Most of us are probably familiar with the English nursery rhyme: “Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick.” What is “Jack and the Candlestick’s” relationship to the rhyme? How did it inspire or shape your piece?

This story started from two sources. First, I listened to a Hardcore History podcast about medieval executions, which at one point were quasi-religious experiences, almost a ritual sacrifice of sorts. People of this period were afraid of the executioner because he was seen as a harbinger of death, like living versions of the Grim Reaper walking around. At the same time, I was reading a book called The Ghost: A Cultural History by Susan Owens, which detailed how people used to believe everything could be haunted, from books to, say, a candlestick. So I started writing a story about an executioner and a ghost that haunts different objects.

The idea of “Jack and the Candlestick” came from that. I named the ghost Jack, and he was this rakish bad ex-boyfriend figure, and then suddenly there was the nursery rhyme nosing its way in. The Jack in the rhyme is of questionable origins. Some think he was the pirate Black Jack Smatt, who was known for “nimbly” escaping from the law. Another account suggests the rhyme may have been about evading death, Jack leaping over the candle of sickness/plague and avoiding being burned. In any case, I decided to rewrite the origin of the nursery rhyme and give a new version of “Jack and the Candlestick.”

This story’s narrator has such a strong voice—she’s funny, astute, and empathetic, but she’s well aware of her place in the world. How did you find her voice? Why choose to tell the story from her perspective?

This was one of those situations where I started writing the character and she took over and spoke for herself right away. I wanted her language to be archaic sounding, but not cliche, with a lot of thous, thees, and forsooths. So the girl, Katy, speaks in a dialect that feels like an otherworldly approximation of a past European setting. Despite having little political or personal power, Katy has a lot of agency and thinks for herself. For example, she has no guilt about her abortion even though she knows it would ruin her if people found out about it. She doesn’t want to be bossed around by Jack anymore, so the ghost has to get go to greater and greater lengths to maintain control over her. In the end, we get a sample of what it would look like if she had the power that has been kept from her in this patriarchal society, and a glimpse of how she would handle that power. 

You’re creative in a lot of different ways, Joy—you write short stories, novels, excellent essays about your search for the California condor, and you host a radio show about books. And if that weren’t enough, you’re also a certified master gardener. How do you balance writing and creativity across all these different genres? Where do you find inspiration?

Thank you! I have a long list of short stories, essays, and books that I want to write and it feels like it takes an excruciatingly long time to get them out of my head. It’s nice to hear it doesn’t appear that way from the outside. For me, inspiration comes from the ability to make connections between disparate things, thus creating a new idea, or a new-to-me idea. I think some of us do this naturally, but it’s also something that can be honed over time by paying attention to the world around you and following your personal obsessions and curiosities. For me, the idea comes first and the structure follows. So some ideas will obviously be a short story, others an essay, another a novel, etc. The feeling of inspired creativity is among the most exciting emotions for me. I love it when I have a good idea and know what to do with it, whether it’s writing a story or trying to see an endangered condor or just planting a really big garden in the spring.