Q&A with Jeffrey Dunn

 

 

 

Jeffrey Dunn is the author of the new novel Whiskey Rebel. His other books include Radio Free Olympia. He is also a longtime educator.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Whiskey Rebel?

 

A: Inspiration? Creativity is like a river; it has many tributaries, springs, and occasional downpours, all flowing downhill to the mouth.

 

Whiskey Rebel’s wellspring was Richard Brautigan’s 1964 novel A Confederate General from Big Sur, a book given to my best friend Bob Fouratt and me by our 9th grade English teacher.

 

We were very taken by the two buddies Lee Mellon and Jessie, and after we parted ways for college—Bob to Holy Cross, me to Allegheny College—we took on the personas of these two characters and wrote letters back and forth.

 

Fast forward 45 years, and my wife and I were driving along Washington States’ Columbia River when my wife said, “I lived around here back in high school.”

 

“It was a bad time, right?” I responded. “That was a long time ago. Do you remember the road?”

 

“Palisades Road. It’s the only road in Moses Coulee.”

 

“How far in did you live?” To go there meant returning to her heart of darkness.

 

“The last farm at the end of the road. About 20 miles in. We were hired hands and only lived there for four months.”

 

“Do you want to take a side trip?”

 

“Sure, why not.”

 

After we swung onto Palisades Road, I thought we were on the moon. I don’t like to describe my experiences as surreal, but Moses Coulee was one otherworldly place. In fact, this experience launched me into Whiskey Rebel, the book where the speaker Punxie Tawney says about Moses Coulee:

 

To my left, the basalt wall of the Columbia Gorge steeply dropped down to the coulee floor. Then to my right, the basalt wall abruptly rose again. I imagined a sign stretching across the entrance to Moses Coulee: “PEARLY GATES.” No, not a chance. “ABANDON ALL HOPE.” Again, I didn’t think so. This place didn’t care that much.

 

So, there you have it, the headwaters, but as you know, rivers have more sources downstream, which leads us to question two.

 

Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: Five years ago, my experiences with Bob and my wife merged, and I started writing a buddy novel in the vein of A Confederate General. And because Bob and I went to high school in Western Pennsylvania, I became amused with the idea that Brautigan’s Confederate General Lee Mellon should be my Whiskey Rebel Hamilton Chance.

 

This led me to another tributary, the 1794 American Whiskey Rebellion, and let me tell you, as I dove into the great lake of American history, the nature of my project was forever transformed.

 

Suddenly, the shallow, whimsical, picaresque flow of my writing (no worries, it’s still there) in places became deeper, thoughtful, existential pools where different forms of freedom swim about.

 

Going a step further, I tinkered with the hydrology when Hamilton’s buddy Punxie, the narrator of this entire affair, takes on the backstory of a shell-shocked Iraq veteran, and just like that, Whiskey Rebel spanned the breadth of American history from 1794 to 2006.

 

The title, which started as a character’s moniker, morphed into an avatar for the American spirit, one ready to accept more tributaries, namely two singular women characters, Cherry and Loyalhanna, and the indigenous American, Sam the Man. But wait! There is more inspiration to come in my answers to the next question.

Q: The novel takes place in Washington state's high desert--how important is setting to you in your writing?

 

A: Setting—ha! For me, setting is everything. Setting sounds the tone. Setting is from where character and plot spring. Setting speaks to the theme. Without setting where are we? Nowhere!

 

As I mentioned, Whiskey Rebel is generally set in the Columbia River Gorge and specifically in Moses Coulee. I needed a place where down-and-out Americans congregate and survive. A place where they can be left alone. Where they can be free. Where else can someone get away with distilling and selling tax-free whiskey?

 

And when I found on Google Earth a side canyon off Moses Coulee called Whiskey Dick Creek, eureka! Of Moses Coulee, Punxie the narrator says:

 

We came upon more basalt cliffs, and that’s when, and I swear this to be true, I heard the lichens snicker, the same chuckle I heard when I sized up the highlands of Iraq’s Anbar Province. No, it wasn’t a full belly laugh because, really, what’s the point? Lichens like these have been on Iraqi limestone and Moses Coulee basalt forever, which, if you ask me, just makes the orchard, the one I’d just passed through, look plain silly, what with its irrigation IV lines and fertilizer feeding tubes. It seems to me this orchard should have been named the Moses Coulee ICU. I’m telling you, those trees were living on borrowed time, expensive time at that.

 

Full disclosure, I spend a lot of time on Google Earth. It takes me where I cannot go. It where my magical becomes realism.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?

 

A: Because I write long fiction of place, I’m pleased when people feel they’ve done a walkabout in the Columbia Gorge, and I’m thrilled when readers feel the impact that the characters Cherry, Loyalhanna, and Sam the Man have on Punxie and Hamilton in Whiskey Rebel.

 

I think the women and Native American characters in the book, as well as the French women writers Punxie reads, orchestrate a hootenanny into a concerto.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m working on a new book that’s kind of a Radio Free Olympia (my 2023 book) for Spokane, Washington. The odd-numbered chapters feature Anise Finocchia, a young woman who willfully keeps her eyes closed and feels her way through life. Her avatar is Turk (turkey vulture).

 

The even-numbered chapters feature Patrick, the Irish saint who later is reincarnated and schooled in Buddhism and ultimately is reborn in Spokane. His avatar is Fly (dragonfly). Eventually, Anise’s and Patrick’s paths meet, all under the watchful presence of Mountain Whitefish. Currently, the manuscript begins:

 

Anise Finocchia’s mom died today.

 

Hellbent on survival, her mom had solicited a van, one that was stopped at the intersection of Sprague and Napa in Spokane, WA. She was putting on a show by sucking on a lollipop like a little girl. The driver liked what he saw and motioned for her to hop in. She did so, and without saying a word, they drove to an alley and parked.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I write about creativity and culture on Substack and Medium. My Substack highfliers get access to the surreal stories from my Dream Fishing the Little Spokane. Readers can also reach me via my website www.jeffreydunnspokane.com.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Jeffrey Dunn.