{"id":9440,"date":"2026-04-24T17:02:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T17:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/?post_type=article&#038;p=9440"},"modified":"2026-04-24T18:05:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T18:05:43","slug":"the-house-itself-a-conversation-with-bret-anthony-johnston","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/the-house-itself-a-conversation-with-bret-anthony-johnston\/","title":{"rendered":"The House Itself: A Conversation with Bret Anthony Johnston"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-9441\" src=\"http:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/04\/encounters-with-unexpected-animals-cover-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/04\/encounters-with-unexpected-animals-cover-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/04\/encounters-with-unexpected-animals-cover.jpg 667w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/>Encounters with Unexpected Animals: Stories<\/em><br \/>\nBret Anthony Johnston<br \/>\nRandom House<br \/>\n$28.00<br \/>\nPublication date: February 24, 2026<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Petit:<\/strong> Before we dive into the book, what are some influential works (prose, visual art, music, etc.) or events that you might say contributed to the creation of <em>Encounters with Unexpected Animals<\/em>?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Johnston:<\/strong> First and foremost, thank you for taking an interest in the book and for reading it so closely, so kindly; I\u2019m really grateful.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">More than any specific work, most of the influence came from writers and artists I admire. A grossly incomplete list of people whom I wish would have more influence on my work might be: Amy Hempel, Jorie Graham, Ethan Canin, PJ Harvey, Edward P. Jones, Chekhov, Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Jack Gilbert, Toni Morrison, Flaubert, Tolstoy, and Tim McIlrath. There are countless others, but these artists come immediately to mind.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">There are also myriad experiences, but in hopes of not boring everyone to death, I\u2019ll just offer two: Years ago, on a skate trip to Houston, I walked into a hotel and there were hundreds of clowns in the lobby. They were there for an annual clown convention, and I spent much of the weekend attending their panels and presentations. Then, much more recently, a buddy of mine thought a snake had slithered under his refrigerator, so he called me over to search for it. Both of those experiences gave rise to stories in the new collection.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Petit:<\/strong> This collection enjoys an outstanding title. I felt that each story pursues an answer to the title\u2019s meaning. At what point in the writing process did this title come about? What does the phrase \u201cencounters with unexpected animals\u201d mean to you?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Johnston:<\/strong> Thank you! I\u2019d always liked the title of that story, but it wasn\u2019t until we were putting the collection together that it distinguished itself as the right one for the book. As for what it means, lordy, I have no idea. That\u2019s just not the way my mind works or engages with language. I can say, though, that it matters to me that it\u2019s not the <em>encounters<\/em>\u00a0that are unexpected but how the characters, and perhaps the readers, ultimately define the concept of what is or isn\u2019t animal.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Petit: <\/strong>With each story, I quickly acclimated to its sense of place, space, and time. Place can be tough for beginning writers. In terms of craft, as an instructor of writing, do you advise your students to establish setting early in a story. If so, how?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Johnston: <\/strong>For me, place determines the story. Setting is far more than window dressing; it\u2019s a force that compels the characters, their actions, the story itself. I feel as though we undergo the places we inhabit, and they move through us as much as we move through them. I don\u2019t know that there\u2019s a one-size-fits-all approach to establishing place in a narrative; rather, it feels like it permeates the story in the same way voice does. As a reader and writer, I\u2019m always seeking the detail that suggests a hundred others. I\u2019m dowsing for the image or description that will animate the place in the reader\u2019s imagination.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Petit: <\/strong>In \u201cParadeability,\u201d a child surprises his father with the wish to become a rodeo clown instead of a football player. This generates a way for the two to grieve the loss of the child\u2019s mother. When writing, do you plan for these synchronicities, or do you imagine your way into the narrative and let the characters surprise you?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Johnston: <\/strong>If a story doesn\u2019t surprise me, no one will ever read it. Everything I write\u2014from a sentence to a novel\u2014is an act of chasing surprise. When I\u2019m deliberating if I want to commit to writing something\u2014knowing how miserably slow I am as a writer\u2014I\u2019ll usually begin with an image of a character doing something. With \u201cParadeability\u201d it was the image of a father and son driving at night with the interior light on in the cab of the truck. Once I figured out the kid had the light on because he was reading, I wanted to know he was reading. Then, once that answer emerged, I wanted to know where they were going. The surprises are nested in the details and actions, and ultimately\u2014if I do my job and if I\u2019m lucky\u2014reveal the characters.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Petit: <\/strong>In \u201cPalomino,\u201d Mr. Haslam has delusions of being a cowboy and buying a horse; in reality, he buys an \u201986 Chevy Silverado from someone mourning a past relationship. Here, as in other stories, you navigate difficult themes like love, loss, and grief, but you bind them to cars and cowboys and unexpected Texas touchstones. How do you balance the universal with the mundane?