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SELFIE INTERVIEW | Jeffrey H. MacLachlan

Jeffrey H. MacLachlan also has recent work in New Ohio Review, Columbia Journal, the minnesota review, among others. He teaches literature at Georgia College & State University. He can be followed on Twitter @jeffmack.

Eckleburg: What captures your interest most in your work, now, as a reader of your work?

Jeffrey H. MacLachlan: Jessa Crispin recently said that good literary work requires the writer to “control their darkness.” I never had an issue with producing dark imagery, but often struggled with the implementation of that imagery to explore deeper meanings. The discipline of the texts I produce is what interests me most.

Eckleburg: What are you working on now?

Jeffrey H. MacLachlan: I recently finished a poetry manuscript about Socialist Realism that I’m submitting to various publishers.

Eckleburg: Who and what are your artistic influences?

Jeffrey H. MacLachlan: The two poets who initially inspired me to change majors were Gertrude Stein and Russell Edson. David Lynch looms large in a lot of my work. Frank B Wilderson III is what I aim to achieve in my lyric essays.

Eckleburg thanks Jeffrey H. MacLachlan. Do you have new work published here at Eckleburg or elsewhere? Add your Selfie Interview and share the news with our 10,000+ reading and writing community. If you have a new book out or upcoming, join our Eckleburg Book Club and let our readers know about it.

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SELFIE INTERVIEW | AJ Colombo

Amy Colombo has MFAs in Photography from the University of Delaware and Creative Writing from West Virginia University. She also received a Ph.D in Media, Art, and Text from Virginia Commonwealth University.

During the Covid stay-at-home mandate she has learned how to install a bathroom vanity, a thermostat, and various light fixtures. Her next project involves replacing a smoke alarm. 

Eckleburg: What captures your interest most in your work, now, as a reader of your work?

AJ Colombo: Irony, sarcasm, and clever ways of returning back to an original idea (bringing things full circle).

Eckleburg: What are you working on now?

AJ Colombo: Everything and nothing. I have ideas (too many). I guess I’m working  on making a decision…after I install the smoke detector.

Eckleburg: Who and what are your artistic influences?

AJ Colombo: Presently…James Whistler, Martin Parr, Tony Ray-Jones, David Shrigley, Lydia Davis…. This changes on an hourly basis.

Eckleburg thanks AJ Colombo. Do you have new work published here at Eckleburg or elsewhere? Add your Selfie Interview and share the news with our 10,000+ reading and writing community. If you have a new book out or upcoming, join our Eckleburg Book Club and let our readers know about it.

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SELFIE INTERVIEW | Michael Colbert

Michael Colbert loves horror films (his favorites are Candyman and Silence of the Lambs) and coffee (his favorites are Ethiopian and Costa Rican). He’s an MFA candidate in fiction at UNC Wilmington, and his writing appears or is forthcoming in Gulf Coast, Atlas Obscura, and Barrelhouse, among others.

Eckleburg: What captures your interest most in your work, now, as a reader of your work?

Michael Colbert: I love stories about rabbit holes where the character’s obsession starts to influence the storytelling, stories that really believe in what worries their protagonists. 

Eckleburg: What are you working on now?

Michael Colbert: Currently, I’m at work on a novel about two friends who, during a summer working at a coffee shop, fall into overlapping love and friendship triangles. In terms of nonfiction, I’m interested in writing about pop culture and horror film, and I have an essay coming out soon about Lizzie Borden. 

Eckleburg: Who and what are your artistic influences?

Michael Colbert: My favorite writers are Laura van den Berg, Jia Tolentino, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Jeffrey Eugenides. I think a lot about Trick Mirror and Leslie Jamison’s The Empathy Exams; I love nonfiction that really digs into an idea and mucks around in it. I find inspiration in film as well. The aesthetics and storytelling of The Favourite have been on my mind for a long time, and I watch a lot of horror films. I’m interested in writing that straddles literary and speculative genres, like the work of Carmen Maria Machado and Lesley Nneka Arimah. 

Eckleburg thanks Michael Colbert. Do you have new work published here at Eckleburg or elsewhere? Add your Selfie Interview and share the news with our 10,000+ reading and writing community. If you have a new book out or upcoming, join our Eckleburg Book Club and let our readers know about it.