"I think of 'My First Shot' as a story about memory -- the power of unbidden memory, and the emptiness of memory as a substitute for the future. I wanted the focus to stay on the moment the old man pulls the trigger, rather than on any elaborate and, most probably, unsatisfactory reasons for doing so. What interests me as a writer is moments like those; moments in which our frailties are laid bare, and our humanity has a chance to be heard."