Quick Thoughts - Send in the Clowns (part 2)

So Clowns: An Unlikely Coulrophobia Remix is officially available to buy (will be available in print soon I hear) and it features, among a great list of other stories and writers, a piece by me titled "Pushpin and Pullpin." Definitely go and check that out. My infinite thanks go to my partner, who helped me from making a couple of huge mistakes with the story and is just generally an amazing person. 

What follows are some notes on the story, and may be a bit spoilery, but I will try to keep things moderate because I know few people will have gotten their copies so soon. But yeah, "Pushpin and Pullpin" grew basically out of the reaction I had to reading the first Coulrophobia stories and seeing just how much they differed from my first attempt to write a clown flash fiction. As you all have seen the…uh…glory that was "The Thirteenth Sect" (posted on this blog yesterday ago), you know that attempt 1 was…well, a bit more of a humor. Humor action science fiction (because the original call asked for genre mash-ups) and I was channeling my inner April Fool's Day when thinking up that story. 

So yeah, "Pushpin and Pullpin" went in a very different direction, imagining a pair of clowns linked in some disturbing ways. It really started with the names, with the idea that one always acted and one always suffered. Obviously Pullpin was named after the action of arming a grenade, something quite easy, then sort of tossing it to Pushpin and well, it's much more difficult to get the pin back in, so… Once the names were done the rest flowed pretty well (save for a few glaring things that were worked out in revision). In case anyone was wondering, I had like an entire clown lineage for them, from their clown "father" Pinhead to their "grandfather" Pinhole and beyond. It never quite worked to include it in the story though so it got cut. I loved the names, though, because there's so much there, the metaphors quite thick because Pinhead can be evoking the idiocy and slapstick of clowning but also the divine in the angelic head of a pin reference. 

And I guess more than just playing with names, I wanted to get at the cathartic side of clowning. The tragic side. Because that is a tradition that's quite old, that the clown suffers for the amusement of others, that they provide that outlet, that target. That the clown dresses the way they do in some ways to make them different so that they can suffer and people can be comfortable with it, so that people won't see the person but the representation. Sort of how the whole cartoon/Bugs Bunny thing tends to work, that Bugs' opponent is the stooge that we want to see suffer. The stand in for the people we all hate (your Elmer Fudds and Yosemite Sams of the world). So yeah, I wanted to play with that and maybe a little bit with choice as well. 

In truth, clowns do kind of freak me out. I grew up on the Bozo Show (was even in the audience when an infant, though obviously I have no memory of this), but I do find the idea of clowning kind of unsettling. So hurrah, at least these calls gave me ample opportunity to explore that side of me. Hurrah I say! But if you have the time/money, do consider buying the book. Unlikely story does amazing work and the original Coulrophobia issue was great and reprinted in its entirety here with so many more stories! So many more! And one by me! Thanks for reading! 

All the best, 

Charles Payseur

Quick Bonus - The Thirteenth Sect

In honor of my Clown: An Unlikely Coulrophobia Remix story, "Pushpin and Pullpin," be available, I figured I would trot out this other piece of clown-based flash that was rejected for the original Coulrophobia call. It made it to round 2 but fell short, and it's proven a bit too difficult to place so I thought I'd just post it here. It's, well, it's rather odd. Very different than "Pushpin and Pullpin," but hopefully good for a chuckle. Enjoy!

Quick Sips - Nightmare #40

You know, I've said this before but I think if I had a "break-out performance of 2015" award to give, it would go to Nightmare Magazine. I have the feeling that it's often-times overlooked because of its focus on horror and dark fantasy, and I will admit that some of the stories have not been my favorites, but month after month the publication manages to challenge me, to serve up the unexpected and the dark and to push me to think more, to read better. I don't think any other publication has netted as many Sippy Awards as Nightmare, and if this issue is anything to go by, 2016 looks like it might be even better. Two stories (as always), and both challenging and deep and layered and good. Both take a look at the past, both the past as it was and might have been, both shedding light on how far we've come and how far we have still to go. It's a great issue that I will review...now!
 

Art by Kirsi Salonen

Quick Sips - GigaNotoSaurus January 2016

Today I'm adding a new publication to my to-review list with GigaNotoSaurus, a venue that offers work that skew a bit on the longer side. Which is good, because I'd like to read a few more longer stories, and with one story a month it seems like I should be able to add this without fear of overextending myself. This month's story is a nicely weird piece of magic realism with a strong vein of horror and a trippy feel to it. Not the longest of pieces, but plenty to get my feet wet with the publication. To the review!

Quick Sips - Fantastic Stories of the Imagination #232

Kicking off the new year right, Fantastic Stories of the Imagination is back with two very short stories that still manage some weight, some punch, and so depth. The stories both fall into the fantasy side of thing, but more than that both feature characters dealing things things a bit out of the ordinary, magical events that, at first, they weren't really ready to deal with and now have become...well, not used to them, but they are now able to act. To face the strangeness and the powers that seem aligned against them and to take moral action. The stories pair well and I should just get to reviewing them.

Quick Sips - Tor.com Early January 2015

Well Tor.com is certainly back as far as original fiction is concerned. After being fairly light in November and December, January already has three original stories and is slated to have another three before the month is out. So I'm breaking up my review into two parts. The first three stories are all embrace their inner fantasy. For some, that means second worlds that dazzle and delight, for others it means fantasy staples like warriors and swords and blood, and for others it means the lurking danger that borders the real world. Each is interesting and while not all of them are exactly fun, they're all of them good and I'm going to get to my reviews!

Art by Richard Anderson

THE SIPPY AWARDS - The "There's Something in My Eye" Sippy for Excellent Making Me Ugly-Cry in Short SFF

Obviously by now it should be clear that Sippys are going to replace all other awards as the premier short fiction award. Already I can imagine awards nights and packed convention centers with writers arriving in limos and--okay maybe I exaggerate. But hey, the award that no one wanted continues! Relationships have been shipped and the lights are all blazing lest the creatures of horror find me, so that means it's time for the next Sippy category. Third up is--

The "There's Something in My Eye" Sippy 

for Excellent Making Me Ugly-Cry in Short SFF

Maybe I cry a little too much when it comes to reading fiction. Perhaps. I know society at large is a bit focused on real men not crying or some bullshit, but good stories are good stories and there is just something about reading certain ones that just gets to me. That wrecks me. And I love that, in part because it's such a release of emotions, one part catharsis and one part just really fucking good prose. Of course, some of the stories featured elsewhere in the Sippys also made me cry, but the five below did it with the most gusto. The winners are...