Regarding this particular image, I can’t say what I was doing. For instance, the vacuum device that I’ve imagined in this story is definitely reminiscent of the apparatus they used in the movie. I actually only thought of the movie Ghostbusters after the story was completed, but it’s obvious that it had some subconscious influence on the imagery of the story. Did you set out to subvert this image, or did you simply happen upon it in writing the story? For instance, one of the most darkest sentences is this one: “You know how many times I’ve gone down to the Kaiser Hospital over on Howe Street and sucked the ghost of a crying baby out of one of their incubators?” Capturing ghosts was so funny and great in Ghostbusters, but here it’s horribly sad and a sign of something wrong emotionally with the person who does it. I love how this story flips some famous tropes from ghost stories. In this interview, Kanakia discusses early reactions to his story in a MFA workshop, the source of some of the imagery in the story, and what (if any) connection this supernatural story has on his forthcoming Young Adult novel. To read “Seeking boarder for rm w/ attached bathroom, must be willing to live with ghosts ($500 / Berkeley)” and an exercise on playing with the logistics of genre stories, click here. Currently, he lives in Oakland, CA, working a freelance writer and content creation consultant. in Economics from Stanford, and used to work in the field of international development. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins, and a B.A. His stories have appeared in Clarkesworld, The Indiana Review, Apex, and Nature.

Rahul Kanakia’s young adult novel, Enter Title Here (its actual title, not a typo) will be published by Disney-Hyperion in Fall 2015. Rahul Kanakia is the author of the forthcoming YA novel Enter Title Here and this cool, weird ghost story in Clarkesworld.

Enter Title Here by Rahul Kanakia