{"product_id":"2940011920721","title":"HOUDINI","description":"Rites of passage, family power dynamics, the subconscious and the islands of Hawaii are all important themes in Kirby Wright's work. Wright was born and raised in Hawaii, and the islands are the setting of a novel that he is now completing. Although the short story \"Houdini\" is not an excerpt from the novel, both the novel and the story are set in Hawaii and deal with pivotal moments in the life of a family. \u003cbr\u003e\"I'm interested in how you have within a family structural subsets and a constant movement of power\" between family members, Wright said. \"I'm after those moments in the family structure that change the family forever and there's no going back.\" Wright is also fascinated with dreams and the role the subconscious plays in the creative process. \"That's where all my prose poems come from--dreams. Ninety-five percent of my dreams are published,\" he said, joking, \"I'm a lazy writer.\" But humor aside, Wright is very serious about his writing; he has published extensively in more than 100 poetry journals. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Houdini\" has an autobiographical tone, and at least part of the story is based in fact. The idea for the story \"came from my brother, who really did want me to tie him up,\" Wright said. \"But I could never get the knots right, and I could never capture him, so I thought, 'What if the father tied him up?'\" Wright then added the character of the father to be the one who violently changes the family's lives, he said. \u003cbr\u003eWhile his literary inspirations are F. Scott Fitzgerald and James Joyce, for their poetic language, Wright has also been influenced by Kurt Vonnegut. Wright, 40, met Vonnegut while a student at UC San Diego, where he had a job helping host visiting authors. \"I picked up Kurt Vonnegut (at the airport) and hung out with him for about four days,\" Wright said. When he asked Vonnegut to autograph his copy of \"Breakfast of Champions,\" Vonnegut wrote the inscription, \"To Kirby Wright, who is going to make it as a writer. I know these things.\" Although Wright enjoys writing short stories, his first love is poetry. \"I have to write poetry. If I don't write poetry, I can't write.\"","brand":"Lemon Shark Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47181759938800,"sku":"2940011920721","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940011920721_p0.jpg?v=1763551200","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940011920721","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}