“Glory” by Cedric Synnestvedt appeared in Issue 45 and can be found here.
We’d love to hear more about this story.
This began as a “pandemic” story. Like so many, I walked around the neighborhood and parks a lot, as there wasn’t much else to do outside of parenting and Zoom work. I started the story on a note pad, since writing on the computer became too distracting and overwhelming. One day, while observing people do a crossfit class in a field, it struck me that, on some level, we’d all been implicitly tasked with replicating “normal” society, only we had to do it outdoors. And, like so many, I found myself both awed and aghast at that, and a strong need to swim in the absurdity of it all.
What was the most difficult part of writing this story?
Letting in all the different parts and voices. Early drafts never worked as they were too singular, too insular. At some point I had to say “fuck it” and let all the parts in. Threading them together came next.
Recommend a book for us which was published within the last decade.
Early Sobrieties by Michael Deagler is a moving, charming, honest book. Highly recommend it.
If you could have a drink with any living author, who would it be? Why?
Probably Joy Williams. I’ve long admired her stories. In my head we share a fascination with and love of the natural world, but also with how human hubris mixes with it.
What are you working on now? What’s next?
I have some drafts of stories coming along, and I dabble a little in writing poetry. I keep thinking I need to buckle down and think up a novel, but I always return to this one idea, so maybe I should just work on that.
Our thanks to Cedric for taking the time to answer a few questions and share this story. Read “Glory” here.
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Cedric Synnestvedt earned his MFA from Texas State University, San Marcos, in 2013. He teaches English there, and he lives in Austin. His fiction has appeared in PANK, Sonora Review, Jabberwock Review, BULL, and Gulf Stream Literary Magazine. His story collection, What the Birds Do, was a finalist for the 2021 Raz-Shumaker and 2023 Hudson Prizes. He is currently working on his first novel.