William O'Brien — an interview with the author of Flanders, George and His Pimavanserin
✱ Support the writer
Tip the author $2+$10+ earns the story's house trading card, $20+ the limited edition. We email you a claim code.
50% of tips go straight to the author. The rest covers processing fees and keeps Foofaraw running. Every dollar accounted for.
Are you a big fan of crows?
I confess my obsession is more with pigeons—my favorites! But writing a story from the POV of a bird is hard enough without benefitting from the intelligence of a crow. It’s hard to imagine Pimavanserin snatching french fries off the ground, adorable though that is.
Have you ever had an extended interaction with a crow or witnessed one do something impressive?
Haven’t we all wanted to? We’ve all seen videos of crows convincing humans to do their dirty work for them. My favorites are when you can sense their trust and tenderness, like when they wait atop a water fountain for a passerby to press the button for them.
Do you think there’s a happy ending for George and Pimavanserin?
Emphatically yes. I hope this story leaves its readers with a sense that George and Pimavanserin share a communion despite their mutual lack of understanding. The challenges George faces are serious beyond a crow’s ability to solve. But the two are better for knowing one another. And that, for them, I think is enough.
How many times has this story been rejected by other markets?
Nine times! Its very first submission was to a contest from Apparition Lit. They offered a photograph by Graciela Iturbide as the prompt for this story back in 2022. Though I later received form rejections from the other eight markets, Clarke from the Apparition Lit team reached out to share how much this story had touched them. I was very thankful for this encouragement in the early stages of my writing. But I’m thrilled it’s finally found its home in Foofaraw. Really, I couldn’t be happier.
What’s a great short story you’ve read recently?
I’m up to my neck in the classics while in my second year of my MFA. What story touched me the most recently was “Bullet in the Brain” by Tobias Wolff. What a triumph. For a more contemporary example, I was really excited by “Trimming” by Kara Crawford published in TriQuarterly. Here at Foofaraw, I really enjoyed “Small Potatoes” by E. Florian Gludovacz.
What book are you reading right now?
I just finished “Between Two Fires” by Christopher Buehlman—not for the faint of heart. Before that was “Hunchback” by Saou Ichikawa—also not for the faint of heart, though for different reasons. Now I’ve begun “Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro. Tell me, if you know, is it for the faint of heart?
Do you have anything else you’d like to share?
Only that “Flanders, George and His Pimavanserin” was my very first work accepted for publication. It’s a quiet little story but holds a special place in my heart.