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interview with Roland Allnach

Remnant: An Anthology

Roland Allnach
All Things That MatterPress (2010)
ISBN 9780984629701
Reviewed by Kam Aures for RebeccasReads (05/11)

 

 

RebeccasReads is happy to welcome Roland Allnach today.

Roland Allnach has been writing since his early teens, but it was only recently that he decided to become serious about publication and the pursuit of a writing career. After deciding to approach writing as a profession and not a hobby, the first glimmers of success came along. Since making the decision to move forward, he has secured publication for a number of short stories, has received a nomination for inclusion in the Pushcart Anthology, built his own website, and in November 2010 realized publication for an anthology of three novellas, titled “Remnant,” from All Things That Matter Press.

RR: Hello, Roland. Thank you for granting me this interview. I understand your anthology has three novellas in it. Will you tell us a bit about the book’s structure? Are the stories related in theme or with similar characters?

Roland: As you mentioned, “Remnant” is an anthology of three novellas. Each novella is an independent story, but together they describe a thematic arc related to issues of self-truth and redemption for characters who are haunted by past crimes and difficult decisions. Along this arc, each of the stories follows a lead character that is getting closer to the final closure of that thematic arc in achieving not only a sense of peace, but a glimpse of future hope. So even though the characters and stories are not related, there are some similarities to the issues the characters confront, yet the specific nature of the issues and more importantly how they are dealt with are unique to each of the novellas.

RR: I know you’ve written many short stories. Did you always intend for these three stories to go together, or did you put them together to make up a book-length volume?

Roland: I wrote the novellas of “Remnant” over a fairly wide expanse of time, and in their original writing, no, I did not foresee or intend for these stories to find a home together in an anthology. I made several attempts to market them individually as novellas, but the modern realities of the publishing world has left a very narrow lane of possibilities for novella length fiction. While researching various options to bring the novellas to market, I came across what would eventually be my publisher, All Things That Matter Press. When I read their publication interests it led me to consider my novellas in a new way, and from them on, I realized the three novellas that became the anthology of “Remnant” could dovetail in a tidy thematic arc. Personally, I grew up reading a lot of sci-fi anthologies, so the potential of having a successful project of this nature was exciting to say the least, and seeing it through to publication has been a very satisfying experience.

RR: Why did you choose the title “Remnant”?

Roland: Besides sharing the title of the last novella, the title ‘Remnant’ ties in with the symbolic aspect of the anthology’s thematic arc. That is, the ‘remnant’ of the characters is the last vestige of their humanity, the proverbial light in the distance (and hence the inspiration for the book cover design). It is the search to reclaim this ‘remnant’ of themselves that drives the momentum of each character through the respective novellas, and puts them in relation to their success in realizing the hope of attaining that final, long sought and hard won, prize.

RR: Can you give us a brief sentence or two about the basis or plot of each story in “Remnant”?

Roland: The three novellas, in order of appearance in the anthology, are: “All the Fallen Angels”, in which a convicted war criminal attempts to make peace with his past; “Enemy, I Know You Not”, in which a military officer that was captured and tortured tries to find his loyalty in an abyss of suspected betrayals; and “Remnant”, in which the survivor of a global pandemic is confronted with the prospect of making peace with his memories when other survivors attempt to bring him back from self-imposed isolation.

RR: What about these stories do you think captures a reader’s interest?

Roland: I believe they depict certain fundamental dilemmas of the human condition, only extrapolated from the everyday experiences we share to more dramatic environments. I think everyone can relate to at least a few decisions in life they would wish to have back for a do-over, particularly with the added wisdom of not only hindsight but life experience. The situations I depict in the novellas are not meant to serve as simple abstract entertainment, however. I wanted to depict characters in situations that challenge notions of hindsight by forcing the characters to make some kind of moral sense of their actions so that they could find balance in their lives. Even though the three novellas were written without a conscious effort to link them, I think in my own hindsight that the varying levels of moral confrontation and redemption that the characters go through is related to my own questions regarding certain personality types. It’s easy to dismiss people if they’ve committed distasteful or criminal acts, or perhaps it’s easy to dismiss people for the shock of things they’ve done, but I think there’s something there that goes beyond a ‘sympathy for the devil’ type of relation. Getting back to the notion of hindsight, the idea with these novellas was to heighten the process of self examination by choosing characters that have some very serious issues to answer. And in that, I think there is a certain fascination in society. It’s not just a matter of the outlaw mystique, but the unsettling feeling of watching common, ordinary people getting lost in horrible situations that overtake them.

RR: When you set out to write a story, do you look for a moral issue first to be at its center, or do you just wait for inspiration to hit you? What was your process in writing these stories?

