Smith: An Unauthorized Fictography
Jory Post
In this kaleidoscopic, episodic joy ride, Jory Post treats us to thirty interviews that may or may not be real, with an array of “ordinary” people who turn out to be anything but, all of them in conversation with an interviewer who is herself a mystery.
As one encounter follows another, we realize that “Smith” is a convenient alias for a range of voices, including: a traveling nurse from Saipan, a Vietnam-war vet who lives in his truck, a woman who can only tell her own story through fairy tales, a young man more comfortable talking to animals than people, an army brat, a poker prodigy, a pool shark. Some of these Smiths offer themselves openly to the interviewer, while others reveal as much in their resistance as they do in their narratives.
Through it all, the stories, distinct and musical as jazz solos, give voice to what we want, what thrills us, what we’ve been most hurt or touched by, and what we will never forget — secrets any one of us might spill if only someone would listen. Jory Post has.
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About The Author
Jory Post
Jory Post was an educator, writer, and artist who lived in Santa Cruz, California. He and his wife, Karen Wallace, created handmade books and art together as JoKa Press. Jory was the co-founder and publisher of phren-z, an online literary quarterly, and founder of the Zoom Forward reading series.
His first book of prose poetry, The Extra Year, was published in 2019, and was followed by a second, Of Two Minds, in 2020. His novel, Pious Rebel, also appeared in 2020.
His work has been published in Catamaran Literary Reader, Chicago Quarterly Review, Rumble Fish Quarterly, The Sun, and elsewhere. His short stories “Sweet Jesus” and “Hunt and Gather” were nominated for the 2019 Pushcart Prize.
Peter Ferry –
“In this hilariously original narrative, Jory Post puts an entirely new and original twist on the concept of biography, causing us to wonder where truth lies and where it does not.”
Peter Ferry, author of Travel Writing and Old Heart
Syed (Smith) Afzal Haider –
“Jory Post has written an imaginative, witty, and surreal work that manages to be precise, profound, and heartbreaking, too. There is a Smith in all of us.”
Syed (Smith) Afzal Haider, author of To Be With Her and Life of Ganesh
Catherine Segurson –
“Jory’s writing is full of inventiveness and wit in this daring literary tour de force. Personas and personalities give insights into their gritty and tender lives in these fictional tales that as a whole make up this fictography. My favorite is BookSmith, but it’s easy to find more than one Smith to love in this engaging cast of characters.”
Catherine Segurson, founder and editor of the literary journal Catamaran
Patrice Vecchione –
“A fairy tale of sorts about people whom you too may know or will be glad to meet on these pages. You’ll be brought in to the lives of the desperate and the ingenious. Grab a coffee or the Baileys, pull up a chair, and take a listen.”
Patrice Vecchione, author of My Shouting, Shattered, Whispering Voice: A Guide to Writing Poetry & Speaking Your Truth