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Johnston: <\/strong>The writer David Mitchell should be added to my list of influences above, not least because I remember him saying that if you try to write about the universe, you\u2019ll never write about the brick wall in front of you; however, if you write about the brick wall in front of you, you\u2019ll inevitably write about the universe. I wouldn\u2019t know where to begin a story about love or loss or grief; those subjects feel abstract and slippery to me, and because writing is already so obnoxiously difficult, I\u2019m not in the business of making it harder. On the other hand, a story of a man having second thoughts about selling an old truck? Sign me up! I\u2019ll write hundreds of pages just to find out why he\u2019s sabotaging the sale, and I\u2019ll write hundreds more about an old timer who calls a rusted-out Chevy a palomino.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Petit: <\/strong>In \u201cDixon,\u201d the titular character\u2019s wife, Trish, is confused when Dixon uses the aphorism, \u201cHe didn\u2019t think the creek would rise.\u201d Other stories grapple with misunderstandings. Do you think there is a certain power in writing from a point of misunderstanding?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Johnston: <\/strong>What an interesting question! Thank you. To my way of thinking, misunderstanding is a consequence, and consequences are endlessly revelatory. What I\u2019m most interested in, I suppose, is what leads to the consequence of misunderstanding which might be described as the characters not being fluent in the language of their hearts. They\u2019re trying to articulate their pain, their struggles and loves, but they lack sufficient vocabulary and syntax. Like all of us, they\u2019re longing to connect, and it\u2019s in those misunderstandings where, I hope, we see their vulnerabilities, their fight against lonesomeness and isolation.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Petit: <\/strong>Teenagers feature prominently throughout. Teens experience a transitory period (puberty, the liminal space between child and adult), and exhibit behaviors their parents aren\u2019t expecting. In media, teenagers are often the focal points of the coming-of-age story, the bildungsroman. In this collection, the parents are often the ones coming of age or bildungsroman-ing. Why did you find it important to center parents in this way in this book?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Johnston: <\/strong>A lot of these stories were written while I was writing\u00a0<em>We Burn Daylight<\/em>. Every time the novel would try to kill me, I would sulk off and start a short story. Then, when the story tried to kill me, I\u2019d return to the novel. The novel is told from the perspectives of two teenagers, so when one of the stories started gravitating toward characters around that age, I found myself exploring their stories and contexts through different lenses than in the novel. Maybe another way to say this is that if the teenagers were the light that illuminated the novel, then in the stories I was more drawn to the shadows that the kids\u2019 cast or that the adults cast upon them.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Petit: <\/strong>My first encounter with this collection was with \u201cTime of the Preacher\u201d in the 2025 edition of <em>The Best American Short Stories<\/em>\u00a0(Mariner).\u00a0<span class=\"markp4x7qqwjk uM2yb\" data-markjs=\"true\">Congratulations<\/span>, by the way! In the contributors\u2019 notes, you mention that the story draws inspiration from the pandemic\u2014a time when folks yearned for connection. How did the pandemic shape you as a writer, and has it changed your writing?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Johnston: <\/strong>Thank you! I\u2019m so deeply grateful to Nicole Lamy and Celeste Ng at BASS, and Allison Wright and Paul Reyes at VQR, for giving the story such a nice home.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">For the myriad ways the pandemic shaped all of us, I don\u2019t know that it impacted my writing. I\u2019ve always been pretty disciplined, and I was lucky to feel safe enough during that time in our lives to continue working at my normal (miserably slow) pace. In many ways, that my writing life remained unchanged was a kind of saving grace, a precious gift.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Where I did notice a change was in workshop. On the surface, writing workshops appear tailor-made for remote learning; we can still discuss the fiction the students have made and engage with published work in meaningful and productive ways. The pandemic, though, revealed in no uncertain terms how urgent and vital our being at the same table is. We need to share physical space with each other; we need to be able to walk to dinner together after workshop because that\u2019s where the real communion\u2014with our peers and the work itself\u2014occurs. I think we returned to the workshop table with renewed commitment and a far deeper sense of shared enterprise.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Petit: <\/strong>\u201cYoung Life\u201d is set amid the Satanic Panic of the 1980s. Here the \u201cunexpected animal\u201d appears to be a teenager whose vulnerable inner life contrasts with a rugged exterior. In exploring the social dynamics of this place and time period, did you find yourself drawing from lived experience, the experiences of others, or from imagined lives amid these circumstances?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Johnston: <\/strong>All of the above! I once \u201cbabysat\u201d a boa constrictor and would let her sunbathe in my yard, and I remember my neighbor having an Ozzy Osbourne poster and being afraid to look at it. (Irony aside: I grew to love Black Sabbath, and I was unexpectedly sort of gutted when Ozzy died.)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">The story really started, though, when I heard about someone stealing wheelchairs from a store. It seemed like such a callous act that I wanted to understand who would do such a thing and why. Ultimately, it\u2019s a pretty inconsequential element in the story, but that\u2019s where it began. Everything else in the story, including all the characters, proceeded from that seed of dark curiosity.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Petit: <\/strong>The collection features stories that take place in the 1980s, the early 2000s, and during the COVID-19 pandemic. What attracted you to these decades and moments in history?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Johnston: <\/strong>The details, I suppose. I\u2019ve never planned anything I\u2019m going to write. I never start with any kind of agenda or even intention, but rather I try to follow the breadcrumbs of the details through the maze that the story is establishing through those same details. If I\u2019m imagining a kid in his neighbor\u2019s house crank-calling his buddy from a phone on a nightstand, I know we\u2019re not in the era of cellphones. If I\u2019m imagining a woman scolding her ex because he\u2019s not using a medical-grade face covering, it\u2019s clear we\u2019re in the depths of the pandemic. I guess what I\u2019m trying to say is that the images and details aren\u2019t the d\u00e9cor of a house, there it\u2019s foundation and roof; they\u2019re the house itself.