Interview with Author Olivier Breuleux

We were delighted by how Olivier Breuleux conveyed the tragedy of the human condition in his absurd piece "Mary's Blood." It's also been delightful to learn a little more about the author from our short interview (below), where he discusses his immunity to existential dread (and joy) and how both ravens and writing desks play a mean sax solo. Enjoy!

In your opinion, who is an underrated author that more people should read?

I read the Gormenghast series from Mervyn Peake about a year ago and it was a trip. I wouldn’t say it is necessarily for everyone, but it is delightfully surreal, vivid, and the characterization and writing are unlike anything else I’ve read. I think it’s very much worth reading.

Where do you go when you need to work out a writing block? 

I try to find cozy corners, semi-secluded places that are comfortable yet inspiring. Cafes with nice lighting. Cottages by the mountain. Or if the weather is nice, biking to some of my favorite park benches with a thermos of tea. It works … sometimes.

What are your long-term writing goals? 

I would like to publish a novel at some point. I need to finish it first, though, that’s the problem.

What is your favorite banned book?

I’m not sure which of the books I’ve read are banned. The Handmaid’s Tale? That’s a great one.

If you were a cryptid, what would your name be and what strange habits would people whisper about?

The question assumes I am not already a cryptid. I am the Olivier. I only do things that make people doubt themselves. Whenever you frantically search for your wallet, your car keys, your glasses, only to realize a few minutes later that “oh, silly me, they were in my pockets/on my nose all this time!” It was me. Or maybe it wasn’t!

If you could travel anywhere in the universe, where would it be?

I don’t know, pretty much every place in the universe I can think of outside of Earth is … lethal? I’m down to go to the restaurant at the end of the universe if it turns out it exists.

What is your favorite nostalgic film?

The one that comes to me right now is Dr. Strangelove. I wonder why.

Cursive or print?

Print. My cursive is worse than my doctor’s.

Do you enjoy book series or do you prefer stand-alone novels?

I really want to enjoy a good, long book series, but it’s always a risk to start one. I must have read the first book of six or seven series and then stopped there because they just didn’t hook me well enough. And then I feel bad about it.

How do you cope with existential dread? How about existential joy? 

I don't have the type of personality that looks for outside meaning. I don’t care whether life has a meaning or not, so I’m mostly immune to existential dread or joy. Reality is whatever it is, it doesn’t care to satisfy us or to even be intelligible, it doesn’t owe us anything. There isn’t really anything to do about it except live our lives however we see fit. I think that’s terrifying to many people and that’s unfortunate.

How is a raven like a writing desk? 

They are the same in every way. Both have legs. Both have quills. Both come in black. Edgar Allen Poe wrote on both. Both can fly. Both can live well past two hundred years with the proper lacquer. Both can play a mean solo on the saxophone. Both like a walk on the beach, strawberry ice cream, a romantic evening in Paris, stars in their eyes, sparkles on their beaks, together at last.

Tell us a secret.

No.

If you could purchase one item from David Lynch’s personal collection, recently on auction, what would it be?

I had no intention of answering this question, but then I scrolled through the items and was graced by a glimpse of glory. "The Dream of the Bovine" Unfinished Project Scripts." Not only is the cow illustration top notch, it is apparently about "three guys, who used to be cows, living in Van Nuys and trying to assimilate their lives." I actually want to read this. It sounds hysterical. Plus, I get to complete it. Or not. I don’t know if this comes with the copyright. I hope it does.

P.S. It was sold for 39K. Really?

Olivier is nominally a software developer at an AI institute, but that's just his civilian cover for his secret life as a hyperdimensional world-hopper. Every night he visits an entirely new universe where everything is strange and wrong and writes about what he has witnessed. He hopes to sensitize readers to the plight of all of these poor beings who are stuck in the plot. Unfortunately for him, most people think he's making it all up.