Hadley Moore
Hadley Moore's collection Not Dead Yet and Other Stories won Autumn House Press’s 2018 fiction contest and was longlisted for the 2020 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection. Her short stories, novel excerpts, and nonfiction have appeared in Newsweek, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Witness, Amazon’s Day One, the Alaska Quarterly Review, the Indiana Review, and many other publications. She is at work on a novel and another collection, and is an alum of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.
Twitter: @HadleyMoore10
What period of history do you wish you knew more about?
I have a fascination with the Cold War, particularly the early years right after World War II. I’m interested in “hot war” history too, and fiction set during times of conflict, but there’s something about the long, half-suppressed menace of the Cold War, which could have heated up any number of times, that particularly captures my attention.
What’s the oddest thing a reader has ever asked you?
The dedication of my book is “for Dusty” (my husband). Once at a reading someone asked if Dusty was my cat. I mean, I love my cat, and I love the absurdity of this question, but I’m probably not going to dedicate a book to a pet. I don’t think they’d appreciate it.
I genuinely enjoy talking to readers about books and writing, and people ask great questions, but I’ll never forget the pure silliness of this one (though it was asked in sincerity). I giggle every time I think about it.
Have you ever experienced imposter syndrome?
Constantly. It’s just part of the atmosphere of being a writer. I’m more accepting of it now than I was, say, a decade ago. It’s more background, less impediment.
Not all books are for all readers… when you start a book and you just don’t like it, how long do you read until you bail?
I’m not necessarily advocating for this, but I usually finish. It’s a little compulsive, maybe, but I think there are craft lessons; if something doesn’t work for me, can I define it and apply that lesson to my own work?
With books that are not problematic in terms of execution but that are challenging or seem inaccessible to begin, I’ve often been rewarded. Possession by A. S. Byatt comes to mind, as well as Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night, which I started and abandoned several times before reading through.
Vacation druthers… city or rural destination? Why?
Some of everything, please. I am an introvert and a homebody, but have (unsurprisingly) been thinking about travel lately, to destinations both near and far—I’d love to walk on the beach an hour from my house and cross oceans.
Life is so strange and circumscribed now—and like a lot of writers, I’ve had events canceled—but it’s occurred to me to plan a trip. No actual dates or reservations yet, just a goal destination to mitigate this cabin fever. Travel is not relaxing for me; it’s exhilarating, and I’d like a little exhilaration.
