Raymond Villareal is a practicing attorney in San Antonio, Texas. He is a graduate of Texas A&M University and the University of Texas School of Law. His first novel, A People’s History of the Vampire Uprising, came out in June. Film rights have been optioned by 20th Century Fox and 21 Laps Entertainment.
On October 27, he will be speaking at House of SpeakEasy’s Seriously Entertaining show, Dazed and Confused, alongside Heather Havrilesky, Reyna Grande, and Tarfia Faizullah. We spoke to Raymond ahead of the show.
What is your earliest memory involving reading or writing?
My mother taking me and my sister to the library before we could even walk.
What is your favorite line from your current work?
“I’ll just have to search for the in experiences and love…the joy of this place—raising the dead when it suits us…”
What is your favorite first line of a novel?
“A screaming comes across the sky. It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare it to now.”—Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Keep writing—if I can do it, anyone can.
What writer past or present do you wish you could eat dinner with?
William Vollmann
What writer do you wish you could share with the world?
Stephen Dunn
What are you reading right now?
The Great Believers, by Rebecca Makkai
What fictional character do you most closely identify with?
The dog in Robot Dreams, by Sara Varon
If you could live inside a fictional world, which one would you choose?
Harry Potter
Are there any quotes you use to inspire you?
“Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”– Muhammad Ali
