We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sebastian Vice. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sebastian below.

Hi Sebastian , thanks for joining us today. Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?

Neda Aria is a marvelous woman. I have the honor of calling her a dear friend, and writing ally. I recently showed her a short story, not expecting much. I guess it really resonated with her. She said it was the most “me” piece she’s seen, and strongly encouraged me to expand the story into a novel or novella.

People hate spoilers. So below are story spoilers (I can’t explain her impact without it). You’ve been warned.

In the process of expansion, I learned I was writing about my father, and managed to close a loop on a haunting memory. I never really knew my father. In 2002, he killed himself in a park by my school. I don’t know why. I still don’t. I never will. But now I have a possible answer. Is it THE reason? I don’t know. But it’s a reason, and that’s good enough.

I also reconnected to myself. In drilling into the pain of my father, I became more whole. I owe this to her. Sure, I had to work through the pain, but Neda was there to walk with me through hell. Words can’t express what that means to me. She saved my life.

I’m quite pessimistic in general, with an overall nihilistic worldview. For me, the world is imbued with suffering at every level. Yet, I’ve been fortunate to, somehow, survive this long with the kindness of people throughout my life. Neda is one such person, My mother is another. Paige Johnson, Outcast Press’ Co-Founder and EIC, yet another. And of course, Cody Sexton.

Picking one moment, or act, or event, is hard. But it would take a novel to spell each out. And arguably each was the kindest at the time. I’m here but for the grace of people who believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.

Sebastian , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

There’s a temptation to drone on about myself. I’d rather talk about Outcast Press. We at Outcast Press focus on transgressive fiction, dirty realism and outsider lit. You probably don’t know what those are. Google does a well enough job, so I’ll let the search engine be your guide. I think it’s fun to stumble on google gems. Have at it, and enjoy getting lost down rabbit holes.

We are a small, but dedicated team, operating in a niche market. Our aim is to provide a home to the stories the mainstream maligns. We don’t like sanitation, formulaic narratives, or authors who play it safe. We want to take you places you don’t want to go. When you pick up an Outcast book, we hope it slams your brain like pure uncut Columbian cocaine. Do we succeed on this front? You’ll have to be the judge. Be warned: we aren’t for the faint of heart.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I hail from a literary movement called Dangerous Writing pioneered by Tom Spanbauer. You might not be familiar with Tom, but my guess is you’re familiar with one of his more famous students: Chuck Palahniuk. Other luminaries include Monica Drake, and Cheryl Strayed.

One component of dangerous writing is to use writing to work through something painful. Often through metaphor. The idea is to isolate the painful memory, event, etc, then exhaust it through writing. By the end, the goal is you’ll have imbued each scene with that raw emotion, and run it dry. And hopefully at the end, resolved it. This is how I understand it. Though I admit, Chuck or Tom could do a much better job explaining it.

Publishing is a fickle thing. The beauty of dangerous writing is even if nobody publishes your piece, you’ll still get value from it. Namely. You’ll have worked through something painful or traumatic. And hey, cheaper than a therapist, right?

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

There are several ways to answer this. We live in a capitalist economy, so the obvious and boring answer is: buy their books, leave reviews, recommend their titles to others, etc.

The material conditions of artists are important. Equally, or arguably more important, is to connect with them.

If a piece of art connected with you, reach out. Tell them. You might run into a few who brush you off, but most will appreciate it more than you know. Artistic endeavors are lonely. And at end of the day, what works and doesn’t work, is guess work. It’s hard to know if a piece landed. If it did, for you, why not fire off an email? Post a review and tag them? You will make their day 99% of the time.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.outcast-press.com/
• Instagram: Outcastpress
• Twitter: @Outcastpress

Image Credits
Image 1: Sebastian Vice Image 2: Paige Johnson Image 3: Outcast Press Logo