I think in the future, when people want to know how life was lived in the Central Valley, they will turn to his books,” said host John Freeman in praise of Manuel Muñoz and his published works, including the story collection The Consequences, the California Book Club’s February selection. Once Muñoz joined him, Freeman delved into the craft of writing short fiction.
“It’s definitely something that came over time,” said Muñoz. “I talk about my MFA experience quite a bit, and I was in a cohort of some really powerhouse writers. When I came in, there were just four of us. We’re all about the same age, in our mid-20s, but they had already started publishing. And I guess I just retreated. I didn’t want to be in competition with them.… What was happening was, during these very intense conversations that grad students could have, I never really chimed in, but I was creating my answers. In some way, I was training myself to become a story writer.”
Muñoz also reflected on his upbringing in Dinuba, California, and how it shaped his journey of self-discovery as a gay man. “I visit quite a bit,” he said. “I’m always coming back to the place and the feelings that I had when I was very young and very confused. I was not out until about my mid-20s, so it always becomes a time for me to go back to questions that have brewed a long time.”
The conversation turned to faith, with Freeman highlighting its presence in several of the stories within The Consequences. Muñoz shared how he did not necessarily grow up religious, but he had a strong moral presence in his life: his grandmother. Muñoz shared how his stories have always leaned toward characters who are trying to do the right thing, who strive to be better people—core values present in religion. He went on to explain how he doesn’t belong to a church, but he is moved by stories involving spiritual beliefs.
After Muńoz read an excerpt from the story “Presumido,” Freeman asked him about writers who influenced his work. “I should name a writer, but I have to name my mom,” said Muñoz. “Just naming her wells me up a little bit. She’s a great storyteller. And when I think about the question between want and need, and again going back to my experiences growing up—I’m a child of poverty. Everything, all of my choices, come back to that and how I value money, how I value access, how I value access to just anything, where not having the stress of how to pay a bill is a huge relief.… I’m always able to refract how the ways in which we can relieve ourselves, be happy, be content, satisfy, provide a need—whether it’s for other people or private—really does come down sometimes to a mere $5 bill.”
Freeman then brought up the themes of deportation and immigration, which permeate the stories within The Consequences. Muñoz noted that while the current climate feels familiar to him and many in his community, the stories and images emerging from immigration raids are ones that future generations will have to reckon with. Too often, he said, the media focuses solely on deportation, overlooking the deeper impact on individuals and entire families. He shared his parents’ experiences of immigrating to the United States multiple times and the people they encountered along the way—individuals they never saw again but who live on in their memories, even 40 years later.
Talia Lakshmi Kolluri, the Fresno-based author of the short story collection What We Fed to the Manticore, joined the conversation as a special guest. She noted how The Consequences immerses readers in its setting. She asked if Muñoz felt that he had to leave the Central Valley to write about life there. Although he has lived in Boston and New York, among other places, Muñoz answered no, that he still feels connected to Dinuba, where he grew up. He joked that he might be cheating because he visits so often. He described how he can still go back and see it as it was 30 years ago. The landscape has changed and land has been given to developers, but he still holds the memory of how it was.
Kolluri also reflected on the emotional depth of Muñoz’s stories, saying, “I basically cried my way through this. I really did. And I think the thing that I struggle to articulate—that I feel very deeply—is that I want to be sad. I want permission to feel untethered. When I think about all of your characters, so many of them are untethered in a way that’s not uneasy. It’s like a hungry sort of being untethered.”
This sentiment led to her final question, about Muñoz’s ability to zoom in and out of his characters’ lives, asking if writing from this perspective comes naturally to him.
“That’s essentially my experience in life,” said Muñoz. “What I was doing was always navigating a space with, How do I approach something? How do I be part of something without being known for who I am? [When I was younger] I wasn’t aware that I was also training myself to be a narrator of a certain kind. I think that’s where it comes from. I’m just always very aware that so much of my life has been guided by trying to hide, but that forced me to develop an eye for how you behave. And sometimes trying to straddle so many different worlds is the product of that.”•
Join us on March 20 at 5 p.m. Pacific time, when Rita Bullwinkel will sit down with CBC host John Freeman and a special guest to discuss Headshot. Register for the Zoom conversation here.
