Hypertext Magazine asked Cameron MacKenzie, author of River Weather, “I see the book is dedicated to Frank. Who’s Frank? Why is the book dedicated to him?”
By Cameron MacKenzie
Frank is my son—he’s seven now. He’s amazing for a ton of reasons, but I dedicated this book to him specifically because he enabled the writing of these stories. Having a child changed me, in that the day-to-day work of fatherhood brought out a depth of compassion in me that I didn’t know I had. I changed as a person, and as a result my writing changed as well. Previously, I went into a story with my guard up—the story itself was built to be an assault on the reader, a primal scream. I think my early stories are good on a technical level, but they’re too angry and ugly for me to take any pleasure in anymore. Once Frank was born, I found myself much more willing to explore vulnerability with an audience, and have real empathy for my characters. In essence, I wouldn’t have been able to write these stories without the lessons my son helped me learn.
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Cameron MacKenzie’s writing has appeared in Salmagundi, The Michigan Quarterly Review, The Rumpus, and CutBank, among other places. His novel, The Beginning of His Excellent and Eventful Career, was called “poignant, brutal, and beautiful” by Kirkus Reviews, and “visionary” by Rain Taxi. River Weather is his first collection of short stories. He lives in Roanoke, Virginia.