Roland: When I’m in the initial process of putting a story together, I have a basic idea for a plot, and then I try to think of some “larger” issue that will have meaning for the characters involved. I think this brings an element of realism, or perhaps a better way for a reader to identify with a particular character. When you think about life, there are many memories, but the ones that stand out are the ones that have a greater meaning to you. I think a story, in relation to the character, is no different. A story shouldn’t just happen; it should have a meaning for the character, and in that, hopefully, a meaning for the reader. With the stories of “Remnant” I followed this process. With “All the Fallen Angels” I was actually listening to some war crimes trials on the news when I got the initial idea for the story; I just decided to look at it from a different perspective, as to how a good man could do horrible things, rather than focus just on the horrible things that were committed. For “Enemy, I Know You Not,” things were a little more complicated as the story went through an extensive process of re-writes. In its first form, it was a mystery, with some of the philosophical elements on the periphery. I took those out, only to put them back to give the story its proper focus, as I came to realize the notion of a virtual betrayal has a certain parallel symbolism to one’s own sensibility of loyalty, and through it, morality. And with “Remnant” the process was similar to “All the Fallen Angels”—I wasn’t so much interested in how the world ended, but more so in how a survivor would recreate himself not only to justify his existence but make moral sense of his actions to look forward to the future.

RR: Do you feel your stories reflect a basic world view or personal philosophy you have about life?

Roland: I like to think that there’s a certain commonality to my fiction, which is to portray characters that find themselves in strange situations, and in the process of making sense of the situation are compelled to make some sense of themselves. For me, that constitutes a certain world view from an individual perspective, in that who we are, and who we come to be, is shaped very much by how we interact with the world. Life is a challenge, and through that challenge we learn who we are as individuals. I’m also a firm believer that one gets back from the world something similar to what one puts out—call it a sense of cosmic justice, or karma, but I like to think of it as the boomerang effect, that the things we do all come back to us. It might take some time, and it might hit us in the back of the head, but there is always a reckoning for our actions, and how we deal with that perhaps says more than the things we might have to answer for. Wisdom, unfortunately, is not something we’re born with, but something we acquire through life experience.

RR: If you had to describe this book in one sentence intended to make readers want to read it, what would it be?

Roland: It would come as a question: When all that’s left is broken, which piece do you pick up first? In that question I think there’s a sense of not only some type of confrontation, but resolution as well, and a push for a sense of healing, which hints at the thematic arc of the anthology. It’s a paraphrase from the first novella in the anthology, “All the Fallen Angels,” and it appears on the back cover of the book.

RR: Roland, if I can ask a personal question, what makes you write about the themes that you do? Is it because they are universal themes, or is there something in your own life or past that inspires you?

Roland: People are complex creatures, life is rarely simple, and often the challenges we have to face catch us by surprise. In addition, we often have to make critical life decisions based on information that afterwards can be found to be woefully inadequate. In the combination of these factors I find many possibilities for things not only to go wrong, but for things to be made right. Often when one thinks about life, there is at least one moment where a single decision had a great impact on one’s future. From a philosophical standpoint that’s rich territory to explore, and I enjoy contemplating the various what-if’s in not only my life, but in the imaginary lives of my characters. So, yes, I would say that I view these processes as universal in nature. As far as my own life, the biggest question I sometimes ponder is that if I had pursued a different direction in college, I wouldn’t have met my wife, and the family and life I know would not exist. This means, in effect, I might not exist as I know myself to be today. Contemplating that, and perhaps of greater interest contemplating the relative change that would make in me, is enough to make me numb with wonder.

RR: I understand a novella is considered as a prose fiction work somewhere in length between a short story and a novel, but do you have any other more specific definition for it, in terms of word count or plot, characters, and theme?

Roland: Well, the reality of the publishing market leaves writers with no choice but to honor certain strata of word counts that delineate short fiction, novellas, and novels. So while I have to respect that as part of the business of writing and publication, when I’m in the initial process of considering a character and story I have to say that I do not concern myself with word counts or length. I like to let my story flow as an extension of my characters, with the depth and complexity of the story very much dependent on the corresponding depth and complexity of the particular lead character. With that, I like to keep my writing as lean as possible, in terms of only putting to page those scenes that are inherent to propelling plot or character development. It’s always tempting to ramble on with certain characters, but I think that only takes away from the greater framework of a story. The only steady deviation from this process I would have to say is when I set out to write a full length novel, as the space a novel affords allows room for deeper explorations of thought and character.

RR: Do you do a lot of editing of your novellas then to make them novella length later?

