GARTH MIRÓ is a writer based in New York City. He is the author of The Vacation (Expat Press, 2022). His stories have appeared in Litro, Sundog Lit, X-R-A-Y, and Maudlin House, among others. He was a semifinalist for North American Review’s 2021 Kurt Vonnegut Prize. He currently works as a handyman.
My current favorite thing to read is: My Life as A Russian Novel, Emmanuel Carrère. I love that train scene, obviously, but the whole book. I also find and read message boards for any very-involved hobby/interest. I like to see the sort of vernacular that crawls out of small insulated groups of intensity.
My current favorite things to watch are: Cronenberg’s Crash; the Crumb documentary; TV.
My current favorite things to listen to are: Suicide’s “Ghost Rider,” old Columbian Cumbia, Flamenco, and when I’m drunk I like to pretend I know about Spanish jazz.
My current state of mind is: fine.
My current chemical romance involves: still heroin, unfortunately: I’ve talked about that plenty. I was doing good and got on subs, and I was even off subs and using kratom to maintain, but yea, didn’t last. Besides that, I eat a lot of junk food. I literally make a trip every day and it’s gotten out of control.
My current words of wisdom are: kratom doesn’t work.
My current mode of transportation involves: [the] Q train or B103 bus. If I’m going to work and I have my tools, I like to take the train.
My current favorite fast food item is: this burger from the Muslim burger place down the street. I used to go to Burger King on Flatbush, but this woman’s always smoking crack in there—she camps by the bathrooms in that little enclave before the doors—and it seems she’s there every single time, like God’s putting her there to tempt me, and I start getting this massive curious yearning to want to ask her to hit it to see what it’s like and I know that would be bad for me, so I don’t go there anymore.
My current workout routine consists of: …I don’t workout. You walk a lot in New York City.
My current regrettable decision involves: maybe going sort of insane and buying too much shit off the internet, or trusting this guy who I know fakes being in a wheelchair to go buy me drugs (I was desperate). He took the money and went in this building and told me to wait, and I ended up waiting for hours and he never came out. I see him on the street now and he still asks me for money, like he doesn’t know me, and I tell him to fuck off and that he owes me 40 dollars and people look at me like I’m being insane and cold but they don’t know our backstory.
My current hopes and dreams are: …I just want the person who works the graveyard shift, or the early morning prep cook, to have something interesting to do on break. That’s my main hope for the books I write.
My current projects include: working on a new novel.
My current hobbies include: … I paint. I like to fish when I can. I think I want to start gambling at one of those places above restaurants in Chinatown.
Garth Miró is online at garthmiro.com
Brian Alan Ellis runs House of Vlad Press, and is the author of several books, including Sad Laughter (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2018) and Hobbies You Enjoy (serialized daily on Instagram: @hobbiesyouenjoy). His writing has appeared at Juked, Hobart, Fanzine, Monkeybicycle, Electric Literature, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, X-R-A-Y, Heavy Feather Review, and Yes Poetry, among other places. He lives in Florida.
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