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Petit: <\/strong>What are some of the best books, movies, or art forms you\u2019ve enjoyed recently?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Johnston: <\/strong>How much time do you have? Colm Toibin has an extraordinary new collection of stories,\u00a0<em>The News from Dublin<\/em>, and I loved Jorie Graham\u2019s most recent book of poems. I\u2019ve been returning to Toni Morrison\u2019s novels more and more. As for visual art, I love anything by Michael Sieben, Peter Sacks, Andy Goldsworthy, and April Gornick. That said, working with all the geniuses at the Michener Center for Writers, I spend a lot of my time reading their work\u2014the brilliant pages that have yet to be published or produced but will be soon. They\u2019re such extraordinary writers that I feel like I\u2019m being given a sneak preview of some of the most important work that\u2019s just over the horizon. Right now I\u2019m reading a thesis that will, I have zero doubt, be published within the next few years and shape the cultural conversation. For all the fears that I have for the planet and society and basically every living thing, I have full confidence in the literature that is being made today for tomorrow\u2019s readers.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Petit: <\/strong>You\u2019ve now published two novels, two story collections, and a book on the craft of writing. Would you be interested in sharing any current projects or plans for publication following the release of <em>Encounters with Unexpected Animals<\/em>?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Johnston: <\/strong>I\u2019m inching into what I hope will be a short novel, and I\u2019ve got a few stories that are starting to shape a new collection. A dear friend of mine and I are toying with the idea of co-writing a book about skateboarding. I\u2019m curious as to where the projects will lead, how they\u2019ll surprise me and how often they\u2019ll try to kill me. I feel immensely lucky that, as difficult and taxing and slow as this work is, there\u2019s almost nothing I\u2019d rather do.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-9444\" src=\"http:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/04\/bret-anthony-johnston-hs-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/04\/bret-anthony-johnston-hs-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/04\/bret-anthony-johnston-hs.jpg 337w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><span style=\"font-size: 24pt;font-family: georgia, palatino, serif\">Bret Anthony Johnston<\/span><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">Bret Anthony Johnston is the internationally bestselling author of the books <\/span><em><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">Encounters with Unexpected Animals<\/span><\/em><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">, <\/span><em><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">We Burn Daylight<\/span><\/em><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\"> and <\/span><em><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">Remember Me Like This<\/span><\/em><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\"> and the award-winning <\/span><em><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">Corpus Christi: Stories<\/span><\/em><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">, as well as the editor of <\/span><em><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">Naming the World: And Other Exercises for the Creative Writer<\/span><\/em><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">. His work has appeared in <\/span><em><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">The New Yorker<\/span><\/em><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">, <\/span><em><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">Esquire<\/span><\/em><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">, <\/span><em><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">The Paris Review<\/span><\/em><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">, <\/span><em><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">Thrasher Magazine<\/span><\/em><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">, <\/span><em><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">The Best American Short Stories<\/span><\/em><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">, and elsewhere. A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship and the <\/span><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">Sunday Times<\/span><span class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\"> Short Story Award, he was born and raised in Texas and is the director of the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Encounters with Unexpected Animals: Stories Bret Anthony Johnston Random House $28.00 Publication date: February 24, 2026 &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Petit: Before we dive into the book, what are some influential works (prose, visual art, music, etc.) or events that you might say contributed to the creation of Encounters with Unexpected Animals? &nbsp; Johnston: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":9441,"template":"","categories":[9,140,49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9440","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aquifer","category-interview","category-literary-features"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The House Itself: A Conversation with Bret Anthony Johnston - The Florida Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/the-house-itself-a-conversation-with-bret-anthony-johnston\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The House Itself: A Conversation with Bret Anthony Johnston - The Florida Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Encounters with Unexpected Animals: Stories Bret Anthony Johnston Random House $28.00 Publication date: February 24, 2026 &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Petit: Before we dive into the book, what are some influential works (prose, visual art, music, etc.) or events that you might say contributed to the creation of Encounters with Unexpected Animals? 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