Award-winning author Kevin Brockmeier was the most recent author of SMSU’s visiting writers’ series. Where he read from his latest book “The Ghost Variations: 100 Stories.”
He’s known for his published books such as “The Illumination,” “The Brief History of the Dead” and “The Truth About Celia.”
He read 5 short stories from “The Ghost Variations: 100 Stories” the book is a collection of short stories all centered around ghosts. Some stories have certain themes based on their number Brockmeier said, “certain numbers have connotations, and 13 is an unlucky number, so it has an unlucky story. 66 is the devil’s story, 33 is Jesus’s story, 99 is God’s story, 69 is the sexy story.”
Jessica Hennen, assistant professor of English at SMSU, introduced him and said, “people are tagging him on Twitter saying he’s the nicest guy, even though he’s not on Twitter.” And noting his work has been translated into 18 languages.
While reading he talked about his journey as a writer, He said, “I had a little butter dish where I would save my allowance, a nickel a week. The first thing I bought with it was a comic.” He followed that up by saying, “I have continued to write largely because I continue to read.”
Brockmeier told the crowd about his unique writing trait where he keeps a totem of some kind on his desk while writing his books.
If you want to read more about Kevin Brockmeier or want to know where to find his books visit his site.