Shya Scanlon interviewed me on Facebook:
Shya Scanlon: As an author, blogger and founder of Chapbook Review, you are a rare breed: someone who seems as comfortable reviewing fiction as you are writing it. Do you think authors have a responsibility to share, discuss, and promote work not their own? Do you personally feel a responsibility to do so?
John Madera: First of all, thanks for setting up this tiny interview series. Sometimes I think of Facebook as “Fakebook” so it’s great to see something that has a little more dynamism. As for all the stuff I’m up to, I feel like I’m at my best when I’m juggling all kinds of plates. They all intersect, play off of each other, and cross-pollinate.
As for responsibility, I think writers, in order to be called writers, must write. How often and how much, I wouldn’t presume to say or demand. I don’t think that a writer has a responsibility to share, discuss, and promote work that isn’t theirs. Writers who choose to work in total seclusion and isolation without a care for anyone else is fine with me; what matters is the quality of their work.
As for me, I feel it’s less a responsibility but more something that brings me great pleasure and teaches me so much.
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JOHN MADERA—Writer, Editor, Publisher 