Anonymous Office Workers of the World Unite!: An Interview

In the following interview, The Opiate’s Anton Bonnici (AB) poses a few questions to Genna Rivieccio (GR) about her latest book (a.k.a. massive tome), Diary of an Anonymous Midtown Office Worker in the 2010s. The context of the book is presented as a diary that’s been found many years in the future by a team of archaeologists who no longer have any idea what this … Continue reading Anonymous Office Workers of the World Unite!: An Interview

“The Things I Once Enjoyed Just Keep Me Employed Now”: On the Benefits of Artistic Obscurity

There is an undeniable sadness to knowing that—short of a goddamn miracle—you’re going to end up dying in obscurity like Kafka. Oh sure, you can tell yourself you’ll be that “rare exception” and that you’ve got “true talent” (as if that’s what publishing is about) that outshines all the rest, but you may eventually find that you aren’t rare and talent isn’t enough. And yet, … Continue reading “The Things I Once Enjoyed Just Keep Me Employed Now”: On the Benefits of Artistic Obscurity

We Are All Gregor Samsa Now

Few knew better than Franz Kafka that life, if nothing else, is an inexplicably cruel joke. Seemingly orchestrated by an invisible sadist (sometimes called God). That the very term “Kafkaesque” is designed to connote a nightmarish tableau in which all signs of logic and reason have vanished in favor of convoluted blether is telling of his impact on our lives. Our lives in which dealing … Continue reading We Are All Gregor Samsa Now