Roland: I have a basic rule of not trying to stretch or constrict a story once I have the initial writing done. There’ve been plenty of times when I’ve added or deleted scenes, or expanded or contracted existing scenes. But I think I can safely say that once I’ve put that period on the final sentence, the length of the story won’t deviate too much from what I have at that moment. I think that’s more a result of trying to make the most of my writing time, since that’s something in precious supply. So that might explain a little bit better how I plan my stories during the writing process, or more precisely, the kind of consideration I try to invest in each scene before I put words to paper.

RR: You mentioned you’ve “set out to write a full length novel.” Do you have plans to publish a novel then, and if so, will you tell us about it?

Roland: That’s a question that taps right into my ‘big time writing dream’ in that I have several novels sitting on my bookshelf that I’ve written over the years. I used to try to get straight for the jugular in terms of a writing career, in that after finishing a novel I would send out to a few agents and cross my fingers. But in the past I have to admit I lacked the discipline and patience to focus on making one novel as perfect as I could and pursue as many avenues as possible for its publication. Instead I would do a proofread or two, and then take what I learned from writing a particular book and use those lessons to write something hopefully better. That’s given me a good backlog of material, although most of them need some editorial TLC to get them to where I’d be comfortable sending them out for anyone to consider. That said, I’ve recently wrapped up my proofing on “Yonville,” a contemporary mainstream fiction piece about a collection of somewhat delusional people centered around a lonely housewife; I have another anthology tentatively titled “Oddities and Entities” that is under review by my publisher, dealing with people who have various brushes with things outside our everyday world—along paranormal lines; I’m currently proofing “The Digital Now,” a sci-fi novel blending Malthusian social dynamics with a nightmarish peer networked society; and I’m hoping this year to finish another mainstream novel, “Snowflake.” Aside from all that, I have about ten other novels that are in more serious need of attention, and really aren’t ready for any kind of spotlight.

RR: Novellas are a lot less common than short stories or novels. What attracts you to them?

Roland: I like novellas because they serve as the middle ground for ideas and characters that wouldn’t have sufficient space in a short story to reach their full potential, but in a novel might not retain an adequate tension and momentum. When I set out to write a novel, I try to have several arcs of thought running concurrently so that they can combine to provide a greater sense of resolution in union rather than individually. But some ideas don’t necessarily work in that type of construct, and for them I think novellas serve a fitting home. Most of my literary inspiration comes from the late nineteenth century, and at that time novellas were often serialized in newspapers of the day. I think that’s something we’ve lost over the years, and something that should be brought back.

RR: I imagine there are downsides to writing novellas because they’re too long to publish in a magazine and too short to publish as a book. Would you say that’s true? Are there any other downsides to novellas?

Roland: I certainly agree with this unfortunate reality. As I’ve said, when I wrote the novellas that became “Remnant” my plan was to market them individually. I grew up reading many sci-fi anthologies, both collections of various authors and single authors, and I always found the good anthologies shared a certain evolving unity of theme and tone. That’s not an easy thing to do, and at the same time it provides the reader with a diverse set of experiences in one volume. I like to think of it as the comparison between a buffet bar and a fixed menu. Unfortunately the market space for novellas contracted over the years as publishers either went out of business or were consolidated. In recent years, however, it seems from what I’ve been finding that there are still some die hard anthology publications, and still a recognized niche for this form of expression. Now, even with all that, it’s still a tough market for novellas, and I would say that is the only real downside to writing novellas. A novella is a significant commitment for a writer, with potentially very little opportunity for the work to be published. There’s always the commercial aspect of that picture, but I think the aspiration for earnings varies so widely between writers that it wouldn’t be wise for me to generalize an opinion on that. As for me, sure, I’d like to see my book sell, but I’m very particular about what I write, and the way in which I write my stories. They are what they are in their creation, and I wouldn’t want to force them to be something other than what they are.

RR: Let’s go back to talking about the stories in “Remnant,” but also continue our novella discussion. Did you begin any of the novellas in “Remnant” as a short story or novel and then realize it was really a novella? I know some writers who write a short story, and then return to it later to expand it into a novel. Have you had that experience?

Roland: Well, as I’ve said I try to let my story length run in line with the complexity of my story and the depth of the characters I’m trying to portray. The stories in “Remnant” all began with some complexity when I started to write them, so I knew they were headed into novella territory. How far they would go became another question. With “All the Fallen Angels,” I did actually consider getting far deeper into the story and going for novel length, but given the structure of the story and its almost Gothic broodiness, I didn’t think I could sustain a proper level of tension at novel length word count. “Enemy, I Know You Not” varied somewhat in length in its various incarnations as I went through successive drafts, debating back and forth which elements of the story I wanted to accentuate, but once I decided the philosophical aspects were what really held the story together, I focused on those points and the story went through a minor growth spurt to flesh out the required scenes. The novella “Remnant,” on the other hand, I wanted to keep relatively short as a novella because part of the tension of the story is the pressure of time. But in hindsight, I’ve had quite a few ideas for continuing the story, and I’ve had people comment that they’d like to see the story become a novel of its own. I’d like to revisit that setting and those characters, but I don’t have anything concrete enough in my head to take that plunge—yet.

