"A Sensible Heart: An Interview with Sheldon Lee Compton" by Justin Lee
- Roi Fainéant
- 4 days ago
- 7 min read
Whenever I think of Appalachian fiction, I think of Sheldon Lee Compton. Not just because I consider him a friend or a mentor. Nor is it because I have read his stuff fairly religiously for years now. It's because I can only think of very few writers who truly write about the Appalachia I know. The Appalachia that I've lived. Yes, there's poverty and crime and addiction and violence. But there are also times of true beauty and heart. Lewis Nordan wrote once that, “there were happy days, with watermelon, and sad days, of whiskey”.
Sheldon is the only author I've read who captures that dichotomy in these mountains.
His latest, Oblivion Angels, is a tragedy. It's an exploration of small wounds and large holes and the hurt that times just won't heal or stop. It spans time and people, but I feel like that's true to life. That there are small tragedies that hit some families harder than most, and those hits linger for years.
While this story is a tragedy and contains all of the things that come with such tales, there's also an overarching thread of grace. Hope. Not sentimental and not easy won. It's the hope of making it one more day. Of finding a shred of yourself wanting the day to go by so that you can see tomorrow. It's the hope of fighting the dark one more time.
JUSTIN: In 2022, I stumbled across a list of Appalachian authors that had your name on it. I hadn't read a word of yours yet back then, but I knew you had a reputation as a big deal for the region. David Joy, Donald Ray Pollock, Steph Post, the list goes long with supporters of yours. Do you feel like it is a blessing or a curse to be considered a regional writer?
SHELDON: I’m sure glad we got connected up and you were able to read some of my writing, because you’ve been a big supporter of mine ever since. I’m really grateful for that, and thank you for those kind words now. I’m also glad we connected because I’ve had the pleasure of reading your work, which is just outstanding, Justin.
I surely don’t find it to be a curse or anything at all negative. More of a blessing, for sure. I’ve come to understand that whether I consider myself a regional writer or not – meaning whether or not I think about it when writing – people will tend to see me as one, and that’s fine by me. It’s the same with folks seeing me as a writer of noir or crime fiction and so on. I don’t mind it a bit. As far as that kind of thing, I figure readers and other writers are better judges of that than I am. I do refer to myself as an Appalachian novelist and short story writer and I didn’t always do that. I’m fairly certain I’m never going to write a book set anywhere except in Kentucky, so I figure that’s a fair categorization.
JUSTIN: How did Oblivion Angels come about? I believe I read somewhere that it sprouted from your memoir, The Orchard Is Full Of Sound. Is that accurate, or am I crazy?
SHELDON: Not a bit crazy…I have mentioned something about that at some point. It might have been a form thing instead of an idea thing, like that Orchard Is Full of Sound helped me get more comfortable with longform fiction, the novel essentially, which made Oblivion Angels more manageable and, honestly, more enjoyable. Novels before this one were a struggle for me and left me really questioning if I’d done as well as I could. But after Orchard, longform was less daunting.
The key moment that Oblivion Angels came to mind for me happened while driving on Mud Creek in Floyd County.
I passed a house of one of my high school friends, Dee. The place was run down and looked, well, exactly as I described Teddy’s house in the opening of the novel. There was Dee, his sister, Tamala, and his parents, Danny Ray and Denise. These four people, this family, fell into tragedy in a short time. Dee died drunk in the back of a truck that wrecked into a guardrail, Tamala overdosed on pain killers shortly after, Denise died of cancer some time later, and that left Danny Ray, one piece of a family that used to go to softball games with my family. I imagined Danny Ray. That was it, just imagining Danny Ray after all that hurt and loss on that broken porch. I thought I’d like to write about him and change a few things and see if I could get to the living, eternal heart of that family. Maybe it’s melodramatic. But I’m with Jim Harrison on that point. He said and said beautifully:
“I like grit, I like love and death, I'm tired of irony. A lot of good fiction is sentimental. I would rather give full vent to all human loves and disappointments, and take a chance on being corny, than die a smartass.”
