The Goreletter Vol. 6, #1 was e-mailed to subscribers on Halloween, 31 October 2009 @ 9:30pm est. It contains extra material not available here on the weblog version, including a great contest to win some very RARE Arnzen-related collector’s items, and a chance to get a signed numbered bookplate.

If you subscribe and did not receive this issue, e-mail me for a replacement or review the archives at gorelets.com.

Subscribe today…it’s free and you can always unsubscribe if it terrorizes you too much. Issues are mailed only a few times per year, so your inbox won’t suffocate. And remember: all subscribers to The Goreletter get a free ebook, yours to keep, in either .pdf or kindle/.mobi format!

Happy Halloween,
– Michael A. Arnzen

“Could it think, the heart would stop beating.”
– Fernando Pessoa (died 1935)

Last year’s Shirley Jackson Award winner for “Best Anthology” — The New Uncanny: Tales of Unease, edited by Sarah Eyre and Rah Page (Comma Press, 2008) — is a knockout example of genre renewal. The book features some of the best British horror authors alive, including Ramsey Campbell, Nicholas Royle, A.S. Byatt, Christopher Priest and many more…even Matthew Holness (whose comedic double from the BBC, Garth Merenghi, is echoed here). The book definitely deserved the Jackson Award for its ambition, because it makes for an interesting literary experiment.

The book, essentially, was an assignment. All its contributors were challenged to read Sigmund Freud’s seminal essay on horror aesthetics called “The Uncanny,” and then write a fresh fictional interpretation of the ideas within it, in order to explore what the Uncanny might mean 100 years later, in the 21st century. The goal: “to update Freud’s famous checklist of what gives us the creeps.”

If you’re not familiar with Freud’s “Uncanny,” the introduction by Ra Page is an excellent survey of its key components in its own right, discussing how Freud provided a “literary template…a shopping list of shivers” that horror writers have managed to return to again and again over the past century. That template includes such icons as “the double” (aka doppelganger), living dolls, evil robots, recurring numbers, dismembered limbs that move on their own accord, animals that speak, the living dead, and more. Page explains the meaning of Freud’s essay in one of the most clear and careful ways I’ve ever seen in print. Thus, the introduction is a must-read, and it establishes the premise of the book perfectly.

What happens, though, is that the reader is put into an evaluative frame-of-mind, constantly asking themselves “How is this writer working with the source material?” and “Have they contributed something original to the concept?” This almost lowers the book to the status of a writing contest, of sorts, as the reader will inevitably begin to compare each author’s treatment side by side, looking for the best interpretation. This is fine, but it also makes us less susceptible to the emotional impact of the stories, since we’re inherently put into this judgmental distance from the worlds imagined by the authors. The best writers, however, thoroughly succeed in pulling us into their haunted characters’ worlds, forgetting about the “uncanny” altogether so we can experience the tale in an immediate fashion.

When discussing the tales in The New Uncanny, Page interestingly notes that the majority of the stories feature either the double or the doll most often. This is true, but it does not diminish the quality of the writing. There are “playful” types of dolls chosen, like Adam Marek’s “Tamaogotchi” or Nicholas Royle’s “The Dummy” — but even A.S. Byatt’s more traditional children doll story is thoroughly enjoyable as a work of terror. One of my favorite tales in the collection, however, transcends the usage of dolls AND doubles, and manages to be a gritty little gross-out number, to boot: Matthew Holness‘ “Possum” is a thoroughly raw and psychologically scarring story about a puppeteer who uses an animal head to scare children (among other things) — it is unsettling because it uses an unreliable narrator in an unstable manner, and the icing on the cake is that you can never quite tell if Holness is earnest in his narration or if he is playing the role of Garth Merenghi writing parodic horror fiction — which would be laughably outrageous if the writing weren’t this talented. I loved it.

Another quirky original is Jane Rogers’ “Ped-o-Matique” — about a foot massaging device that seems to have a mind of its own — and the story gives us a great psychological portrait of a woman “frozen” in place. To say much more about any of these stories would give too much away. (Though this particular story is online here!).

