Not Not Famous - 008 - Alex Osman
embrace the infamy
WHAT ARE YOU?
I'm a 29 year old man who accidentally walked in on the Budd Dwyer live suicide video when I was 5 years old, and I assume that did some lasting damage to my brain, because now I've written two books.
WHAT KEEPS YOU UP AT NIGHT?
There's these little people who walk around under my bed at night. One is named Jesco and he looks like Ernie from My Three Sons. They turn on the TV to watch Joel Osteen, and Jesco keeps whispering into my ear, "This guy has the eyes of a fiend." So that keeps me up all night.
WHAT WAS YOUR WORST REACTION TO A REJECTION?
Rejection has been a big part of my life since the day I was born, so I'm not too bothered by it in adulthood. I just move on with my life and accept that it wasn't meant to happen. But you'll never know the answer if you don't go for it, and I'd rather go for it and get rejected than never try at all. Maybe one of the worst when I was younger was when I was 6 years old and I wanted an action figure of Ace Frehley from KISS from the flea market, but my mom said no. I tried shoving the thing down my pants and walking out with it, but my mom caught me and beat the hell out of me in front of everyone. I reacted by climbing a tree and refusing to climb back down.
WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF EXPOSING IN YOUR WORK?
I'm not really afraid of exposing anything. My favorite writers are all openly flawed and allowed themselves to be vulnerable in their work. Unless you're talking about exposing government secrets or something, then I don't know, I'm not afraid of them either. What are they gonna do, find me and chop me up into little pieces and dump me into various rivers throughout the country? At least I'll finally get to travel.
WHAT WILL YOU DO IF YOU RUN OUT OF IDEAS?
Kill myself or remake Flubber.
WHAT ARE YOU HERE TO PLUG?
My new book Scandals just came out, so there's that one. But I'd also recommend a book called Crimson Stain by Jim Fisher. It's a true crime novel about Edward Gingerich, the Amish guy convicted of homicide who would run around on all fours and bark like a dog. It's one of my favorite books ever written. I'd also plug anything by Thomas Moore and Audrey Szasz, my two favorite modern writers.
Alex Osman is a writer, musician, and photographer from Austin, TX. He makes music through the death-industrial/power electronics project, A Need to Be Shot. His works include, Problem Child, Burgermeister, The Kennedy Vertigo, and Scandals. His father was the late Paul Reubens.