I HOPE HER PUBLISHER SUES ME: Benjamin Scott talks with Brian Alan Ellis

I first heard of Brian Alan Ellis and his press House of Vlad in 2016 with the publication of Sam Pink’s Your Glass Head Against Brick Wall of Now Whats.  Sam had been publishing with the now defunct Lazy Fascist Press and I was excited to see he had found another publisher.  I was thoroughly impressed with the books layout and the content. I started seeing House of Vlad mentioned more often over the years. They published Noah Cicero’s book of poems Nature Documentary in 2018 and then in 2019 everyone on Twitter began raving about Rebekah Morgan’s book of poetry; Hotel Alexander. I had my local library order a copy.I read it and reread it. It was so good! It is a great combination of poems that bleed sincerity but will jump to the experimental format last seen in the early days of Alt-Lit. That’s when I started to venture into more of the House of Vlad backlist. Most of them I found I could read for free online.  It was great, I thought.    

But then the pandemic hit. Suddenly almost everyone was out of work. I kept seeing more and more people say, “And now I’m laid off.” One of those people was Brian Alan Ellis. That’s when I felt bad for reading all those books for free. After all, House of Vlad isn’t some giant corporate publisher. It’s just Brian. I messaged him on Instagram (@depressedwriterasshole) and told him I’d like to pay him for all the books I’d read for free. He was grateful, and sent me PDFs of all the House of Vlad titles for the year.  I immediately started reading his next book of poetry; Bad Poet. I really wanted to interview him but didn’t know where I could get the interview published, in a climate where more and more cultural outlets are shuttering. When I saw that Triangle House was open for pandemic-adjacent interviews, I jumped at the chance. 

Here is that interview.   

How is your pandemic going? Are you sheltering in place? Are you back to work?  What did you do before the pandemic?

I was unemployed for two months, which gave me lots of time to fuck with book projects, though I’ve recently gone back ’cause the restaurant I work at just opened up outside table seating. (I glamorously wait tables.) Originally I’d asked my partner to answer this question for me, and she wrote (as me): “Been mainly eating bologna and cheese sandwiches, hanging with my girlfriend and watching Tales from the Crypt. I tend to drift between my bed, which contains a loaf of bread and some random trash, and her well-organized bed. I’m finally back to work, serving and cracking jokes that nobody laughs at. Before the pandemic I mostly worked, drank, and did drugs with my girlfriend.” She pretty much nailed it. 

How are you staying sane during this?

I like staying home and distancing myself from people regardless, so that hasn’t been much of a problem. My landlord, however, did decide to sell the house I’m renting, which means I’m having to find a new place to live—during a pandemic, no less—so that’s making me a little insane. 

What are you currently reading, watching, listening to?

Besides Tales from the Crypt, my partner and I like to watch Shark Tank, Catfish and RuPaul’s Drag Race. We also watched eight or nine Friday the 13th movies while in quarantine. I’m currently reading Justin Grimbol’s No Music, Troy James Weaver’s Selected Stories, Lindsay Lerman’s I’m From Nowhere, and Samantha Irby’s Wow, No Thank You. As far as music goes: Charli XCX and Carly Rae Jepsen just dropped new records, so those are on heavy rotation. Also, I still listen to Taylor Swift’s Reputation, like, every day. 

What do you miss about normal life?

I wouldn’t consider pre-pandemic life that normal to begin with. Things have always been pretty odd and unsettling. I guess I do miss eating meals that don’t just consist of bologna and cheese sandwiches. Money is tighter right now. 

I enjoyed your new book of poetry; BAD POET. How long did it take you to write it? 

Bad Poet as a whole has been done for about a year. The content itself was written between 2015 and 2019. I pretty much just turned a bunch of my tweets into poems and then started submitting them to poetry journals as a joke. I didn’t think they’d get published. But they did. 

What is the story behind the book/title? Did you set out to write it or is it writing you decided to compile?

The title and cover concept of Bad Poet is just a satirical play on Roxanne Gay’s Bad Feminist. I’m sometimes too clever for my own good *sarcasm* I hope her publisher sues me ’cause I can’t afford a publicist. Bad Poet is basically a sequel to my last poetry collection, Road Warrior Hawk, which was supposed to be double the size. I decided that 224 pages was maybe too much bad poetry to take in at once, so I split the book in two.

Do you really consider yourself a bad poet? Does bad writing exist?

Of course I consider myself a bad poet—I didn’t call the book Good Poet, now did I? *winks* And of course bad writing exists; I’ve definitely written enough of it. 

