Pedro Proença Interview

So, Pedro. Do you believe you may be the only Brazilian Bizarro to this day? What is the writing scene like there?

I'm not sure I'm the only one. I would love to find others, specially right here in Rio de Janeiro. If I ever discover more Bizarros around here, we'll build a magical carpet to fly us all to BizarroCon. As for the writing scene in Brazil today, I got to tell you, it is very bleak. Call me anti-patriotic, but I can't read Brazilian writers today. We're a country with a great tradition of writers, like Machado de Assis, José de Alencar, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, among others, who were truly great. Our writers nowadays are mediocre, at best.

 What got you into writing in the first place? Was this a lifelong interest or did you fall into by accident?

When I was a kid, I used to read a lot of comic books, and I began designing characters. I had a notebook filled with origin stories, descriptions of the powers, aliases, etc. When I was about 16, I started wanting to write something. I participated in a online workshop in a social media website, that lasted for about a year or two. After that, I wrote some Erotica, encouraged by a friend of mine, and that was it. I still wrote occasionally, but my ideas seemed very “weird” and “non-traditional”. Then, I discovered Bizarro in 2013, and my whole world changed.

Considering you live in Brazil, we are dying to know if you’ve ever been in combat with a piranha. If so, what is the best way to kick its ass?

The word “piranha” is already in Portuguese, no translation necessary, did you know that? Answering the question: Yes, they fall out of the sky after a hard wind. You're walking down the street when suddenly they start to fall all over you. To defeat them, you just need to take one in your hand and bite it's head off. The other ones will see you're crazy enough to bring a piranha close to your face and bite it, so they'll just accept the fact that they landed near the wrong son of a bitch and die on the floor, resigned.

Fun fact: In Brazil, “piranha” is slang for “whore."

 You are stranded on a desert island. You would kill for an ice-cold popsicle, but all you have with you are three books. What would you want them to be?

“Murder on the Orient Express” by Agatha Christie, “American Gods” by Neil Gaiman “The Bible”, by God. Just kidding about the bible thing. The third one would be “The Stand”, by Stephen King.

In your honest, unbiased opinion, do you think people should vote for Pedro?

YES! For Emperor of the Universe! Under my ruling, candy would be free for everyone, and Bizarro books would be required reading in every school in the world.

We need to know; what is your favorite flavor of popsicle?

Passion fruit. I don't know if you have those over there, but they are the best thing ever. The only thing about them I don't like is the damn seeds. It's awful to bite one, they taste horrible. But, after a long day off biting piranhas's heads off, some passion fruit seeds are a real treat.

And there you have it! Thanks a million for you time, Pedro, and we are happy to have you aboard! Look for Pedro’s story How Billy Bob Jones Changed the World in Fireside Press’s upcoming anthology, Fireside Popsicles!