MARTHA GROVER is an author, poet, and folk artist living in Portland, Oregon. She is the author of two memoirs for Perfect Day Publishing: One More for the People (2011) and The End of My Career (2016), which was a finalist for the Oregon Book Awards in creative nonfiction in 2017. Her work has also appeared in The Collagist, Vol.1 Brooklyn and The Portland Mercury, among other places. She has been publishing her zine, Somnambulist, since 2003. Martha is currently at work on a fantasy novel, and her third book of poetry, illustration and lyric essay, Sorry I Was Gone, will be published in 2021.
My current favorite thing to read is: …I’ve been really enjoying audio books right now. I just finished The Parable of The Sower, The Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England, and A Land So Strange, which was about three Spanish Conquistadors and one enslaved African man who spent ten years lost in what is now Mexico and the American Southwest (true story).
My current favorite thing to watch is: …I have enjoyed watching the HBO comedy series Southside with my dad.
My current favorite thing to listen to is: WILLOW.
My current state of mind is: letting myself be a total dick if I want to.
My current chemical romance (drug/bad habit/toxic infatuation) involves: medical weed (as usual).
My current words of wisdom are: Don’t try to make yourself smaller for someone else’s ego.
My current mode of transportation is: [a] Honda Fit. I love my eff-it. That’s my motto and my car!
My current favorite fast food item is: [a] double Burgerville cheeseburger.
My current workout routine consists of: …I broke my foot last month, and just got my cast off. So it involves letting my ninety-pound shepherd mix drag me around while he pisses and shits all over the place.
My current regrettable decision involves: …I can’t think of anything I’m regretting right now.
My current hopes and dreams are: …I’m currently building a life raft to support myself long term. I have a chronic illness and I am trying to make it work with my art and tiny store in downtown Troutdale, Oregon. I hope one day I can make at least fifty percent of my income from my writing and art.
My current projects/hobbies include: …I just Kickstarted my last book, Sorry I Was Gone. Now I’m working on the design, and the printing etc. I’m thinking about the draft of the fantasy novel I wrote last year and I want to get back to that soon.
Martha Grover is online at themarthagrover.com.
Brian Alan Ellis runs House of Vlad Press, and is the author of several books, including Sad Laughter (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2018). His writing has appeared at Juked, Hobart, Fanzine, Monkeybicycle, Electric Literature, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Funhouse, Heavy Feather Review, and Yes Poetry, among other places. He lives in Florida.
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