How long have you been writing?  Did you go to college for writing?  Why do you write? 

I started writing album and concert reviews when I was fifteen. I wrote for both the high school newspaper and my local newspaper, and I made zines for several years. Then I got a LiveJournal (a pre-Facebook social media/blog site where mostly sad emo and goth kids would whine about things) and started writing even worse poetry than I do now, which developed into short stories that would sometimes appear in literary journals. I started publishing books when I was in my thirties. I never went to college. (I didn’t even bother taking the SATs.) I instead did the smart thing: worked shitty jobs while writing, developing drug and alcohol dependencies, navigating bad relationships, and playing in punk bands. I have no clue why. Just seemed like a good idea at the time.  

What authors have influenced you?

Graphic novelists like Daniel Clowes, Adrian Tomine and the Hernandez Brothers were my gateway into literature, most likely. From there it was, like, Bukowski, Henry Miller, Rimbaud, Saroyan, Hubert Selby Jr.—all that angry, romantic male bullshit. Lots of Russian stuff. Then I got into “Kmart Realism”—Larry Brown, Raymond Carver, Lydia Davis, Bobbie Ann Mason, etc.  All the authors I’ve published I find influential. 

In BAD POET there are numerous mentions of crying at the bar. Have you ever cried at a bar? 

 Oh yes. I started crying at bars two years ago. It’s a good way to either be ignored or to freak out everyone around you. 4/5 stars on Yelp dot com.

You mention Carly Rae Jepsen more than any other pop singer. Why?

Simply because she is the best pop singer. Saw her in concert last year. Took Adderall and then sang and danced my ass off the entire time. It was a revelation. A lot of confetti was involved. I recommend reading Hanif Abdurraqib’s essay about going to a Carly Rae Jepsen concert.

Pop culture is big part of your writing, especially 80s/90s pop culture. Do you think nostalgia is good or bad?  

It’s mainly whatever. Probably more bad than good. It’s comforting. It’s unhealthy to get stuck in it. No forward motion. At the same time I enjoy using it as literary device. It helps the reader relate more to the narrative on a certain level, I suppose. It also helps with jumpstarting certain memories and emotions. I also watched too much TV when I was growing up. Also I’m an American, and kind of stupid. 

BAD POET has great poem titles.  Did you think of the titles first or the poems?

Nah, the titles have very little if anything to do with the poems. They’re just leftover tweets that I stuck with other tweets I could make into poems.  

If you are drinking, what is your go to beverage?

I work at a Tex-Mex restaurant so I end up drinking lots of tequila. I’m not really one of those people who drink for pleasure or taste. I drink to change my brain chemistry, to help my anxiety, or to just feel different. Which doesn’t always work for the better. (See: crying at bars.) Also, I don’t like any of those craft/microbrew beers. I prefer Rolling Rock. Or Negro Especial, when I’m feelin’ fancy. I also fuck with Twisted Tea.

Do you have any other writing in progress?

I’m currently working on an awful novel (Hobbies You Enjoy), and also a third omnibus (Something to Do with Sadness, Laughter, Pie and Failure). Might retire after those come out. Check back. 

How long have you been running House of Vlad? 

I used House of Vlad as an imprint when I was putting out these literary zine/chapbooks from 2003-2007. Then I brought it back when I started publishing books in 2013. I wish I’d thought of a better name to use, something like KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME Press. Hmm… that’s good… that’s real good.  

Which do you enjoy writing more poetry or fiction?

I haven’t written a traditional short story in years. I kind of miss it. My novels mostly happen accidentally. I never set out to write them. I don’t even really like novels that much. Or poetry. I prefer short stories. Writing bad poems is chill as fuck. I prefer doing whatever is easiest… whatever gets me the quickest validation.  

 What is your cat's name?

She’s been DEGRASSI, ROCKY IV, THE DIRT, KITTERA, GIRL CAT, KITTA… Right now my cat’s name is CHOAS.

If you could live in any other era which would it be?

It might’ve been nice to be a boomer. As an adult I could’ve done lots of damage to myself in the seventies and eighties. LOTS of damage. 

What book do you enjoy re-reading?

None. I’ll just wait for the Netflix adaptation. 

Bad Poet was released on  June 20—order it at houseofvlad.bigcartel.com

BRIAN ALAN ELLIS is the author of several books, including Sad Laughter (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2018). His writing has appeared at Juked, Hobart, Monkeybicycle, Fanzine, Electric Literature, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Funhouse, Heavy Feather Review, and Queen Mob’s Tea House, among other places. He quarantines in Florida.