BIOGRAPHY
Rob O’Hara is a prolific writer, blogger, and podcaster. He was born, raised, and currently resides in Yukon, Oklahoma with his wife and two children.
Rob fell in love with writing at an early age, contributing articles to both his middle school’s newspaper and high school’s yearbook. In college, Rob served as the editor of his school’s newspaper and yearbook. In 2001, Rob earned an Associate of Arts degree in journalism. In 2015, Rob returned to college and earned a Master of Professional Writing degree from the University of Oklahoma.
Rob is a collector of collections, and maintains an eclectic list of interests and hobbies. He is a subject matter expert on retro arcade games, video games, and computers. He has served as a paid contributor to multiple print magazines including Video Game Collector, Video Game Trader and Forever Retro, and provided content to dozens of websites including Retroist.com, TheLogBook.com, PopCultureRetrorama.com, and Review-O-Matic.com. Most recently, Rob has had short stories published in The Dead Mule of Southern Literature and The Taco Bell Quarterly.
In 2006, Rob published his first book, Commodork: Sordid Tales from a BBS Junkie, which went on to sell thousands of copies. In 2008, Rob published his second book, Invading Spaces: A Beginner’s Guide to Collecting Arcade Games. In 2017, Rob published his first fiction novel, The Human Library.
PORTFOLIO
| BOOKS |
Rob self-published his first book, Commodork: Sordid Tales from a BBS Junkie in 2006. He self-published three nonfiction books before shifting his focus to fiction. Rob’s first novel, The Human Library, was published in 2017. Rob is currently working on multiple fiction and nonfiction works.
| BOOK CONTRIBUTIONS |
Rob has contributed to multiple books, including forewords, features, and technical articles.
| SHORT STORIES |
Rob has published multiple short stories. Here are three of his favorites.
- A Mouthful of Eel (Creative Nonfiction, 2017)
- Hot Sauce Soup (2019, p.112)
- Strategy in Action (2016, First Place)
| MAGAZINES and EZINES |
Rob has contributed articles and reviews to dozens of print and electronic magazines. He has also contributed his time to multiple publications, including serving as a content editor and submission reviewer for the popular Taco Bell Quarterly.
- Fisher Price Alpha Probe (Feature)
- Star Wars Black Series (Review)
- Staff Mugshot
- LEGO Star Wars II / Bucky O’Hare (Review)
- Ultra Bust-A-Move / Menace Beach (Review)
- Lode Runner: The Legend Continues / Snow Bros. (Review)
- Word Zapper (Review)
- Ultimate Puzzle Games / Wordtris (Review)
- Retron 3 (Review/Feature)
- Token Appreciation: Mario Bros (Review/Feature)
- Token Appreciation: Altered Beast (Review/Feature)
- Token Appreciation: Q-Bert (Review/Feature)
- Token Appreciation: Space Invaders (Review/Feature)
- Arcades (Feature)
- Ghostbusters (Feature)
| NEWSPAPERS |
Rob interned at two newspapers while in college, and spent two years as a feature columnist for the Minco Millennium.
| WEBSITES |
Rob has contributed articles and reviews to dozens of websites since the inception of the World Wide Web. Below is a soft sprinkling of examples.
- Racing the Beam (Book review)
- Defender of the Crown (Video Game review)
- Joe Dirt 2 (Movie review)
- Batmania (Album review)
- Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (Game Review)
- Pumped BMX+ (Game Review)
- Atari’s Greatest Hits (Game Review)
- Wonderboy (Game Review)
- Friday the 13th (Game Review)
- Gauntlet/Rampart (Game Review)
- Centipede/Breakout/Warlords (Game Review)
- Beyond the Mat (DVD Review)
- Edward Scissorhands (DVD Review)
- Pantera: 3 Vulgar Videos from Hell (DVD Review)
- Lake Placid (DVD Review)
Hot Wheels Creator Remembered- World’s Largest Rubik’s Cube
- Dueling Disco Ducks
| PODCASTS |
Rob launched his first podcast, You Don’t Know Flack, in 2008. Since then, he has gone on to create several popular video game and retro-themed shows, releasing content on a regular basis. In addition to his own shows, Rob has been invited as a guest to many popular podcasts including No Quarter, Retrobits, The Adventure Club Podcast, Eight and a Half Bit, Flux Capaci-Cast, and many others.
- YOU DON’T KNOW FLACK (Host) (LINK)
- SPRITE CASTLE (Host) (LINK)
- MULTIPLE SADNESS (Host) (LINK)
- THROWBACK REVIEWS (Co-Host) (LINK)
| PUBLIC SPEAKING |
Based on his experiences with self-publishing and writing and his historical knowledge of computers and arcade games, Rob has been invited to speak publicly on multiple occasions.
- Scripting and You (2019)
- Security and You (2018)
- Self-Publishing in the Underground (YOUTUBE) (2007)
- The World of Free Book Publishing (YOUTUBE) (2009)
- Collecting Arcade Machines (2009)
- The Evolution of Video Games (2009)
| INTERVIEWS |
Rob has been interviewed multiple times about his books and podcasts. Here are a few of his favorites.