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Smoking With Peggy M. Price

(Read the Story) March 15, 2005

Peggy M. Price

Art by Marty D. Ison

“I am young and mighty and red with all the blood my heart will send to my face.” Love it. Love this character. Who is she? (And is she available?)

Janet, my favorite 23-year-old circa 1992. Available via Voyagers-like time-travel device, yet emotionally distant. No device for that.

Four, five years from now, where do we find her and Bobby?

Bobby is divorced, medicated, in Indiana someplace. Janet is in New Zealand studying Art Deco.

“Ten months and two years together and this occurs to me now.” Joyce (my Aunt Joyce) called such moments epiphanies. What would you call them?

Is there a name for the intersection of a figure eight? Intersection of a figure eight, I guess. I feel like we see something new everytime we come back around.

“Bobby Goes To Washington.” Who would you cast for the movie version?

Campbell Scott. We’re talking ’92 here.

Word is you work as a librarian. Besides being the object of many a schoolboy fantasy and rockin’ with the Dewey Decimal system, how does the library hinder/help your writing?

Hinder: M-F 8-5 not conducive to fits of binge writing. Raging schoolboy fanclub pesty in the summer months.

Help: Librarians are the quirkiest people I’ve ever met. Also, the library is a constant reminder that beautiful works don’t disappear. I help make them last a while longer.

About the Author

Peggy M. Price studies writing at The University of Southern Mississippi, where she works as a librarian. Her work as appeared in Pindeldyboz, Opium Magazine, and Dicey Brown.

About the Artist

A native of Ohio, Marty D. Ison lives with his wife transplanted in the sands of the Gulf of Mexico. He studied fine arts at Saint Petersburg College. In addition to the visual arts, he writes poetry, short stories, and novels. See more of Ison’s work here.

This interview appeared in Issue Eight of SmokeLong Quarterly.
SmokeLong Quarterly Issue Eight
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The March Micro Marathon 25

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We’re doing it again! We’re homing in on the micro: 100-word, 250-word, and 400-word stories. In March 2025 SmokeLong is hosting The March Micro Marathon, a 24-day workshop with a new writing task each day, peer review in small groups, 3 webinars, a reading and interview with Michelle Ross and the editors of 100 Word Story, and 3 competitions with cash prizes.