Jeff Jackson: Mira Corpora

For Jeff Jackson, starting a novel is an invocation but you don't know what will be invoked. There's an idea that telling our stories is cathartic, but sometimes what you've really done is turn up the volume. His first novel, Mira Corpora (Two Dollar Radio), is a dark meditation on childhood: events are heightened into a new (slightly creepy) key signature. A young author's influences are often palpable: here, an influence is Dennis Cooper. A true disciple, Jackson says, doesn't look anything like the master.