Among the Moabites
My latest story to see the light of day is Among the Moabites, an odd little tale about pest control, published at Cherry Bleeds.
This one was actually written over a year and a half ago, and has been gathering . . . feedback . . . from a few editors before Cherry Bleeds picked it up. Among my favorite comments:
While amusing, I’m afraid that I simply didn’t understand the point of this story.
We do tend to like darker stories, but this was a bit nasty for my taste . . .
And those are probably valid objections. I’m not sure that there’s much of a point to understand–I don’t really understand it myself–and it is peopled by unpleasant creatures.
I think of it as a companion piece of sorts to two other stories that I wrote at about the same time: The Oologist’s Cabinet, published this summer in Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, and Ichthyology, published in JMWW. And I can’t say as I understand those, either, and find them to be a bit nasty (or maybe, as The Baltimore City Paper opined of “Ichthyology”, “brutal and eloquently told, a brilliant carnage of a story”; that’s nicer than “nasty”, no?).
Fun stories! I enjoyed both “Among the Moabites” and “Ichthyology” this morning. Maybe you weren’t going for “fun” with these, but all the subtle ironies, sly shaded imagery, and dark quiet humor were highly entertaining. Reminiscent of the best of William Kotzwinkle. Thank you!!!
Thanks very much! I’m glad you enjoyed them. I don’t think “fun” is off the mark at all–I was a little surprised that so many editors thought “Moabites” was “nasty”, since I saw it as playful. But then, I think Kafka, Boll, and Grass are hilarious.
I don’t know Kotzwinkle as well as I should; I’ve read “The Bear Went Over the Mountain” and I’ve got two six-year-old boys so the “Walter the Farting Dog” books are all-too-familiar (and funny); turns out I already had “The Amphora Project” on my to-read list, and now I’m adding a collection or two of his stories as well. Thanks for the tip!
[...] mention this because an upcoming edition of Pseudopod will be my story “Among the Moabites,” which appeared in Cherry Bleeds last September. It’s a weird little story, and I [...]
[...] story has a home; finding that home is one of the toughest parts of the writing game. Until now, Among the Moabites has been the hardest to place, and it only had to go through nine submissions to land at Cherry [...]