Brooklyn Writers Bloc: Whitney Mallett likes ‘being soft’

By Tara Kenny

It’s hot. Good lord it is hot. With summer officially kicking our asses, we’ve decided to cool down by asking a selection of local writers – across poetry, art, food, fiction, non-fiction, zine making, and party reporting – to bring us into their own private Brooklyns and share what (and where) they are reading, pondering, people watching and daydreaming about as an escape.

For the third installment in this series, which we’re calling Brooklyn Writers Bloc, we meet a cultural critic and erotic fiction writer who has some thoughts about vore and the epic “French Connection” car chase scene.

Mallett courtesy Ana Maria Hernandez

Whitney Mallett

Whitney Mallett is an editor at The Editorial Magazine, PIN-UP, and Gayletter and the author of “Deliverance,” coming out in Smutburger Editions Vol 2.

Describe your writing practice in 10 words or less.
Cultural criticism, erotic fiction, and working on a conspiracy thriller.

Favorite spot to journal outside the home?
At the rave in the notes app on my phone.

Best place to people watch?
The park along the piers in Dumbo. There are more charming spots but if you really want stimulation, it’s a real scene with plenty of drones and wedding photography.

Summer drink of choice?
Water.

What will you be reading this summer?
Elvia Wilk’s “Death By Landscape.” L.A. Warman’s “Dust.” The new expanded version of Cookie Mueller’s “Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black,” one of the best books ever. And re-reading the Paris-Britney vore scene from Maya Martinez’s chapbook “Hell or Mercy?”

Favorite reading nook in the wild?
On the subway. Or at Le Paris Dakar café.

What’s one book you’re ashamed to say you’ve never read?
Erica Jong’s “Fear of Flying,” a horny second-wave classic. Also did you know she’s Jordan Wolfson’s aunt? In this doc about him, she says people who are not uncomfortable in their skin do not become artists. That makes me want to read her.

Do you go hard for Brooklyn?
I don’t go hard. I like being soft.

Tip for getting unstuck (in writing and life)?
Turn off your phone and go for a walk. Also maintain a high fiber diet because writer’s block is a cousin of constipation.

Which writer, living or dead, would you like to tour guide around Brooklyn?
The fantasy is Rachel Kushner, two girls on a motorcycle.

Favorite depiction of Brooklyn in literature, art, film, or other media?
I think a lot about the car chase in “The French Connection.” Supposedly it was all improvised — no choreography, no permits. Anything of value I’ve ever done took a lot of work, but I’m still a sucker for the idea that genius things can come together effortlessly, breaking all the rules.