RR: I know from looking at your website that you are widely read and have been inspired by many writers from Tolstoy and Flaubert to Homer and Shakespeare. Do you have a favorite author, and what about that person’s writing makes him or her your favorite?

Roland: If I had to pick just one author, I’d have to say Tolstoy, more from a writer’s perspective than a reading perspective. The way Tolstoy develops and depicts his characters they always seem very real and multidimensional, something I aspire to in creating my own characters. The thing about Tolstoy though is not only does he create depth, but he does it in a way that never fails to create interest. I often say I could read thirty pages of Tolstoy describing someone putting their shoes on and find it fascinating.  Dialog inflection, insecurity, introspection; Tolstoy renders all of these in a way few others can. I find when I read fiction that I’m analyzing as much as I’m reading, as the editor / proof-reader in my head is stuck in the ‘on’ position. What has led me to appreciate Tolstoy so much is that as I read I find a constant sense of wonder for how he put together his character depictions, and the way in which his characters interact.

RR: What kinds of responses have you gotten from your readers so far, and have any of them surprised or especially pleased you?

Roland: I’ve received quite a few responses for “Remnant,” and I’m happy to say they’ve all been positive. What both surprises and pleases me is that readers come away from the anthology wanting more, wanting to find out where some of the characters go, particularly Peter from the eponymous novella “Remnant.” I’ve also heard that the thematic arc comes through, and since that is the greater aim of the anthology, I find that very satisfying as well. And in reference to my admiration for Tolstoy and his ability for character development I discussed in the last question, I’m flattered that people have commented on the depth and complexity of the characters I’ve portrayed.

RR: What would you say would be your ideal response from a reader, or what do you hope people will come away with after reading “Remnant”?

Roland: The response I hope for is that readers come away from the anthology feeling that they’ve completed a journey, and yet want the journey to continue. For me, that means I not only succeeded in creating fictional realities complex enough to immerse readers, but accessible so that readers can empathize with the characters. A fair amount of the anthology involves characters making decisions that lack moral clarity, that require moral interpretation in ways that might not necessarily sit well with everyday comfort zones. If readers can follow the characters through those situations and still relate to the characters, I like to think that they come away from the anthology with perhaps a little wider view of the ‘human condition.’  That’s a lofty goal, but I think all good fiction, or fiction that endures, has that quality to it, and so finds a place in the human conscience that transcends limitations of time or genre.

RR: What do you plan to write next, Roland? More short stories for individual publication or another book?

Roland: My publication approach is a multi-pronged strategy. I have what I like to think of as an advantage in that I have a great deal of written material that I accumulated in the years before I seriously sought publication, so I’m not in a situation where I have only one thing to work with at a time. On the other hand, sometimes I feel a little overwhelmed, but it’s the kind of overwhelmed I’ve dreamed about for a long time. The time demand of marketing “Remnant” and the learning curve of marketing have cut back quite a bit on my short story marketing, but I always have a few out there looking for a publication home. Over the course of 2010 and early 2011, I completed another anthology, tentatively titled “Oddities and Entities,” which is under consideration with my publisher, All Things That Matter Press. It’s a collection of novellas dealing with people who brush against realities beyond our everyday existence, touching on elements of the paranormal, supernatural, horror, some dark humor, and some philosophical transcendence. As I said I’m also working on cleaning up some of my novels to get them out for interest of literary agents, as securing representation is my big goal for this year. In what little time remains I’m hoping to get further with my current work in progress, a quirky literary novel titled “Snowflake.”

RR: Thanks for the interview today, Roland. Will you tell us where we can go online to find out more about you and your writing?

Roland: Thanks for having me. My main online presence is at my website, www.rolandallnach.com. I also maintain a Facebook page under my name to post more current information that comes up in between my regular monthly updates on my website. I’ve posted a number of reviews at Librarything.com on some of the books in my personal library, and I’m hoping to expand on that as time goes by. But, as I said, my website is the main resource for everything regarding my writing. Not only is there access to all my published short stories, I have essays regarding the creative process of each story—that’s my favorite part of the site- along with essays for “Remnant” for readers who are more curious about the anthology. There’s also a section for writers early in the search for publication, where I share some of the things I’ve learned in my publication experiences so far. So I invite people to drop by and explore the site, and if they have any comments, to feel free to contact me through my website, fiction@rolandallnach.com.

RR: Thanks again, Roland. Best of luck with “Remnant” and all those other stories and novels you have in the works. We’ll be looking forward to reading them.

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