Charles Perrault, Fairy Tales And And How We Still Tell The Same Ugly Stories

Today’s google doodle is Charles Perrault. Well done Charles, you’ve made it! Fairy tale fascination is nothing new, children watch the Disney versions over and over, but as I grew older I realised there was something else to them, something…untamed.

A Jim Henson television programme from the late 80s told me that yes, there was something to that theory. Based on folk tales from the past they were often more unpleasant than the Disney versions – don’t let yourself be led astray, or such and such will happen.

Jim Henson’s Storyteller, Sapsorrow, an early version of Cinderella where she has to marry her father

That’s the gist of many of them: dark predictions if you don’t heed your guardian’s warnings. Little Red Riding Hood was much more The Company of Wolves than a story about a little girl avoiding a scary animal. In truth she was on the brink of sexuality and told not to talk to strangers on the way to her grandma’s lest they be an evil seducer.

But that’s not all they are. The listener no doubt felt a thrill of fear and disgust and the teller would delight in their reaction. They’re projections of worst case scenarios told safely indoors, the Urban Legends of their time. I got the same excitement and revulsion when I first discovered the Snopes website and saw society’s basest worries right there on the screen. There’s no PC filters here, everybody fits a stereotype and everyone wants to secretly maim you or put gerbils up you (neither sounds good).

Don’t blame me

Just like the Prince’s mother from Charles Perrault’s Sleeping Beauty plans to eat his daughter, stories are whispered of meth taking baby-sitters mistaking children for meatloaf and putting them in ovens. A still earlier version of Sleeping Beauty has the Prince impregnating the Princess IN HER SLEEP, while other versions have the mother-in-law not only eating her son’s first daughter but secretly, apparently for a laugh, feeding her to the King. All of which sound a little like the tales passed between lips of scary foreigners and drug addicts.

So next time you listen to a biased and poorly researched story told to you by the bloke in the office who heard it from Fred just imagine: One day there might be a cartoon version where they get married at the end.

Writing Advice From Professional Authors

Oh, hello! You’re early! My my… I was just in the middle of baking macaroons. Erm, have a seat and chat with these well known author types until I’m finished:

Neil Gaiman’s advice for aspiring authors:

Octavia Butler on writing science fiction:

Ray Bradbury on writing:

Jeff Vandermeer on weird writing:

Angela Carter discusses her writing:

Jamaica Kincaid on finding her voice as a writer:

Bizarre Book Club 7: Candy Cannibals, Weird Anthologies and the Apocalypse

A chair on the wall? What tea based madness is this?

Today’s book pictures (me posing and pretending to read) are brought to you by The Glass House Tea Shop in Braintree, Essex. They gave my friend and I a small slice of free cake, which was wonderful by the way.

Phew it’s all happening in this one! Let’s begin.

1. Cannibals of Candyland by Carlton Mellick III. A good, fun read which doesn’t take too long as it’s quite short. A race of cannibals exists in a magic land under the city. The main character searches them out in revenge for leading his siblings away years ago with a hypnotic sweet scent, but things don’t go according to plan.

2. The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer. I’ve mentioned this book once before but I love it so much I’m mentioning it again. It has almost everyone you can think of: Neil Gaiman, Haruki Murakami, the short story of Don’t Look Now by Daphne Du Maurier, George R.R. Martin (wrote some books about thrones and games, I dunno), Franz Kafka, Clive Barker, Robert Aickman, Leonora Carrington (Max Ernst’s extra marital partner and a surreal painter and writer) and Saki, to name a few. Everyone should read more Saki, he was a genius. Basically, buy this book now or I’ll creep into your room at night and sniff your ear.

That’s right, we moved just so I could get another picture

3. Bust Down the Door and Eat All the Chickens edited by ? I could be incorrect but I believe there were ten of these short story issues gathered before they stopped. Perhaps they’ve moved to a new home (though they’ve left no explanation) or perhaps they vanished into a puff of kittens, either way have a look at the archive editions for a dose of true insanity.

4. Apocalypse Culture edited by Adam Parfrey. First published back in 1987, even more reports of fringe cultural practices were gathered in 1991, and then again for Apocalypse Culture 2 in 2000.

Here’s what wikipedia says: Apocalypse Culture is a collection of articles, interviews, and documents that explore the various marginal aspects of culture. It explores aesthetic nihilism, destructive cults, extreme violence, sexual deviancy, conspiracy theory, extreme forms of nationalism, and other subjects. First published in 1987, it was reprinted in 1990 and 2001. In 2000 the sequel Apocalypse Culture II was released. The book has been widely campaigned against and has been banned in many countries.

What’s not to like?! Get buying!

Very well, thus concludes another session of Bizarre Book Club. May you not run weeping into the night. Or perhaps may you, depending on preferences. I’m not here to judge. Toodle pip!

The Guardian’s quest for weird fiction across the electronic universe

Apparently Damien Walter from the Guardian newspaper is searching for weird fiction. Got a story about a dwarf in a parallell universe who’s in love with a donkey? Send it to him. Original article here. Here’s what he had to say (I cut it pretty short):

 

“Over the next four weeks I will be scouring the internet for the best independently-published weird stories. I genuinely have no idea what to expect. I’m hoping I might stumble upon a new Angela Carter, Mervyn Peake or China Miéville; a weird and fantastically baroque masterpiece from a unique imagination. Maybe even a few of them. On the other hand, I might end up destroying my mind with a steady diet of third-rate Stephen King clones and Harry Potter rip-offs. So to avoid the latter I’m turning to the wisdom of the crowd, and asking you, the readers of guardian.co.uk/books, for your help. And here is how you can give it.

1. Nominate your weird stories.
Make your nominations for weird stories in the comments below. Please let me know the title, author and where I can read more. That might be a link to a website or blog, or a listing on the Kindle or iBook store. Only add one link or your comment will be filtered as spam. You can include the opening sentence of the story as well if you like, but no more than that. And if you want to include your own review of the story, please do.

2. Help spread the word.
You can link back to this article from your blog or website. Or mention it on Facebook or other social networks and on Twitter using the #weirdthings hashtag.

3. Follow my quest for weird stories on Twitter.
I’ll be tweeting my thoughts on the stories I read over the next four weeks on @damiengwalter and using the #weirdthings hashtag.

These instructions may leave a few questions unanswered. I’ve done my best to answer some below, but if you have any others please leave comments and I will endeavour to respond to them.

1. What qualifies as weird?
This is really for you to decide. SF, fantasy and horror stories certainly do, but I’m also looking for stories that are far weirder than commercial genre fiction. If you think it’s a weird story, then go ahead and nominate it.

2. What do you mean by independently published?
Ideally published either by the author or an independent publisher. Books from major publishers already get a lot of attention, and this is a search for books that might otherwise go unseen. But if you think there is a neglected masterpiece from a major publisher then please go ahead and nominate it.

3. Can I nominate my own story?
Yes. In fact I hope you will.

My quest for weird stories starts today and will carry on for the next four weeks. We’ll be keeping the comments open on this post for some of that time, but the sooner you make your nomination, the more likely I’ll get to your story in a timely fashion. I’ll be reporting back on what I find in a future Weird Things column that will include a review of each of the best stories I find.

So. Please make your nominations, and wish me luck!

So there we are. Get on with it fellow loonies!