Welcome back to another week of Bizarro Books as Resistance. For the third installment, I was lucky enough to interview John Baltisberger. John is the author of the Wonderland Award winning book All I Want is to Take Shrooms and Listen to the Color of Nazi Screams, among numerous others. He also runs Madness Heart Press, which publishes all kinds of transgressive and experimental horror.
I first met John at last year’s BizarroCon in Astoria and have enjoyed getting to know him since. I find his dedication to radical art and his work ethic inspiring. And I’m excited to share how his lived experiences and his politics help shape the stories he puts out into the world for us.
Andrew: John, first, would you please tell me a little about your background and how that has influenced your own writing?
John: So, I grew up in Texas. Half my family was Southern Baptist, and the other half was wealthy. Despite the familial wealth, my parents were pretty much on their own. So I got to experience homelessness and poverty while, at the same time, never actually having any of my needs go unmet. My parents got a divorce when I was around three, and I spent a LOT of time with my grandparents out in East Texas or North Texas, depending on the set.
Having grown up all over Texas, a lot of my books are set in various parts of the state, and a lot of what I’ve written deals with southern characters. While “Liberal” Austin is my hometown, there was plenty of ass-backwards thinking going on. I often got called feminine for reading or using big words. When I tried to come out of the closet in high school, my parents’ reactions weren’t encouraging. Some of my mom’s oldest friends have always been queer and my dad’s best friend is a gay man living with HIV. Despite these relationships, my mom initially told me bi people were greedy, and my dad was still in “using gay to mean bad” joke mode. So back into the closet I went.
All this to say, bigotry and ignorance are often “the big bad” in my novels. I consider misogyny and greed to be the biggest vehicles of evil in this world, and I think this largely comes from my experience with both in my day-to-day life.
A: Thank you for sharing all of that. So now that I better understand where you are coming from, can you tell me what political resistance means to you?
J: Political Resistance is a crazy thing. Oftentimes, I think people get tied up in the idea that if you aren’t doing XYZ, you aren’t resisting. I think the current zeitgeist is a perfect example. You see billionaires melting down and claiming it’s terrorism to not buy specific cars. But I wasn’t going to buy a goddamn Tesla anyway. So is CONTINUING to not buy Tesla or go to Target resistance? What about going to protest? If it doesn’t change a Senate vote? My partner asked me if protests did anything, and I responded that I think what is required is a riot.
But I’m not rioting. So, am I resisting? It’s a complex topic, and I think the first key to resistance is survival and the survival of the self. Not only physically, but also emotionally and intellectually.
A: Absolutely. Do you see your own writing as a form of political resistance, or do you view your work as an author and your work as an activist as separate endeavors?
J: … beyond a shadow of a doubt. I write anti-authoritarian books. Almost everything I pen is about fighting against some form of authoritarianism. I was taught in high school that the first people to get killed by fascists and tyrants are the artists and poets. And it’s because art spurs action like nothing else. I don’t think there is anything more important to sustained and meaningful action than art. As a publisher as well as an author, I also take pains to focus on publishing anti-authoritarian work by authors like Charles R. Bernard, John Chambers, Austin Shirey, and Robert Guffey. Promoting and lifting up weird and anti-authoritarian authors is just as important as my own work.
A: How important is it to you to incorporate your politics into your writing, to write anti-authoritarian books, and how do you balance the story as its own standalone creature with the story as a tool of resistance?
J: It’s 100% important. I never consider how to balance a story against resistance. I try to make each story I write a fully realized and living tale–one that wears the coat of hatred for all fascism in every facet of its being.
A: Since its inception, the bizarro genre has always been viewed as underground, outsider literature. How do you think its counterculture nature (where just about anything goes) can inspire the genre into being an outlet where books of resistance flourish?
J: What I’ve noticed is that there are no holds barred. It’s been pointed out to me that when most people write Nazis, they do so with sleek and sexy evil masterminds that are plotting destruction. Whereas Jews tend to paint Nazis as bumbling shitfuckers who can barely tie their own shoes. Bizarro is a perfect place to explore the bumbling nature of fascism. We can paint it any color we want, we can call out anything and anyone in any way, and so long as it’s interesting, the bizarro community will probably be into it. It allows for unfettered creativity where we are ONLY worried about the story and message, and the common sensibilities can be left on the doorstop.
And I’m the worst at this. My books, even my bizarro, tend to be rooted in realism. So I’m far less four-color than a lot of my peers, but Bizarro also lets us be that. There are no rules holding us back, we can be as understated or as gonzo as we like, and it ALL works.
A: Thank you so much for your time and your insights. With that in mind, which bizarro books are your favorite examples of resistance literature?
J: That’s really hard for me to answer as there are so, so, so many good ones. Let me give you three not by me:
Hungry Bug by Carlton Mellick III
Cursing Home by John Chambers
City of Spores by Austin Shirey
(an honorable mention for All Hail the House Gods by you, and ALL I WANT IS TO TAKE SHROOMS AND LISTEN TO THE COLOR OF NAZI SCREAMS by yours truly)
A: Lastly, why Cursing Home? How does Cursing Home act as a book of resistance?
J: Cursing Home by John Chambers is an extremely light romp. It’s a lightning-fast read, which I think is helpful when you are trying to reach people, but the message is exponentially clear. Between the exploited vulnerable populations, people’s greed, and corrupting power, we can clearly see the lines drawn between a cycle of vindication. There are VERY few good people in the book, and by the end, you realize that standardized cruelty and dehumanization are the greatest catalysts for fascism there is.
A: Thank you again, John. I love that not only do you write your own books of political resistance, but you use that same approach to help lift other voices of resistance through your efforts as a publisher. I can’t wait to see what books you create for us next.
And just like that, another week of Bizarro Books as Resistance has passed. Be sure to check in next Tuesday for the fourth installment of the series. And, as always, if there’s a bizarro author you’d like to see interviewed for this series, feel free to suggest their name in the comments. Until next time…
If Andrew J. Stone were a dinosaur, he’d be an Apatosaurus. If he were a superhero, he’d be Marx. If he were to have a cat, her name would be Alice, and he’d be living in a residence that allowed pets. He is the author of the novellas The Mortuary Monster (2016), All Hail the House Gods (2018), and The Ultimate Dinosaur Dance-Off (2020). His short stories have appeared in Hobart, New Dead Families, and DOGZPLOT, among other places. His work has been translated into Spanish by the Colombian publisher Ediciones Vestigio. He lives in Los Angeles, surrounded by beauty and dread.
This post may contain affiliate links. Further details, including how this supports the bizarro community, may be found on our disclosure page.
