An Interview with Jed Somit

Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

“Stories Which Passed the Time of Tests” was originally the title, turning around the common phrase that great literature “passes the test of time.” Atmosphere Press felt that title was too long, too cumbersome. “Men Are Pigs” is a phrase occurring several times in the book, in various contexts, such as the pudgy kid’s joy, in the last story, that the lunch box for Papa Bayer contained “a stadium-sized steak, with a massive side dish of pulled pork, about a ton of French fries, and a bushel of onion rings.”

How did it feel when you first saw your book cover? Or when you first held your book in your hands?

Finally, to have a grasp of the art of writing.

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

At first, I was just trying to cheer up my granddaughter, trapped at home by the Covid pandemic (the “time of tests”). Once I got going, I had fun writing, researching, and following my philosophy that one can hardly do better than to make people smile and laugh. I read a lot, but don’t emulate any particular author, although the rhythm of some writers stay with me.

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

I retired from being a lawyer. In my briefs (court papers, you dirty-minded people) I would generally try to slip a pun or joke without interrupting the argument. There is a lot about me that you wouldn’t know, and it is best to keep it that way.

What was the most rewarding/meaningful part of publishing your book?

I have enjoyed appearing on all the late-night TV shows and dazzling the hosts and audiences with my brilliance and my witty extemporaneous repartee, and savor waiting expectantly for the early morning telephone call congratulating me on the Nobel Prize for literature.

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

Tangent: Originally, I had partial lyrics from about a dozen songs scattered throughout the book. When I wrote for permission to use the short excerpts, all replies demanded payment, so that it would have cost well in excess of $10,000 (some fees were less than $1,000, but all contained the Most Rapacious Nation clause saying that their fee could not be less than the highest fee paid to anyone else). So I had to edit out, or down to fair use, all the material still under copyright. I had some fun, though: a guitar player at a tavern in “The Black Spot” received “Nay Play” and “Nay Say” injunctions after singing “Stuck In Loadeye Again;” Argenti, the Loan Arranger’s horse in “The Spaghetti Western,” received a “Nay Neigh” letter restricting, to fair use, her singing (“although it was hard to articulate with a bit in her mouth”) of Wild, Wild Horses.

What is one thing you hope readers take away from reading your book? How do you envision your perfect reader?

I hope they have a good time. A perfect reader would buy lots more copies of the book, looking ahead to Christmas and other gift-giving situations, and also email me to say how much the book was enjoyed.

What new writing projects are you currently working on? Or, other projects that are not writing?

I am in the imagining stage of a story in which the plot twist is a mirror, perhaps the “Borgia Mirror,” which shows a bludgeoning only when the perpetrator is in front of it. There are a lot of legal issues in trying to use such supernatural evidence in a criminal prosecution.

How was working with Atmosphere Press? What would you tell other writers who want to publish?

The editing was very helpful, and I was impressed that the editor had actually bothered to try to figure out why I put some arcane material in the stories, and didn’t auto-correct the many puns. The book cover is excellent. Overall, I found the experience pleasant, helpful, instructive, and useful. Advice: if you aren’t already recognized as a writer and have an agent, then do something outrageous and incredible to get yourself on the news, and leverage that name recognition, because the best writing will simply often go unrecognized.

Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.