John Z Pigeon interview

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

When did your love of books begin?

I fell in love with books while tending sheep, as a boy, on the banks of the Danube in the former Yugoslavia. I was meant to be a shepherd and I later went to veterinary school, out of shame, I started reading Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Yesenin, Gogol but also Cronin, Whitman, Sartre, Kafka, Beckett, Orwell and Wilde. All in all, just so passers-by don't think I'm a shepherd. And here I am now.

When did you start to have the wish to become an author?

Much later ... I finished primary and secondary school as an excellent student and the Faculty of Forestry in Zagreb. That part of my life greatly determined me as a future writer. War, addiction, alcoholism, the first signs of depression ... It was everything else but studying. After the prolonged study I finally graduated, got married and had a wonderful child. After a while, I got depressed, tried to commit suicide and  was hospitalized many times . It was a long and difficult recovery . I do not want to talk about it too much . So  after that, I believe everyone is ready to become an author in a way.

How have you found the process for becoming an author?

I have already answered that part in the previous question. I became an author to get bad things that should not remain inside out of myself. It is always easier when it is put on paper.

What would you say to those wanting to become an author?

Not to become an author if there is no permanent income.

Tell us about your book/books:

It is an autobiographical book consisting of two parts. The first part is a fable-fiction. I placed my protagonist - myself (Junior) in the form of a competitive homing pigeon  who grows up and lives in New York. All locations are authentic and rely mainly on parts of the city associated with oppression, addiction, prostitution, homophobia but also garage rock and protopunk. (Park Ramble, CBGB-club, intersection of Lexington Avenue and 125th Street, Factory -Andy Warhol, etc.). So what I went through in Croatia I transferred to New York.

(By the way, in which I have never been.)

The second part of the book is called - Small workshop for fixing real bullshit

It is the narrative part, in which I bring from my experience, my recovery from the abyss of depression. I don't give any advice, I just share my experience, which may or may not be helpful to other people. If it helps, then no one is happier more  than me.

What do you love about the writing/reading community?

Frankly, I do not feel like part of that community. At least, the writing one. Writers  rather tend to keep to themselves and rarely engage with each others work, so it is really hard to form some kind of firm bond with any of them. Readers, on the other hand, are something completely different. Reading community has pleasantly suprised me in many ways. They all love to make friends and new connections. I find them rather pleasant and nice to be around, at least in the digital world.

If you could say anything to your readers what would it be?

I would like to address those who suffer from depression ...

Everyone tells you: You are not alone.

That's bullshit.

In all the most important decisions in your life, you are alone. And in a whirlwind of suicidal thoughts you are alone. You are always alone. The decision is always up to you.

But ... from my personal experience ... I beg you.

Ask for help.

So if it's a scream ... let it be your scream.

Don't be ashamed of yourself.

You deserve it.

You are worth it.

And you can recover.

Checked...

I love you all !

Where can people connect with you?

 People can find me on my main twitter(@ trashpige0ns) and my side account(@ silent_pige0n)

@ trashpige0ns

@ silent_pige0n