My goodness, Jim Harrison was unbelievable.
JUSTIN: I'm going to be totally honest here: I feel like this is your masterpiece. It is a prime example of Appalachian literature, but I would categorize it as more of a treatise on compassion and grace and forgiveness. It's a tragedy, and we see the ramifications of it reverberate over a long stretch of time through various characters. However, no matter the grimness, there's a glimmer of hope for some form of redemption, or at the very least some resolution. Was that a theme you were hoping to tackle, or am I reading into it a little too much?
SHELDON: Wow I greatly appreciate you considering Oblivion Angels my masterpiece. To even be included in a statement alongside that word feels good. And with the glimmer of hope, you’re right on the mark there, man. I’ve had a lot of other writers and a few readers offer similar insights about my books. I believe it’s categorically a way of thinking for my people in my part of Appalachia. We’ve always had to hang onto some hope through pure grit and determination to survive. With life for centuries that consistently hard, hope and the idea of some redemption or success gives us the motivation to keep going. So that is to say even without trying to infuse my characters with that mindset, the underlying compassion, grace and forgiveness will always exist within the grimmest of circumstances in my books.
JUSTIN: This story is not only told through multiple POVs, but the timeline is non-chronological. How did you decide to go that route?
SHELDON: I had to think about this one for a bit. And I’m just going to be straight about it: I don’t have an idea how I’m going to go with any of that. With this novel, I sat in the recliner in the living room where I write 90 percent of my books and thought about Teddy on the porch at this broken family’s broken house and opened a Google Drive document and starting writing. I don’t consciously make craft decisions. If it feels right while I’m doing it then I keep going. But if I’m rolling along and suddenly find I’m not having fun, I know something’s off. I will say that I do a ton ton ton of thinking about what the story is before I start writing anything, a book, a short story, an email, letter of recommendation, doesn’t matter.
JUSTIN: What would you like to see more of in the Grit-Lit genre?
SHELDON: What a fantastic question, bub. Calling back to an earlier answer of mine, I’d like to see more unabashed sentiment, more real explorations of love and honor and loyalty that haven’t been filtered through irony or genre consideration.
I’d also love to see – and am always looking for this regardless – gorgeous language in grit lit books. Just hellfire gorgeous writing. We don’t have to write the way many of our grit characters see the world, this stripped down, muscular prose. I’m not saying this ain’t being done, I’m just saying it’d be interesting to see more of it.
JUSTIN: Who have you been reading lately? Any recommendations?
SHELDON: Shoot this is my favorite question you’ve asked. I love talking about reading. I’m a reader first and an author second, seriously. I’ve started reading a guy named Michael Wehunt who is an exceptional writer. Beautiful style and language and creepy stories and novels. Man, I mean creepy as dark places in a windstorm. Check him out if you don’t any of the others. And these are just new writers I came across this past year. Another is Hob Broun. This guy who wrote a fine novel and then became paralyzed and had to write by blowing air through a special watchamagig. The books are solid and well written. And a third I came across is David Nickles, another horror writer. Amazing stuff. Instead of linking to these I’m just going to link to my reading log on my blog Bent Country I’ve kept for 11 years. Reading Log at Bent Country.
JUSTIN: Is there anything I missed here?
SHELDON: You’ve not missed it at all but just that I would be stunned from gratitude if folks would get a hold of Oblivion Angels and let me know what you think. Truly, let me know. If you think it’s overhyped or badly written, I want to know and thanks in advance for that. So what are you writing on these days? Got into a novel yet?
Thanks, man. You’re a shining champion knight of all tables.
JUSTIN: I've been working on a novella titled, Out There In The Dark. I've completed rough drafts, deleted every word, and wrote it again about three times total now. I feel like I have a handle on it this time though. Hopefully it will be ready soon!