John O'Brien (novelist)

John O'Brien

John O'Brien (21 May 1960 – 10 April 1994) was an American author. His first novel Leaving Las Vegas was published in 1990 by Watermark Press and made into a film of the same name in 1995.

Life and career

O'Brien was born in Oxford, Ohio, where his parents, Bill and Judy O'Brien, were both students at Miami University. He was the brother of writer Erin O'Brien. John grew up in Brecksville and Lakewood, Ohio, and graduated from Lakewood High School in 1978. He married Lisa Kirkwood in 1979, and the couple moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1982. His first novel, Leaving Las Vegas, is dedicated to her.

Through a friend of his ex-wife, O'Brien got a gig writing Episode 37 of the animated series Rugrats, "Toys in the Attic", which premiered in 1992 under his only known pseudonym, Carroll Mine. According to his sister, Erin, he was unhappy with editorial changes made to his script.^[1]

O'Brien committed suicide by gunshot two weeks after learning that his novel, Leaving Las Vegas, was to be made into a movie. His father says that the novel was his suicide note. Two more of his novels were published posthumously: Stripper Lessons (Grove Press, 1997) and The Assault on Tony's (Grove Press, 1996), both of which had been left unfinished at the time of his death and were completed by his sister, Erin.^[1] A third manuscript, Better, was published by Akashic Press in 2009.

Bibliography

• O'Brien, John (1990). Leaving Las Vegas. Wichita, Kansas: Watermark Press. ISBN 978-0-922820-12-2. OCLC 22766437. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
• O'Brien, John (1996). The Assault on Tony's. New York: Grove Press. ISBN 978-0-8021-1592-8. OCLC 34149431. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
• O'Brien, John (1997). Stripper Lessons. New York: Grove Press. ISBN 978-0-8021-3507-0. OCLC 35593676. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
• O'Brien, John (2008). "The Tik". In Keene, Jarret; Pierce, Todd James. Las Vegas noir. Brooklyn, New York: Akashic Books. ISBN 978-1933354491. OCLC 182529221. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
• O'Brien, John (2009). Better: a novel. Brooklyn, New York: Akashic Books. ISBN 978-1933354828. OCLC 373484234. Retrieved 17 February 2016.

References

1. "Erin O’Brien interview November 28, 2005". QRD No. 29. Silbermedia. 28 November 2005. Retrieved 12 March 2011.

External links

• John O'Brien at the Internet Movie Database
• (Italian) interview with Erin O'Brien
• Katz, Ian (3 March 1996). "Death wish novelist". New Straits Times. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
• Nashawaty, Chris (10 November 1995). "John O'Brien's bittersweet departure". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
• O'Brien, Erin (19 July 2009). "Clues in John O'Brien's 'Better'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
• Whitney, Brian (23 October 2015). "Revisiting "Leaving Las Vegas" and the Final Days of John O'Brien". The Fix. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
• Heaton, Michael (25 September 2009). "Erin O'Brien keeps the flame for her brother, author John O'Brien, while staring [sic] her own literary fire". Cleveland Plain Dealer. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
• Pirina, Garin (28 October 2015). "Leaving Las Vegas and the Writer Who Didn't Live to See It". Esquire. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
• Dold, Gaylord (23 August 2013). "John O'Brien, Leaving Las Vegas, Alcohol and Death". Gaylord Dold [blog]. Retrieved 17 February 2016.