What We Fed to the Manticore (for the animal in us all)
A Debut Collection
Humans are not the measure of all things, yet so much of what we read indirectly promotes this dangerous idea. Anyone who's looked for readings that recenter the natural world knows how hard it is to find one that manages to do so while offering a deeply satisfying read.
I found one for you!
Talia Lakshmi Kolluri transports the reader into the lives of beasts ranging from donkey to vulture, from wolf to whale, in her astonishing debut collection of short stories published by Tin House. These stories aren't about little Disney creatures. Through their experiences with human brutality and kindness, climate change, and carnivores, Talia's narrators draw the reader deeply into a world of beauty, love, and vulnerability.
Talia and I had a conversation about the book via email. You'll find it below.
And you can find her collection at your local bookstore or mine, The King's English.
Interview with Talia Lakshmi Kolluri
Talia Lakshmi Kolluri
Amanda: Let’s start at the end with your wonderful Author’s note. You introduce the ideas of wild and tame that have been central themes in these stories, suggesting that we can understand these concepts “frame them,” as you say, “in terms of dependence and communication.” Could you expand on that a little bit? What does it mean when wild meets tame? Does freedom come into play in distinguishing the two?
Talia: Well, I think that the way we think of wildness and tameness is so human-centric, specifically in terms of how far a thing is removed from the natural world and ensconced in a modern human world. A pet that lives in your home, that responds to your communication in the way that you expect or want it to, and that co-exists with you peacefully is usually considered tame. And an animal that behaves in a way that is unpredictable to you, or that does not respond the way you want, or does not co-exist with you peacefully or stays in its natural environment is usually considered wild. But wild to whom? And what's the difference between the two? Is it familiarity with each other? I think that wildness and tameness are relative, and whether or not something is wild or tame depends upon the point of view you are considering. If my cat is tame to me because I see her as living in my space and shaping her behaviors around my life, does that mean I am wild to her because I am in my home environment and I'm not changing my behavior drastically? Or perhaps she thinks she has tamed me because I've made changes to my routine to accommodate her. I do feel that it's a question of relationships. So perhaps we are wild to each other until we know each other better, and then we both become tamed.
Amanda: I’m interested in your research process. Your narrators are so interesting, and their lives so complex. You said you started by asking whether the animal narrator “had any sort of need to communicate with humans.” I guess, realistically, in this Anthropocene era, it makes sense to start with humans and how animals might find us difficult to comprehend. But then you placed yourself inside the lives of your narrators, imagining “a fully realized self and life for each one.” What did that process look like? How did it feel? Did you dream of your narrators?
Talia: In all my writing I use a combination of traditional research about animal behavior and habitat, also with imaginative play. I think it's very important that I give readers characters that are grounded in reality because I'm asking them to take a pretty big imaginative leap in accepting that an animal can tell a story and go through sometimes fantastical things. So, I spend a lot of time trying to understand how various animals might see things, how sensitive their hearing might be, what smells are important, and so on. And then I try to imagine being that animal and moving through the world as they do. I don't dream about them so much as daydream about them. But I think that's the key to all fiction in a way. It's important for me to immerse myself in my characters.
Amanda: Do you have a favorite narrator?
Talia: No, I love them all! I can't choose a favorite! But I can tell you the two narrators I would most like to inhabit. I would love to be the whale in The Open Ocean is an Endless Desert because I would really like to know what it's like to feel at home in the sea the way a whale is. And I would also like to be the pigeon in Let Your Body Meet the Ground because I want to know what it's like to fly, and also because I think I would enjoy her day out with Toy Man.
Amanda: Let’s talk about the gorgeous, brutal title story for this collection, “What We Fed to the Manticore.” It opens with denial, “We are not the tide. We are not the tigers.” After the narrator’s harrowing experiences, they conclude that “He was the tide, and we were the tigers.” In the end, manticore becomes a storm and devours everyone. Do you see this as a story about climate change?
Talia: This is absolutely a story about the climate crisis. We all know that the climate crisis has produced more extreme weather patterns and weather events around the world. And at the time I am writing this, most of your readers probably have personal experience with extreme weather events. This particular story deals with cyclones and storm surges into the coastal mangrove forests in the Sundarbans, which are made more intense by the climate crisis. But I wanted to try to imagine them through a tiger's eyes. How would a tiger make sense of a storm surge and its rippling effects on their immediate environment? How would a group of tigers explain it to themselves? This story is one possible answer, though I would be interested to know what the real tigers of the Sundarbans think.
