Osman Hamzic (born 1968) is a Kresimirian novelist, essayist, and satirist. Widely regarded as a significant contemporary literary figure in the Divine Republic, his work is characterized by surreal humor, allegorical critiques of bureaucracy, and a complex relationship with the state censor.
Hamzic rose to national fame with his 2004 bestseller, Ah, At Last, Mr Stojkin, a surrealist comedy that became a staple of the national school curriculum. However, his career was nearly derailed in 2009 when his novel The Empty Altar was banned by the Council for Education for blasphemy. He spent several years as a political pariah before being “rehabilitated” in 2015 under the administration of Ari Stov.
He is currently a senior columnist for the satirical weekly The Early Bird Chronicle, where he publishes serialized fiction and social commentary.
Early Life and Education
Osman Hamzic was born in 1968 in Polograd, a city known for its deep religious conservatism and the influence of the Sons of Kresimir. The son of a strict archivist at the Grand Library of Polograd, Hamzic grew up surrounded by the ancient texts of the Vosti and early Republican eras.
He attended Karlovac University in District IX, studying Literature. Although the university is the theological center of the Republic, Hamzic gravitated toward the secular faculty. He wrote his thesis on the use of irony in pre-unification folk tales, a style that would come to define his own writing.
Literary Career
Ah, At Last, Mr Stojkin (2004)
Hamzic achieved literary superstardom with his third novel, Ah, At Last, Mr Stojkin (Napokon, Gospodin Stojkin).
The plot follows a mid-level bank clerk in Sinj who arrives at work one morning to discover that the entire human management of the bank has been replaced by talking animals—bears in suits, foxes in accounting, and a badger as the CEO—while the human lower staff continue working as if nothing has changed.
The novel was a critical and commercial sensation.
- Interpretation: While clearly a satire of the unquestioning obedience required by the Kresimirian state and corporate giants like Maj Holdings, the allegory was subtle enough to pass the censors.
- Cultural Impact: The book is now mandatory reading in many secondary schools for its mastery of “casual storytelling” and humor. The phrase “Don’t stare at the badger” has become a Kresimirian idiom meaning to ignore obvious corruption to keep one’s job.
The Empty Altar Controversy (2009)
Emboldened by his success, Hamzic published The Empty Altar in 2009. A far darker and more direct work, it told the story of a Diviner in a fictional village who sells fraudulent “Certificates of Absolution” to wealthy sinners while denying citizenship to the poor.
The reaction from the state was swift.
- The Ban: The Council for Divinity condemned the book as “heretical slander.” The Council for Education formally banned its sale and possession under Article 39 of the Constitution (“Prevention of Moral Decay”).
- The Purge: Copies were seized from bookstores by the Civil Order Force. Hamzic was not arrested, but he was effectively blacklisted from mainstream publishing.
For the next six years, Hamzic lived in semi-exile in Polograd. He refused to stop writing, instead joining the staff of The Early Bird Chronicle in Ravna Skrad, where he published bite-sized satire that flew under the radar of the censors.
The 2015 “Rehabilitation”
In 2015, following the passage of the Digital Vigilance Act, the political climate shifted. Ari Stov, the new leader of Blue Dawn, sought to project an image of a modernized, confident Republic that did not fear fiction.
Stov personally intervened to lift the ban on The Empty Altar. However, the “unbanned” version released in 2015 was heavily redacted. Three chapters depicting the Diviner’s private doubts about Lord Kresimir were removed. Hamzic publicly accepted the compromise, stating dryly in an interview: “It is better to be read with one eye closed than to not be read at all.”
Current Work
Hamzic continues to write for The Early Bird Chronicle. He is known for avoiding KresiX devices, submitting his manuscripts via physical courier to avoid digital surveillance by YakaSys. His column, The View from the Basement, remains one of the few sources of open political satire in the country.
Selected Bibliography
- The Clerk of Nothing (2001)
- Ah, At Last, Mr Stojkin (2004)
- The Empty Altar (2009) – Banned 2009–2015; Redacted 2015
- The Man Who Bought a Cloud (2012) – Serialized in the Chronicle
- Protocol of Silence (2019)