Today we’d like to introduce you to Pete Hsu.
Hi Pete, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’ve been interested in writing stories since I was in grade school. This was in the ’70s. I would type up little short stories and share them with my Aunt CL, who has always been my champion and supporter, and then also some of my friends. Nobody thought much of it. It was just cool that I typed something up. I kept at it into my teens with Stephen King knock-offs and then Henry Rollins knock-offs and then J.D. Salinger knock-offs. When I went to City College, I wanted to study creative writing, but my first workshop was so intimidating for me that I switched my major to English Literature.
It wasn’t until decades later that I began to think of pursuing writing as a professional endeavor. The main shift in my mindset was that I committed to putting my work out into the world. I began submitting my short stories to journals in earnest and started to get published. I also made a point of involving myself in the literary community. I started going to readings and book launches; I made myself talk to people at these events; basically saying “yes” to as many literary things as I could. Eventually, I became a PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow. There I met my mentor, J. Ryan Stradal, who has been a big part of my professional development, especially in terms of how to pursue a creative vision in parallel with a professional one.
In the last year or so, I’ve had my first books published. THERE IS A MAN is an experimental fiction chapbook that messes around with form, genre, and linearity. It was published by Tolsun Books. IF I WERE THE OCEAN, I’D CARRY YOU HOME is a more traditional short story collection. Published by Red Hen Press, it was the winner of the Red Hen Fiction Prize, which was judged by Susan Straight, a California hero of mine. I’m currently working on a novel, an Asian American Neo-Western tentatively titled LEVIATHAN.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been a relatively smooth road for me as a writer. I say that even though I’ve been rejected dozens of times, written multiple novel manuscripts that have been discarded, and am working on a book now that has already missed three deadlines. But I still consider the process a smooth one. I have a mantra that I abide by: “Keep it small; Keep it going.” By this, I mean that I have very modest goals, but I intend to achieve these goals on a steady and persistent pace; always moving forward, always working, never getting bogged down in rejection or failure or success even. I even try to avoid thinking of rejection and failure as metrics (or the opposite, success and acceptance). These things will happen. I think of the work as the metric. I continue to create. I continue to share my creation. I do hope that my writing finds it readers, but there’s so much of that that I can’t control.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a fiction author. I have specialized almost entirely in the short story. It is a form that I both enjoy reading and working in. Since I was a kid, I gravitated toward it. My first favorite books were short story collections: Stephen King’s SKELETON CREW being one that particularly stuck with me. And then in my teens, Salinger’s NINE STORIES. Even today, I continue to read a lot of short story collections. I just find the experience very satisfying, of engaging with an intense moment and then leaving it without necessarily any resolution.
My work varies in form and genre. I like to write realistic fiction stories, but for reasons I cannot explain, many of my pieces turn into works of science fiction or crime fiction or fantasy/magical realism and then there’s some satire in there as well. A major through-line could be that I tend to write Asian American characters and also characters that are dealing with loss (either overtly or as a core issue).
My collection IF I WERE THE OCEAN, I’D CARRY YOU HOME has been by far the most important work I’ve done, and within it, my favorite story is “THE FATTED CALF,” which is a story of a young person of color saying goodbye to his old friend, an older, conservative white neighbor. It’s maybe the one story that I keep going back to re-read. Something about the love shared between these two characters, even though they both know that the chasm between them is too wide to cross.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
As with many authors, I’ve had multiple jobs before and during my work as a writer. I’ve worked in retail; I’ve worked in music; I’ve worked in the restaurant business; and for a long time I was a marriage and family therapist. I’m not sure if that’s surprising. But it is something that most people might not know about me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://peterhzhsu.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pete.hsu/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PeteHsuWriter
Image Credits
Personal Photo: Wes Kriesel 1. Wes Kriesel 2. Amanda Fletcher 3. Amanda Fletcher 4. Jacob Hsu 5. Heather Chapman 6. Kerri Harte-Jung 7. PEN America 8. Amanda Fletcher
