Author Cory O’Brien chatted about his new book “Two Truths and a Lie,” which was released on March 4th via Pantheon.
Cory O’Brien is the author of Zeus Grants Stupid Wishes and George Washington Is Cash Money. He has written for numerous award-winning video games, which include Monster Prom and Holovista, and designed multiple tabletop games, including Inhuman Conditions and Hand to Hand Wombat. He lives in Chicago.
What inspired you to write this book?
When I was in art school, a classmate of mine brought in a “book” she’d sewn out of one-dollar bills. It was meant to be a metaphor about how information was the new currency.
I decided to take it literally. I’ve always been a bit paranoid about the way my data is collected – I never made a Facebook account in my name, and I refuse to input my phone number when I check out at Walgreens – so it was a natural jump from that to thinking about a world of widespread, grassroots surveillance where privacy is wealth.
Was it a cathartic process for you to write this?
Oh yeah. The main character, Orr, is so gross in a way that I try not to be. He’s also old, and rude, and difficult to rile. It was liberating to get to write someone with so many traits that I lack. To let the intrusive thoughts win, for once.
What did writing this book teach you about yourself?
I lost three people I really cared about while I was working on this book – my grandfather, my brother, and a dear friend from grad school. The book helped me explore those losses: the unavoidable losses we accumulate throughout life, but also the avoidable ones, the people who lose their way and leave us all behind, wondering how we could have helped.
I don’t think I’d have the same understanding of my own grief without this book.
How does it feel to be an author in the digital age? (Now with streaming, technology and social media being so prevalent)
I don’t love it. There’s so much content out there that it feels like a constant struggle just to stay visible. I would prefer to create my work and then step back, but that just doesn’t feel realistic on the modern internet. I’ve got to keep the signal fires lit, as it were.
I also worry for prose writing specifically, because there are so many kinds of media out there that are easier to consume than books, so it can be an uphill battle to capture folks’ attention.
That said, the mercurial nature of the internet has an upside: you never know what random algorithmic eddy will snatch up your work and make it a hit. I’ve been the beneficiary of those strange currents more than once.
Were there any moments in your career that have helped define you?
I used to retell myths on my blog, Better Myths. I was just goofing around at the start, but that blog ended up being the seed of everything that came after.
It got me my first book deal, which got me my first videogame writing job, and it connected me with another writer who was doing a similar bit at the time, who is now one of my dearest friends.
If I hadn’t been willing to put myself out there and do something dumb online, I wouldn’t be talking to you now.
What is your advice for young and aspiring authors?
Lots of people will tell you to read and write as much as you can, and to get your work out there in front of as many people as possible. I do think all that’s true.
Success is a crapshoot, and the more dice you roll, the better your odds. But more important than any of that, I think, is to keep an eye on why you’re an aspiring writer in the first place.
What do you enjoy about writing? What makes it fun? Because if it ever stops being fun, if you’re ever just doing it because you feel like you have to, then you’ve missed the whole point of the exercise.
We do this because we dream of making a profession out of a passion. If it gets to feeling like just another job, why not just do something that pays better?
What would you like to tell our readers about this book?
I think everyone’s going to take something different from the book. It’s a story about how the same information can mean wildly different things to different people, so I’m hesitant to tell people what they should get from it.
Really, I just hope people have as much fun reading it as I had writing it. I like making people laugh. Anything they learn about themselves or about the world is a bonus.
His book is available on digital service providers by clicking here.
To learn more about author Cory O’Brien, check out his official website.
