Ankit Raj Ojha, the editor of THE BARE BONES BOOK OF HUMOUR, interviewed contributing writer Merlin Flower about their story ‘Robes and Roles’.

Cursed by a disgruntled mortal, a god bleeds for a change. Is there any image, phrase, idea, place, person, or memory that became the seed for the story?

No, not really. The story is some of the questions I grapple with. 

Tell us about your perspective on humour and its place in writing and in life.

We do gravitate towards the one that will make us laugh or smile. Often, I may read an intense book and seek a breather in a book that does otherwise. In this case, to answer your question, life reflects arts and vice versa. (If you think people run to enjoy my company, I praise you but that doesn’t happen—at all.) 

What are the things, works, and authors that have influenced your writing? 

The list is never-ending. If I may point to a few—Vladimir Novokov, Chekov, Saul Bellow, Arundhati Roy, Martin Amis, Thiruvalluvar, Bharati, Ian Rankin, Agatha Christie, P.G. Wodehouse, and it goes on.