Description

Bumpus, at this time associate professor of English at San Diego State University, talks about editing and publishing anthologies and McCaffery asks questions about the process. Bumpus thinks that Anaconda is a good book, which he sent to “20 or something” publishers. McCaffery says that people think that the publishing situation “is getting worse.” Bumpus feels the same, saying that there is more good writing, but “publishing is backing off on publishing first novels. It’s a cost thing, I think.” “Only Esquire” among the “slick” magazines has published his short stories, “but I try them.” McCaffery asks why the slick magazines did not publish Bumpus’s work, and Bumpus answers that he thinks it’s the type of fiction that is the problem. McCaffery asks if Bumpus’s stories appeal to the average reader. Bumpus thinks they do, because people reading the magazines are better educated. McCaffery says that it sounds as if the editors and publishers are not willing to take a chance, and Bumpus agrees. McCaffery asks whether Bumpus is an innovator, and Bumpus replies that he is not as much an experimenter as other authors. He gets “unsure” of himself the farther away he gets from “realism.”