Please join me in welcoming the newest member of the Eraserhead Press Team, Troy Chambers. I am very proud to announce that Troy is our new office assistant at the Bizarro Headquarters in Portland, Oregon. Eraserhead Press has seen enormous growth in the past year and we are extremely happy to have Troy on board. He will be assisting us with various projects from copy editing to web design. Troy has been a fan and supporter of Bizarro Fiction since he was 16 years old and has been an active member of the Bizarro community online and has volunteered to help with the organization of BizarroCon for the past two years. Troy is an enthusiastic, talented, passionate person and we are very excited that he has joined our team full time.
I conducted this brief interview with Troy that I would like to share with you:
What makes you the perfect person for this job?
“ Bizarro is everything to me- I’m the type to sleep in the office (or not sleep at all) to get the job done. I seriously believe in Eraserhead Press- and Bizarro as a whole- and I’m willing to put in the time and energy it takes (plus a little extra) to keep this thing we have running smoothly. I came from Connecticut to Portland last last year for BizarroCon, and never left. I’d been wanting to move in closer to the action for years, and once here I just couldn’t get back on the plane to leave. When I was offered the chance to be added to the core Eraserhead Press team, I knew that finally I’d found a job that’s not a filler job- this is an opportunity to stay with something that I love. Once you start working at a place where you feel guilty when you’re not at the office, when being there and working is what you look forward to every day- THEN you know you’re in the place you need to be. I’m really glad that I’m so lucky to be in that place. I’m here, I’m willing and able, I’m ready to go. Vivat Bizarro!!”
What does Bizarro mean to you?
“What’s Bizarro to me? Pure unadulterated joy. When I first found Bizarro I knew it’s where I needed to be- it’s what I had been searching for, and had yet to find. When I found it, I knew I couldn’t rest until I was able to help it in any way that I could. Like I said before, Bizarro is my everything. I eat sleep drink and breath to be with these books, and the wonderful authors who create them. Bizarro really has found a way to bring readers what they want- the fun, weird and otherwise homeless books that usually would cause a publisher to scoff: ‘We could never publish THAT!!’ Bizarro isn’t like that. Bizarro, and Eraserhead Press, is willing to take those chances because it knows there ARE people who want to read those books, and plenty of them. They were also willing to take the chance on a goofy guy ecstatic to be able to be involved and help the company, and for that I’m ever grateful. I’m SO happy to be here!”
What were your first few days working at Eraserhead Press like?
“I knew instantly that I had been invited into the best job ever. When I first came in to start working, I knew that this is what I wanted to keep doing. I came in to the Eraserhead Press offices the first time to do edits and work on Whargoul, Dave Brockie’s new book out through Deadite Press. It was really an amazing opportunity to get to work on that book- a big responsibility, a serious project, but something that I was trusted with enough to get to work on. I was impressed and got pulled into the Eraserhead atmosphere right away- hard work, but on something the Team cares about, with people who are mutually helpful, supportive and fun. The Eraserhead Team is great- working with Rose, Carlton, Cameron and Jeff is an absolute dream. The place is fun, inviting and fast paced- the kind of place where a day at work can be made up of working like crazy to meet a deadline, helping an author get better at their work, or playing video games and watching weird movies. Eraserhead Press is just as awesome on the inside and in the offices as its books- maverick strangeness that’s a hell of a lot of fun. “
What are your five favorite Bizarro books right now?
“Do I really have to choose just five? I’ve yet to read a Bizarro book I really disliked. Having to choose is little trying to pick a favorite pet… Alright though, in no particular order: The Emerald Burrito of Oz by John Skipp and Marc Levinthal, The Egg Man by Carlton Mellick III, Shall We Gather At The Garden? by Kevin Donihe, Ass Goblins of Aushwitz by Cameron Pierce, and How To Eat Fried Furries by Nicole Cushing. I don’t know if I’d put it on the list since I can only choose five, but Apeshit is close to my favorite TYPE of Bizarro novel- the really violent and over-the-type gore books, filled with insane and ridiculous humor. In a book, I like laughter with my blood.”
