I see stereotypes everywhere, including in myself. It’s my job to complicate their stereotypes by fleshing out the rest of their characters, for they drive the story. Brander and Lucky also have these qualities within them. But beneath the stereotypes that reveal a small percentage of what makes up who we are is the rest of us, the best of us, the parts of us that are unique. Brander is the wounded, self-loathing Midwesterner. I think most readers need to see characters that are somewhat familiar and that present themselves as equations they believe they can calculate, at least at the start. That said, though, if I’m being honest, I think all fiction runs off a little bit of stereotype. I’m relieved to hear you don’t think my characters are stereotypical. There are other commonly-appearing aspects to Rust Belt lit (or contemporary Grit Lit, writ large) that feature in your story: teenage pregnancy and the meth crisis for just two examples. Can you talk about how you explore such aspects of Rust Belt life and the characters living these lives without resorting to stereotypes in your novel (you do this well!)? While a rural setting, I’d say that your Seldom Seen mine situates your novel squarely in Rust Belt lit territory. Here at the Rust Belt Girl blog we’re a little fascinated with how place works in story. I was friends with a mining engineer who guided me some. I watched a lot of YouTube videos, read instructional handbooks on mining equipment, found out who sold it, and found videos on how to operate it. I read historical writing about mining at different periods in the U.S. And I read short stories about mining in the U.S. ![]() It was a perfect recipe-the need to express the region as I had experienced it as a transplant who had been there awhile, the need to tell Brander’s story, the need to imagine others’ lives and suffering alongside my own.Īs for research, I read literary books on mining. The research I did that allowed me to accidentally stumble into the idea for the novel also happened there. I lived not far from the real Seldom Seen Mine. When I wrote the novel, I was up to my ears in rural Pennsylvania, working on farms, mountain biking old logging roads, kayaking rivers, and clearing land. It felt that way when writing the book, and it means a lot to hear that it felt that way to you as you read it. I’m so happy to hear you’re engaging with the mine in that way because it is very much its own organism. I’d say we readers end up knowing as much about the mine as we do about Brander. How did you decide where to set this story? How did you learn so much about mines and mining? What kind of research did this entail? The mine in this story works as much more than a compelling setting but a real character. Mitch, welcome to Rust Belt Girl! Let’s dive in. But even free of men, the mine wasn’t dead, exactly there was something, a kind of energy present in the long back road, an innate awareness, like the womb of a pulse-filled thing. If not for the forced mechanization, there would be no sound, not like on the surface. ![]() It was surprisingly silent beneath the earth, the hum of the transport, the crunch of residue below the tires, the occasional whoosh of an air course. The mine’s back had a skeletal structure of beams and crossbars and cribs, packed tight with backfill in places and all sealed up with gunite. The road was rather smooth and well-lit, the air stale but not dirty. This is from early in the story, when Brander first enters Seldom Seen Mine: Brander was surprised. ![]() I’m prefacing my first question for Mitch with one of my favorite passages in the novel. Reader friends, how does an author make good on such a blurb? I’ll tell you. With nothing holding him back, Brander … takes a job at Seldom Seen Mine, and fails at every attempt to amend his life, losing a friend, a lover, and maybe his mind.” Seldom Seen follows main character Brander, who encounters a “specter of a man who promises him that the answers to life are in Seldom Seen Mine, the largest coal mine in the United States. For my Appalachian lit aficionados, Grit Lit fans, and readers who aren’t afraid of the dark … I’m thrilled to share with you my conversation with author and professor Mitch James about his debut novel.įrom the back cover, an intriguing blurb:Ī dead mother.
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