by Luke Kondor
You may have seen one of Ben Arzate’s thorough book reviews on CulturedVultures.com and taken him for some kind of… book reviewer. But he’s much, much more than that. This guy is a master reviewer! He reviews his own pants at the end of each night — Must try harder, needs to loosen up. This is the man who reviewed his own birth! — Mum you could’ve taken a more offensive strategy here. And he’s even been known to review short interviews with himself… so I better up my game.
But on top of all that, he’s an incredible author, pushing bizarro fiction to new and interesting places. Today we’re going to turn the tables on the master-reviewer / taker-to-places and find out what makes him tick.
Here we go…
WHO – I’m basically just some asshole from who puts words on pages. Sometimes they published.
WHAT – I wish I knew.
WHERE – Iowa. Stop laughing.
ISN’T THERE SOME KIND OF FAMOUS BAND FROM IOWA!?
WAITAMINUTE…
NOTABLE WORK – The Story of the Y and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Saying Goodbye
WHAT DO YOU WRITE WITH – A keyboard. Sometimes with my dick dipped in blood.
ONE WORD THAT BEST DESCRIBES YOUR MIND – Why?
CAN WE SEE A PICTURE OF WHERE YOU WRITE –
WHAT WAS YOUR INTRODUCTION TO BIZARRO – Some of Carlton Mellick III’s short stories that I stumbled on online over a decade ago.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE BIZARRO-ADJACENT MOVIE OR BOOK – Videodrome for film. Invisible Cities for book.
HOW DO YOU RECHARGE – I don’t. I’m just going to keep on keeping on until my heart pops.
WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS – Anyone except family. Never show them this. Ever.
Well, there you have it…
Join us next week where we’ll interview Mr and Mrs Arzate. Until then, however, why not check out Ben’s books over on Amazon.com and be sure to keep up with his reviews over on CulturedVultures.com where he regularly reviews bizarro books, sneezing forth the great works of bizarro like literary influenza.
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How I Weird is a series of mini-interviews conducted by Luke Kondor, looking to celebrate the bizarro genre and the people who work in it. If you would like to be featured, then drop him (me) a line on Twitter at @Lukeofkondor.
Check out more of his nonsense at www.lukekondor.com.
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