Amanda: What got you started on these stories? Did you know you were working on a collection? Did you ever stall out? Get discouraged?
Talia: This collection truly began with an earlier version of The Hunted, The Haunted, The Hungry, The Tame, which I wrote after reading an article in National Geographic about the Sirius Sledge Patrol. I wanted to know what that story might have felt like to the dogs that were portrayed. Of course they weren't interviewed, so I had to imagine an answer for myself. I really enjoyed writing as an animal, so I wrote another story, and at that point I decided I would just keep going until I didn't want to write them anymore. The truth is, I haven't actually stopped writing animal stories. I've written a couple more since this collection was published and I'll probably keep going. I wouldn't say I've stalled at all or gotten discouraged. I wrote them just because I wanted to, and as long as writing them is meaningful to me I'll keep doing it. In the beginning I struggled to find journals that wanted to publish them, but that isn't a particularly unique experience and I think every writer collects rejections along the way. For every story, there was always at least one or two people who connected with it and encouraged me to keep going.
Amanda: Tell me a little bit about your writing practice. Do you write at the same time every day? To music? Do you have any rituals that get you ready to write? Do the cats keep your lap warm? What’s hard? What’s easy?
Talia: I don't necessarily write fiction every day, but I do keep a daily diary. I suppose that's helpful in the sense that I'm always in a state of observation and I'm thinking about what I see and what I feel about my experiences. I definitely don't write at the same time every day. I end up grabbing the moments that are available to me between work and the responsibilities of everyday life. I do love to write to music though, especially if I'm writing about movement. I like to choose a song and play it on repeat so I can stay immersed in it. Probably the only thing I do that is similar to a ritual is that I like to start drafts by hand, and I write them in a very small notebook. I always choose something pocket sized, like A7 or B7 and it feels less intimidating that way. The pages are small, and they fill up quickly. I also feel that I think differently when I write by hand, when compared to the way that I think when I type. So, I start with a handwritten draft first, and then I revise and expand my stories when I type them out.
Amanda: You published this collection with Tin House. How was your experience with them? Did you approach them, or did they approach you? Did they give developmental support? Editorial support? How about their marketing?
Talia: I loved working with Tin House so much! I was approached by my wonderful editor, Elizabeth DeMeo, after she read The Good Donkey in The Common. I think Tin House publishes such interesting work and I was really thrilled at the opportunity to be a Tin House Author. When Elizabeth reached out to me, I had completed seven stories and they asked me to write two more. We also went through an editing process for the collection. I revised some stories more than others, but I do want to say that the entire experience was very affirming for me in a creative sense. Elizabeth is a spectacular editor and has a gift for knowing how to guide me toward writing my best work, while ensuring that I retain agency over my writing the whole time. In a practical sense, I went through substantive editing with Elizabeth, which was followed by copyediting, and then finally proofreading, which are all separate steps. They have an in-house publicity team led by Becky Kraemer, and again, they are fantastic on this front. Tin House publishes approximately 24 books per year and this means they can dedicate a significant amount of time to each book. They do a lot of fun creative marketing things. Of course, they do traditional marketing activities like seeking trade reviews, and setting up interviews and book reviews in a variety of venues. They set up events and facilitate things like book festivals. They also submitted my book to Amerie's Book Club which was a tremendously exciting experience and a really wonderful privilege. They also are very active on social media and they put together packages for social media influencers to build up a buzz around each book. My book came with a tiger's eye bracelet, some bangles, a bag and a broadside with an excerpt from my title story. I felt like my collection received an incredible amount of support from them and it was a really wonderful debut experience.
Amanda: You emphasize the Central Valley of California. I grew up there too – long ago. Has this setting shaped your writing?
Talia: I've lived here for nearly 16 years and it's hard to articulate exactly how the Central Valley has shaped my writing except to say that it's much much easier for me to find a sense of stillness here, when compared to other communities I've lived in. And I feel that stillness has been very important to letting the work in.
Amanda: What’s next? What are you working on now?
Talia: I’ve been working on a couple of new short stories and I’m making my way back to the novel that I started before my collection came out. It’s still in its early stages and I’m currently writing the first draft. But it will also be about animals and will cover some familiar territory about conservation.
