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In “ Voyagers! ,” your story in this week’s issue of the magazine, Cali and Ronny, two old friends, embark on a road trip from Houston to Los Angeles. College friends, they’ve been estranged for many years before reconnecting after the death of Ronny’s partner, Sho. What drew you to a road trip as a narrative structure to explore these characters’ unresolved dynamics?

Experimentation, really: I’m still growing comfortable with the third person (too much power). While I was working on my upcoming novel, “ Palaver , ” which is in third person throughout, I needed ways to test narrative distance and uncerta

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