I read just one novel, the Great American one. I don’t recall what it said. I didn’t read it for its words. I read it for its intentions, its wonders, its accidents and daydreams. I read it slow and neat and kind, and when it was over, I wrote voraciously.

Robert Hoekman Jr is a writer and the cohost of Spillers, downtown Phoenix’s premier short fiction storytelling event. Learn more about him at rhjr.net.