Blake Butler: Literary Hottie

Atlanta Author Blake Butler

Blake Butler just turned 30. This doesn’t seem to bother him, though. In fact, he tells me 29 was the year that really got to him.

Ever by Blake Butler

At 30, Butler has just published a novella, Ever (Calamari Press), and has another novel due in September, Scorch Atlas (Featherproof Books). He is the editor of the online literary journal Lamination Colony and has published numerous articles and short stories in everything from McSweeney’s Internet Tendencies to Barrelhouse.

I sat down with Blake at his birthday dinner this month and listened to him spout some wisdom.

On food most people find disgusting: “My dad always tells me, ‘You don’t know what’s good.’” (Blake was licking out a bowl of guacamole and being told he was gross. He responded with “You don’t know what’s good.”)

On candy: “I like crystal clear gummy savers. Sour patch is the bottom of the barrel.” (Blake eats more candy than the average person and believes himself to be a candy connoisseur.)

Random: “I’m in the drummer.” (Said as he was banging on the table waiting for dessert to arrive.)

Quoting Miss Elliot: “Girls, girls, getting that cash.” (I’m still not 100% sure of the context.)

On aging: “I wanna die when I’m 46. I don’t want to be old. 59 is enough.”

On luck: “You get whatever you don’t want … so you have to trick them into saying ‘I want this’ when they didn’t: ‘I want to break my arm tomorrow.’ Jerk of all trades. Fuck that.”

Blake Butler’s writing can be found in the sources mentioned above and also on his blog No One Does That.

Tags: Blake Butler, Lamination Colony, No One Does That

This entry was posted on Monday, January 26th, 2009 at 8:30 am and is filed under Atlanta Art Crush, Columns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.