By: JP Sylvester, Contributing Writer

On Tuesday, Feb. 4, author and Alabama native Daniel Wallace visited South Alabama’s campus. Wallace is best known for his 1998 novel “Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions,” which has been adapted into both a film and a Broadway musical. After visiting a writing class in the afternoon, Wallace spoke to students, faculty, and visitors in the Terrace at the Student Center. The main topic of Wallace’s talk was his most recent publication: the memoir “This Isn’t Going to End Well,” released in 2023. The memoir, which is Wallace’s first nonfiction work, explores the life of Wallace’s late brother-in-law, who lived a diverse and colorful life before dying by suicide. The Vanguard’s  J.P. Sylvester caught up with Wallace after his talk for a brief interview. 

J.P. SYLVESTER: This is sort-of a fun opener: what’s an interview question that you are tired of hearing?

DANIEL WALLACE: I respect everybody who has any question at all, because I may know the answer. I may have told 100,000 people… but they haven’t heard the answer. So every time I feel like it’s a new question.

J.S.: That’s a great answer. For the benefit of “The Vanguard” readers who weren’t at the event, what’s your basic elevator pitch for “This Isn’t Going to End Well?”

D.W.: It’s a book about a relationship between my brother-in-law and myself. My brother in-law was a man who, after a long and seemingly wonderful life, takes his own life at the age of 48, and how we understand that today.

J.S.: All right. On a different note, do you know what a “hot take” is?

D.W.: Yeah.

J.S.: Do you have any hot takes?

D.W.: (Laughs) I do have hot takes!

J.S.: Are there any that you’re comfortable sharing with a student newspaper?

D.W.: Oh my God… I think that… What’s her name? Roan Chappell?

J.S.: Chappell Roan.

D.W.: I think she’s a flash in the pan.

J.S. Last question: If you could have lunch with any writer, living or dead, who would you have lunch with?

D.W.: [Vladimir] Nabakov.