I've felt pressure to produce long fiction for as long as I've been writing fiction. There's just an incredible bias in the publishing industry toward novels and away from short stories. They're seen as D.O.A. in the marketplace, which seems nuts to me, given that various collections done smashingly and deservedly well in economic terms.
Steve AlmondPeople in long-term, monogamous relationships are crushed by the expectation that a partner is going to provide everything they are looking for and wondering why they are dissatisfied when they have four of the ten boxes checked.
Steve AlmondWhy are people so fascinated by how to eat Valomilks?โ She said, โWell, Dad, theyโre round and theyโre messy. But thatโs what makes them fun. Once we get older weโre not supposed to be messy anymore. But for one moment when youโre eating a Valomilk, itโs okay to be messy again.
Steve AlmondFootball is the most successful cult, in terms of members and profits, in human history. Oh wait, there's also religion.
Steve AlmondI really believe that art has to play a role in changing the moral direction. Mean, selfish people are in charge of the government and we're letting them make us into a much meaner culture. It reminds me of McCarthyism, to be honest, and to the early stages of fascism. There are people out there cheering for war, treating those deaths like some kind of athletic event. How sick do we have to be that this is not only acceptable, but virtually unchallenged by other politicians or clergy or anyone? And it's artists who have to stand up and be counted. Right now.
Steve Almond