Contributors’ Corner: John M. Gist

Welcome to “Contributors’ Corner,” where each week we open the floor to one of our contributors to the journal. This week, we hear from John M. Gist, whose story “Intuition” appears in 2.2.

John M. Gist’s creative nonfiction and short stories have appeared in publications such as the The Doctor T.J. Eckleburg Review, Superstition Review, Pithead Chapel, Prick of the Spindle, New Mexico Magazine and many others. He has three published novels and is co-author of the philosophical work Angst and Evolution: The Struggle for Human Potential. With an MFA from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, he teaches creative writing at sunny Western New Mexico University. He is Founding Editor at Red Savina Review.

Heavy Feather: Can you share a moment that has shaped you as a writer (or continues to)?

John M. Gist: I read Nietzsche, unsupervised, as a teen and it, along with a trip to Denver, Colorado, to watch The Rolling Stones perform in an outdoor auditorium, prompted me to drop out of high school. I started keeping a journal the day after I dropped out.

HFR: What are you reading?

JMG: As of now I am re-reading The Confessions of Saint Augustine. Next on the list, none other than The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

HFR: Can you tell us what prompted “Intuition”?

JMG: First, I like your covers. Second, I like your style. Third, you were fairly new on the scene and I like to submit to journals that have a finger on the pulse of what is up and coming.

HFR: What’s next? What are you working on?

JMG: I have been writing shorter pieces for over a year now. I think I’m ready to stare into the abyss for a time and write a longer work. Why don’t I just come out and say it? What am I afraid of? I’m gearing up to write a novel! If the abyss stares back into me and I go stark raving mad, so be it. It might be fun!

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