Alex Behr
Author Interview - Alex Behr
Author of Animal Kingdom: Stories
In late 2019, award-winning Portland author Alex Behr reunited with Chris Hartman, a lost love, after thirty years. Their brief, intense romance in San Francisco left behind no photos, and yet they’d never forgotten each other. Chris soon moved to Portland to start a new life with her. Tragically and suddenly, he was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive prion illness, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and died just months after the move.
Tender, erotic, and damned, the nineteen stories in Animal Kingdom are inspired by Behr’s grief. It explores desire and searches for meaning from chaos and loss. With piercing humor, the collection explores a couple bonding over alien visitations, the brutal accommodations in a marriage between musicians, sexuality during menopause, and a teen girl’s bruising path to feminism via her Fender guitar. The stories share the theme that humans can’t escape their primal urges and are intelligent animals in the flawed kingdom we all share.
Author Interview - Alex Behr
Author I draw inspiration from:
I'm inspired by so many ... lately, I'm inspired by the poetry of Diane Seuss, especially Frank: Sonnets, because it strings bites of imagery and stories much as how a fractal narrative would emerge. The effect is startling -- intimate and at a remove, because nothing lingers. I teach a class on fractal patterns, so it's exhilarating to read this collection. Note that I don't know her intent. I haven't read criticism or interviews with her about it.
Author Interview - Alex Behr | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
In bed - I'm nearsighted and have astigmatism, so having a book up close feels like I'm diving into it. I'm not opposed to reading a digital book that way, either.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
Well, I guess I'd have to say Count Dracula, memorialized in Dracula by Bram Stoker, since I must face my fear of death eventually. Though as I type this, I realize the joke would be on me.
Author Interview - Alex Behr | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
I wrote my first book called "Suzy Little Tail" around age eight. It has a happy ending!
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
Hm .. Hardback: Like: the paper stock and yummy font size. Dislike: the pressure to hold onto a hardback because I bought it with full expectation of "bettering" myself. And all those hardbacks I still intend to read. Hello, NW by Zadie Smith. Paperback: Like: portable! Dislike: how they decay, how they fall apart, how they're, by nature, cheap. Like a bad date! ebook: Like: I'm on my mom's kindle account. Like: sampling books on my iPhone's book app. Dislike: I lost my kindle. I forget what I've bought on both. Audiobook: Like: aspirational! One day! Dislike: I'm too forgetful to get the library app to listen for free and too cheap to get an audiobook subscription.
The last book I read:
I'm in the middle of reading Lucy Sante's My Heart & I Agree, and as a fan of Low Life and other books by Sante, I'm intrigued by the essays' rigor in art analysis, sense of place, and personal memories/fallibilities. I just finished the essay on Robert Frank, the photographer whose book "The Americans" was at first harshly critiqued then influential -- and Frank's rejection of photography. Sante's inquisitive tone and confidence make the book highly stimulating.
Author Interview - Alex Behr | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
As a fan of Jane Alison's Meander Spiral Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative, I created workshops based on spirals, fractals, and cellular shapes/networks (with her permission). These workshops come out of my own meditative, generative writing practice with pen and paper. Then, I try to remember to type them in. I revise with a combination of writing on printouts and writing directly in Word. I've also tried to break through blocks by using the recording function in Word, though it doesn't let me swear.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
I'd be friends with Jane Eyre of same. We have a similar romantic outlook and sense of duty. Who doesn't want a Mr. Rochester?
Author Interview - Alex Behr | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
a touring bass player who actually makes money! I once slept by the cat litter box. Things were grim in my twenties.
Favorite decade in fashion history:
London - swinging '60s
Place I’d most like to travel:
Iceland - because I want to see the Northern Lights and I have a credit on IcelandAir (long story)
My signature drink:
margarita on a beach
Favorite artist:
Joseph Cornell (but I don't have favorites)
Number one on my bucket list:
I want to see the Northern Lights and/or go to a dark sky area (there's one in Eastern Oregon)
Anything else you'd like to add:
My six-month-old kitten is driving me crazy, but I'm determined to get through this phase. Albus, my cat who was paralyzed suddenly in January was like my second heart. He was fifteen years old. A precious soul. However, Willie, the kitten, is named for Willie Nelson. He should turn out okay!
Find more from the author:
www.alexbehr.com
IG: @cherrytimber
About Alex Behr:
Alex Behr
Alex Behr is the author of Animal Kingdom, Planet Grim, and Grief Stick. Her writing has been published in Tin House, Utne Reader, Salon, Oregon Humanities, The Rumpus, Buckman Journal, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, in anthologies, and others. Her multimedia website and film projects have been supported by grants from the Regional Arts and Culture Council. She holds a BA in humanities from UC Berkeley and an MFA in creative writing from Portland State University. Behr lives in Portland, Oregon, where she is a senior academic designer for a global education company, teaches creative writing workshops, and plays piano and bass guitar.