Because writers are all offering variation on a theme, without knowing what each other are up to, there is some redundancy among the stories. Gerard Woodward‘s “The Underhouse” — about a man who constructs an uncanny “mirror image” room in his basement, for example, is an ingenious story, told well. But it echoes Ramsey Campbell‘s opening tale, “Double Room,” in which a hotel guest discovers that his every action is echoed by identical sounds in a neighboring room, but with a hostile intent. These “mirror room” stories feel “strangely familiar” in their own right. But the redundancy isn’t too worrisome; the latter shows why Campbell is a master of psychological suspense, and while the idea is a little too similar to Woodward’s, it is more chilling, while Woodward’s is a wee bit more clever and whimsical in its conception. Drawing comparisons like these is part of that “distance” I was talking about in the outset of this review: the structure of the book both enables and gets in the way of its enjoyment. But on the whole, it is an excellent study in the Uncanny, and a fun — albeit disturbing — read of new British horror fiction. Compared to many anthologies in the horror genre, this one has a very clear literary purpose, and I recommend it very highly.

In fact, if you’re a teacher of literature, this would make for an excellent textbook/course. I actually assigned this book in a recent course I taught in Psychological Horror fiction at Seton Hill University. I asked students to review a story from the book on my other blog, The Popular Uncanny, so read that for a ‘double’ review! (These include MANY spoilers, however, so read the book before you read their thoughts).

The New Uncanny is an attractive and rich 226 page paperback, available for about $8 from amazon. Or in the UK/abroad, order from Comma Press (8 pounds).

Tap-tap-tap. Class, pay attention. I’m going to teach you a new word today. It’s called “gavage.” Say it out loud. No, not like “savage,” Little Jimmy. It’s pronounced like “garage.” That’s right, Mary: guhvahzh. Really resonate that last syllable in your mouth. What? No Patty, “garvage” is not a word.

Gavage. Do any of you know what it means?

No, Jimmy, it’s not the trash you run over in your garage.

No, Mary, it’s not a battlefield dressing invented during the French revolution.

What’s that, Patty? No. Absolutely not. That’s not even humanly possible.

Take notes, class. “Gavage” is a French term for “force-feeding.” Surely your mommies and daddies have forced you to finish your dinner at one time or another, but it’s not quite that. Gavage is what people do when they insert a tube down another person’s throat and — often with a funnel — pour food and liquid down into the gullet.

Um…yes, Mary?

I don’t know what a beer bong is, but I highly doubt it. Gavage is a technique used in emergency rooms, not pubs. A gavage can save the life of the malnourished. On the other hand, it has also been used for despicable reasons. Does anyone here know what foie gras is?

No Jimmy, it’s not frog water.

No, Mary, it’s not force feeding people frog legs in France.

Yes, Patty! My gosh, you’re right! It’s the liver of a goose that has been force fed grain over and over again — through gavage — until the organ is bursting with rich, buttery flavor! I had no idea you were such a gourmet!

Because it relies on gavage, foie gras is extremely controversial. Animal rights activists protest the cruel practice, while some chefs argue that all the animals we feed on already are subject to…

[Sigh.] Yes, Patty? What’s that? You call it “moi gras“? I’m not sure what that means, but see me after class, please.

Okay, everyone. Let’s move to the next lesson. Open your books to page 96, “Slaughterhouse Law.”

+++
Related Reading:
History of gavage:
“La Gavage” Restaurant
“Delicacy of Despair”

all chocolate is Chocula —
it seduces with its riches,
wraps your desire in the cape
of your mouth, and invites
the sink of teeth. we never bite
gently; we always suck it
to vapor, feeding on its potency
until we are left only with the empty
pang for more and more and more.
we are undead with diabetes,
obese with our obsession,
unquietly unquenched
while we dwell upon
the mortality of the melt.

For your next movie night, rent:

Never Too Young To Die (Bettman, 1986)
Wanted: Dead or Alive (Sherman, 1986)
Runaway (Crichton, 1984)

Just read this important post at Horrorgy that the ‘myspace for horror fan’ site, The Haunt, is shutting down in early November and becoming a discussion forum sponsored by the Horror-Mall instead. Sorry to hear it…I liked the concept, but it’s true that participation was lacking after the initial buzz of the place wore off. Hopefully the discussion forum will spark interest and continued community, rather than leaving a ‘ghost town’ in its wake. I probably won’t play there very often; I feel like I’ve got too many strands to follow online right now…

But I’m glad you’re following this one. So, here are Some Things The Average Schmoe Can Learn From Crappy Horror Movies and some Very Bad Poems, which I’ve learned about thanks to Lit Drift.

Last week the English Club at Seton Hill University invited me to read at a Halloween event they sponsored, and I had a lot of fun reading some new story sketches and poems with them. I recorded it, so I could share a few audio clips here in celebration.

