Dancer on the Ceiling is a collection of humorous short stories featuring offbeat characters who dwell within unique storylines. What inspired you to write this anthology?

I’ve loved laugh-out-loud absurd humor ever since I was a teenager and read Woody Allen’s prose in the New Yorker. I wanted to create stories in that spirit. Inspiration was also provided by S. J. Perelman, Lewis Carroll, Roald Dahl, Douglas Adams, The Goons, and Monty Python.

Was there anything from your own life that you put into the characters in your collection?

Moths ate my cashmere sweater. Other than that, nothing was consciously drawn from my life. It’s likely the stories contain unconscious references from my life, but I’d rather not examine them too closely. I’m thinking specifically about the chimp story.

Do you have a favorite among the stories?

A character that stands out as the most fun to write for? I love Derek Organ, the private investigator. He’s in three stories.

What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?

I’m writing a full-length novel, a comic caper story in the spirit of Donald Westlake’s Dortmunder stories. Look for it in 2024.

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