Now I Am Going to Write a Book

Robin Sloan on his novel Sourdough and the author M.F.K Fischer for FSG:

And for me, voice is the thing. In a novel, I will forgive any flaw, overlook any omission, if the voice on the page has that sizzling Tesla-coil energy. A book in which nothing happens is fine—it’s great!—if the voice is magnetic. M. F. K. Fisher transformed food writing and she influences it to this day: there’s a mix of high and low that you’ll find in the best food writers, fluency with the farthest reaches of sophistication balanced by a healthy sense of irony. It’s pure Fisher. For me, though, the appeal goes beyond food writing; her style on the page could propel a novel about nearly anything. So, to aim for anything even remotely Fisher-like was . . . deeply aspirational.