Red Tash's Blog, page 199
April 4, 2012
Welcome Rob Dufalo to Writer Wednesday!
Writer Wednesday is a...
Welcome Rob Dufalo to Writer Wednesday!
Writer Wednesday is a chance to let the light shine on you and your work, and from time-to-time I announce the opportunity here to contribute. Today's lucky victim, er, winner of the Be Featured on Red's Blog event is Rob Dufalo, who I met on Facebook in one of 1800 writer groups I belong to. Rob mentioned he would be be inclined to acquiesce to my request for guest bloggers, and when I went to check out his page, I found myself going "Huh. I think I've found a fellow weirdo."
Here's Rob, to explain why that's a good thing:
I was asked by a fellow writer if I would be willing to talk about the term "Weird Fiction" in literature and if I'd label myself under its grand flag. I hadn't heard of the term before Red told me, but when she'd taken the time to look over my blog and pages and it was clear enough in her mind to ask, "Would you say you write 'weird fiction'?" I couldn't help but think "Hell yeah! Most people think of me as weird!" Mayyybe not what she was going for but I think I justified myself into the label.
Taking on this daunting task of weird fiction I started like any good author does: I did a web search on it! Wikipedia tells us:
'Weird fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction written in the late 19th and early 20th century. It can be said to encompass the ghost story and other tales of the macabre. Weird fiction is distinguished from horror and fantasy in that it predates the niche marketing of genre fiction.'
It goes on of course, but I started to feel that weird fiction is mislabeled and I started to feel bad for it, like it had been misunderstood by its parents and it ended up going to Yale when all Weird Fiction really wanted to do was go to a local college and hang out with its friends.
A dance over the Goodread's shelf on weird fiction showed me HP Lovecraft was the ever-crowned king of the genre, but then (I almost missed it) I found Fight Club and the currently popular The Hunger Games could be found there. Okay, I was starting to feel more at home, even if it was starting to feel like a lot of the works here got more than one label. But this was OUR home damn-it and we were going to walk in there, kiss mama on the cheek and maybe if you're lucky she'll do your laundry like old times.
Still, weird fiction is that middle child that everyone wants the best for but they don't really know what is expected of them; this is where they seem to live. Checking a few online stores, there is no weird fiction department. I took the time to walk through a few brick and mortar stores just to see, and when I asked for help a few didn't even know what I was talking about, but they did try and sell me on a few horror books; I guess that makes it close.
I see this as an area that is still filling out; we're in those awkward teenage years where puberty is running rampant with bad skin and and hormones!
And this is where I see myself.
I love a good quirky story; something that keeps you a little off when you are reading and you can't tell what the next punch is going to be, because it really could be anything. I have learned with my own writing that I like to have these quirks, but also I want to keep the humor. I learned quickly with one of my first books; I tried to be more serious and I had to keep slapping my hand every time I wanted to add something too playful: it wouldn't have fit in the canon. I felt handcuffed and I didn't like it. There was just a part of me that wasn't being explored and so when I wrote my next work, Electric Disease, I said that I was going to make the silliest screwball comedy that I could! I wanted pulp fiction, screwball comedy and the show 24 all rolled into one fifty thousand-word book! In the end I wasn't able to get as much silly in it as I hoped and so when I finished it I put it on a shelf and didn't look at it for year! Later I learned that it turned out better than I thought and it was the start of the trilogy I'm working on now.
The whole idea for the story started from a dream I had, where I was trapped in an elevator that was jumping up and down floors, totally out of control. And the rest kind of spilled out as I thought "How in the hell would an elevator lose control!?"
My greatest influences for my work come from people that live in this weird world with me: Max Barry who wrote Syrup, Jennifer Government, and his new book Machine Man. Then there is Chuck Palahniuk, with the iconic Fight Club, but I found great enjoyment in Damned as well. Then there are the authors that helped me along with their great tomes that aren't labeled here, like Dean Koontz: his book Tick Tock is in my top 3 three books ever. It's what told me I really needed to write Electric Disease. Kelley Armstrong, who made one of the coolest worlds of mixed supernaturals ever. Tanya Huff, who wrote the Child of the Grove and The Last Wizard. These two books are my favorites ever, the epic tail of this story is one that I can only hope to capture just a glimpse of in my time.
But I'll need to do it my way and with my abilities see the world as a strange thing that should never be judged. It's a place that should be explored and if someone picks up a rock and says "Hey this rock has a life, and it should be told to the masses!" Then by god it will be told!
You can find my books, weird as they are at http://www.illiteratemind.com (also with links to my facebook and goodread pages). My blog can be followed at http://blog.illiteratemind.com .
Currently available on Kindle is Electric Disease and coming this fall will be exciting follow-up Corporate Policy.
(Do you see why I asked if he wrote weird fiction? Look at that cover! It screams it!)
You can also follow my co-authored web book for free at: http://www.aoapublishing.com/press
All about the wide world of coffee, beer, and saving them from the zombies!
*****
Rob, thanks for sharing your thoughts on Weird Fiction! I got a real giggle or three out of your reflections. I also identify very much with your thoughts on what you wanted out of that first book, and how you tried for something different in the second. I would not go so far as to say I slapped my own hand on the silliness in This Brilliant Darkness, but after writing it, I realized that if I'm going to spend years with characters and a story that heavy, then I need a much bigger chaser of silliness to bring me back to *my weird normal.* So that's very much what I did. I did still publish my first book, and my second, much-less-serious book is in editing. It's about Trolls and Fairies and Roller Derby in rural Indiana.
Is that weird? ;)
Welcome to our weird online community, Rob, and happy writing to you!
Illustration credit:
Lisbon.
Portugal.
08/2011
If you'd like to be featured one Writer Wednesday, get in touch with Red. If you'd like to have Red as a guest on your blog, same deal. Let her know.
Clicking the elevator pic up top will take you to Rob's weird book on Amazon! Check out his author pics.
April 3, 2012
Everybody's favorite flavor. Deb eats some blue raspberry...
Everybody's favorite flavor. Deb eats some blue raspberry licorice in Troll or Derby, right? It's licorice, right? It's not just glamoured to look like food. Right?
Looks like The Wizard isn't the only one with a gambling...
Looks like The Wizard isn't the only one with a gambling problem.
Art by Mauro Scali
An old interview with Bob Mayer
April 2, 2012
http://harryandthepotters.com/shows/
We are wizards, and our hearts are filled...
