| Feature Contributor Interview |  |
| J. R. Salling |
J. R. Salling abandoned promising careers in advertising and education to become an antiquarian bookseller. His published work, which has appeared in many publications, reflects a diversity of interests and styles, but tends to be rather brief, along the lines of, say, an advert, a bibliographical notation, or a marginal scribble in red ink.
SM: What made you decide to become a writer?
JRS: Luis, an art director and fellow student I had never met before, was sitting nearby as we waited for the start of a European Lit class. I overheard him tell someone else about his lucrative free lance advertising business, one project for which he needed a writer. “I can write,” I interrupted, based upon no objective criteria. And so it began. I soon forgot about my prospects as an international relations guru.
SM: What/who is your biggest influence outside the literary world?
JRS:Jeopardy! I've watched it for so many years now that everything strikes me as pretty trivial.
SM: If an illness or disorder were named after for you, what would it be called? What are its symptoms?
JRS: The Sallini Complex. If you have it, you're constantly worried that you'll develop a disease so deleterious, yet so unique, doctors feel they have to name it after you.
SM: What story or novel do you wish you'd written? Why?
JRS: Catch-22. Because if you were a really good interrogator, you could convince me that I DID write it. Honest. I confess.
SM: If you could say anything to the entire world, what would it be?
JRS: What's with all the water?
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