watergun, and espresso maker?
Nothing really. I never travel with more than I can fit into my regular backpack. In fact I kinda hate possessions - the first time my sister saw my apartment in Montreal she thought I had been robbed.

What is your ideal career?
Become an internationally respected bioethicist while publishing fiction on the side. Then on my 40th birthday I'll drop everything and go into either conceptual art, ecoterrorism or Canadian politics.

What else do you want us to know about you?
I sleep lightly if at all.