Click the play button below to hear “Endless Shrimp” (2:10), “Silence” (3:17) and “The Christmas Doll” (0:46). Happy Halloween (…and Christmas, too!)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If you like it, investigate my produced CD — Audiovile! Here’s track 1: “Psycho Hunter”! Just press play:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

And if you want to hear more audio here on gorelets.com, I’ve updated old blog entries that refer to ghosts of mp3s past. So just click the ‘audio’ tag below to find more posts with streaming audio…just look for the evil little red play buttons!

It’s time to go ebook, if you haven’t already. Today amazon.com releases their next generation Kindle2 ebook reading device, which is now able to pull information out of the (cell phone) wireless networks internationally…and you don’t have to subscribe to a cell phone service to do so.  This means that the medium has gone totally global; you can read an ebook anywhere — and update/sync/buy anywhere, too. 

So what? This means that publishers everywhere will now see a new way to reach millions of readers, so they’re all going to push these electronic formats (if they haven’t already). Readers like you and me, will benefit with a huge library of titles available, at cheap discounts and other incentives to start reading our books on these devices.

Stephen Marche wrote a great article in the Wall Street Journal, claiming that the release of the International Kindle 2 will change the book as we know it. A survey of industry insiders at the Frankfurt Book Fair discovered a belief that ebooks will surpass print books as the dominant medium by 2018.  But don’t worry.  The print versions won’t die; this is just another option.  The industry is like the movies: you can watch it in the theater, or buy a DVD or stream it online.  All the same movie.  Same principle here for books.  There are now just more “on demand” options for readers. As a writer, I only see this as one venue among many to reach people.

And amazon.com isn’t the only option (though, like iTunes, I think it will swiftly become the dominant way to get them, because they make it so easy).  Barnes and Noble and Sony are both offering competition, and there’s more on the horizon.  The ebook marketplace has been the realm of the independent bookseller for years already, too, so specialty publishers like my old friends at Delirium Books have launched imprints (“Delirium Digital Editions”) dedicated completely to very niche markets where you can get exclusive ebook titles only from them.

I feel like I’ve been there with ebooks since their infancy (e.g., the name of this website — gorelets.com — refers to the tiny e-book poems I used to distribute to palm pilot readers years ago, spurned by the fact that there were ebooks but almost none of them were poetry ebooks).  A good number of my horror stories have been available at fictionwise.com for awhile now, and a hefty sampling of my books have been in ebook form for years.  I’ve learned the ins and outs of working with small publishers to provide these titles cheaply in the electronic book arena.  But I’ve always been a little reluctant to climb aboard the Amazon train, and only a few of my books and stories are available in e-format there.

I’m going to change that.  In the months ahead, I plan to make more of my work available via amazon.com in Kindle format and may even (as one reader recently recommended) make this blog available on the Kindle. I’ll likely offer them a few original “Amazon Shorts” in the horror category — short stories you can only get on amazon.com.  I’ve already updated my author profile page on amazon.com and I will start including links to their site for books.

I don’t expect to rake in the dough — I just want to reach more readers.  And as a writer, I need to read the way readers do.  I’ve come to the realization that my little old palm pilot just isn’t an adequate reflection of how people read ebooks anymore; and the computer screen has never been the most convenient substitute for a book.  Kindle looks like the best, most dominant medium for the message.  So I preordered my first Kindle yesterday, and expect great things.  You should too.  The time has come. They’ll get cheaper and better in the future — techie toys always do — but I’m convinced this is the watershed year for ebooks. You might as well get your feet wet now.   Buy a Kindle!

And enjoy the horror.  My first purchase on my new kindle will be Stephen King’s story written exclusively for — and about — the ebook, UR.

[P.S. Fictionwise.com is discounting ALL of their horror ebooks by 50% to celebrate Halloween! Get some.]

Cthulhu the Obscure
A Connecticut Devil in King Arthur’s Inferno
The Golden Bowl of Blood
The Isle of Dr. Moreau and Mr. Hyde
As I Lay Resurrecting
Creature from the Walden Pond
Of Mice and Tentacles
A Midsummer Night’s Scream
Jane Weyrewolf
Oedipus Rex: The Boy With the X-Ray Eyes
Uncle Tom’s Cannibal Cabin
A Poison Clockwork Orange
Rabid Animal Farm
Lord of the Giant Flies
Clone King Richard the Thirtieth
A Morgue of One’s Own

**
With irreverence for: Quirk Classics.

[Update: The literati among you might also appreciate this essay at the 'Jane Austen's World' blog.]