James Hutchings

The Assignation, poetry, Issue 19, June 1, 2012


Birthdate? January 3rd, 1973.

When did you start writing? I did a Bachelor of Arts majoring in creative writing and media, but I didn't do anything with it after graduating. Years later I created a fantasy city called Teleleli or Telelee as a background for role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons. Once I finished I realized there wasn't any demand for it. My ex suggested I write stories instead, and that's how I got started. Along the way I realized that my poems were better received, so I'm concentrating on them now.

When and what and where did you first get published? I had a poem in an anthology called Journeys to the Point some time in the 90s. But my first publication after I started writing again last year was when I sold a story of 22 words to Nanoism, a website which prints fiction of 140 characters or less. It was called 'With This Device', and it was a science fiction story about time travel.

What themes do you like to write about? I write about cats a lot. But I'm a lot more cynical about them than some cat-lovers. One reviewer (of my collection The New Death and others) said he couldn't work out whether I loved cats or hated them.   

What books and/or stories have most resonated with you as an author? Why?
How do these stories and their characters find expression in your work?

JRR Tolkien and Jack Vance: The elaborate dialogue.
Robert E Howard: The general atmosphere of decay.
Terry Pratchett: The humour.
Lord Dunsany: The use of Fame, Time and so on as characters. 

Biography
James Hutchings lives in Melbourne, Australia. He fights crime as Poetic Justice, but his day job is acting. You might know him by his stage-name 'Brad Pitt.' He specializes in short fantasy fiction. His work has appeared in Daily Science Fiction, fiction365 and Enchanted Conversation among other markets. His ebook collection The New Death and others, is now available from Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble online. He blogs daily at www.apolitical.info/teleleli