 Madeleine Swann's collection, Fortune Box, was published by Eraserhead Press and nominated for a Wonderland Award. Her short stories have appeared in various anthologies and podcasts including Splatterpunk Award nominated The New Flesh: A David Cronenberg Tribute. She likes bright colours and funny noises, much like a baby. WEBSITE LINKS madeleineswann.com https://twitter.com/MadeleineSwann https://twitter.com/BizarroBritish https://amazon.com/dp/B08943BPL7 https://amazon.co.uk/dp/B08943BPL7 Could you tell the readers a little bit about yourself? I like weird arty stuff, disturbing and creepy horror and the worst trash on TV. I cry at almost everything we watch. I cried at that Eurovision film, that’s how bad I am. I kind of go for a ‘psychedelic flapper’ look and I belong to a fun group called The British Bizarro Community. It’s like a support group who send memes to each other. I live in Essex and I’m married to a talented artist, musician and graphic designer, Bill Purnell. We don’t have a cat yet but I’m working on it. To get the ball rolling and get everyone relaxed, here is a hopefully lighthearted question to break the ice, which one of your characters would you least like to meet in real life and have them complain at you about they way you treated them in your work. Margie in The C Word (you can hear it on the Other Stories podcast) will be very miffed. Her biggest fear is facing up to reality and I forced her to do that. Other than the horror genre, what else has been a major influence on your writing? Surrealism, bizarro fiction, DADA, silent films, the frothy artistic culture of the 1920s, weird films. Also I watched Beetlejuice every day for a year when I was nine and I’m honestly not exaggerating. The term horror, especially when applied to fiction always carries such heavy connotations. What’s your feeling on the term “horror” and what do you think we can do to break past these assumptions? I think it’s up to people to seek it out. If it puts people enough not to explore it, they probably wouldn’t enjoy it anyway. If someone is curious, though, we should offer a cup of tea and a biscuit (the UK kind, not those weird scones). A lot of good horror movements have arisen as a direct result of the socio/political climate, considering the current state of the world where do you see horror going in the next few years? I think exploring the darker sides, especially if science fiction is mixed in somewhere, can show the depths we can reach and hopefully serve as a warning, or at least a mirror. I think it will continue along those lines. Given the dark, violent and at times grotesque nature of the horror genre why do you think so many people enjoy reading it? Sometimes it’s to focus on troubles that aren’t your own. Or, if it’s unrealistic/supernatural, it’s pure escapism. My favourite is a quiet, creeping dread. The Little Stranger (book version, definitely not film) and Lake Mungo are perfect examples. Sometimes, though, I find I need catharsis. I want to really feel how terrible everything is, so I’ll read something like The Teratologist By Edward Lee and Wrath James White. What, if anything, is currently missing from the horror genre? Honestly, that’s a difficult one, but I’ll probably go with appreciation of the smaller, weirder stuff. It’s less mainstream, it’s odd, it’s uncomfortable, but it’s most definitely there. In the past authors were able to write about almost anything with a far lesser degree of the fear of backlash, but this has all changed in recent years. These days authors must be more aware of representation an the depiction of things such as race and gender in their works, how aware are you of these things and what steps have you taken to ensure that your writing can’t be viewed as being offensive to a minority group? I think all people want is well researched or non-stereotypical characters, so I’ll do my best with that. It’s also good to make sure it passes through the eyes of others before it meets its audience as well. Does horror fiction perpetuate it’s own ghettoization? Sections of it might, certainly the 80s/slasher horror fans. I’d never see that as a bad thing, I find it heart-warming when people love something like that, but I think their main goal is to find like-minded people and perhaps not worry too much about outsiders, which is cool. Otherwise I think there’s such variety that if others are intrigued, they’ll seek it out. I went from horror and gothic literature to cult authors to bizarro, all fuelled by a need to get weirder and weirder. Not that everything I do is necessarily weird, but I do love a good Russian Absurdist like Daniil Kharms. What new and upcoming authors do you think we should take notice off? Julia Platz Halter, Leza Cantoral, Jayaprakash Satyamurthy, Luciana Williams, Brendan Vidito, Monique Quintana, Amy Vaughn and everyone in The British Bizarro Community of course (see our twitter). That’s off the top of my head, there’s so many more. What are the books and films that helped to define you as an author? Ok, here we go. It’s something of a list… Alice in Wonderland, Beetlejuice, Haruki Murukami’s short story collection, early Terry Gilliam (Baron Munchausen was a close second after Beetlejuice on watch time), Monty Python, comedies like Spaced and The Young Ones, Sorry to Bother You (it’s new but wow!), M (Fritz Lang), Within Our Gates, The Haunting (the film), Ringu, the short stories of Robert Aickman, Hansel and Gretel (2007 film version), Junky/Naked Lunch by William Burroughs, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, the short stories of Dorothy Parker, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, the short stories of Leonora Carrington, Out of the Unknown (British sci fi anthology doing adaptations of the best short stories. Oh my God you have to see it), The Palm Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola and this French animation I saw as a small child called The King and the Mockingbird. It was intensely strange, frightening and surreal for my tiny brain and I recommend it even today. That’s not everything but it’s starting to look unwieldy. Are there any reviews of your work, positive or negative that have stayed with you? I think Matthew Revert saying I could take a seat at a table with Kafka, Kharms and Gogol will forever blow my tiny mind. What aspects of writing to do you find the most difficult? Sitting in a chair. Honestly, that sounds like a joke, but I have chronic pain and it gets a bit frustrating. Is there one subject you would never write about as an author? I wouldn’t like to say I’d never write something because you never really know. How important are names to you in your books? Do you choose the names based on liking the way it sounds or the meaning? Honestly sometimes I just google ‘names’ and pick out ones I like haha! Writing, is not a static process, how have you developed as a writer over the years? I think my writing has got a bit deeper, or at least I hope it has. I want to put more of my innards in it, if that doesn’t sound too gross, my fears and hopes. What is the best piece of advice you ever received with regards to your writing? I’m only improving (hopefully) because I was daft enough not to stop. You won’t be good at first unless you were born amazing, you have to keep doing it. To many writers, the characters they write become like children, who is your favorite child, and who is your least favorite to write for and why? I really like the character in an upcoming novella. It’s a weird mystery set in a 1920s New York that you won’t recognise. I don’t want to say too much more though. For those who haven’t read any of your books, which of your books do you think best represents your work and why? Fortune Box. The interconnected stories were such fun to write and are truly what happens when I sit at the computer and let my brain fall out. Do you have a favorite line or passage from your work, and would you like to share it with us? “Tell me doctor, when can I start applying for managerial positions?” “I really wouldn’t apply for anything above a clerk until you’ve been toilet trained, Albert.”  Can you tell us about your last book, and can you tell us about what you are working on next? My last book was Fortune Box, a series of stories in which characters are sent strange gifts from Tower Limited Surprise Packages. I have a novella coming really soon The Vine That Ate The Starlet and it's out with Filthy Loot, It’s a 1920s mystery with a bit of a difference. Also the British Bizarro Community put out The Bumper Book of British Bizarro, an anthology with all the proceeds going to Mermaids, the charity for gender diverse and trans young people and their families. There are so many new and exciting word weirdos that I can’t wait for people to read. If you could erase one horror cliché what would be your choice? Jump scares. They’re OK occasionally but they’re really annoying. What was the last great book you read, and what was the last book that disappointed you? I always go on about Who Cares Nothing Matters by Julia Platz Halter. It’s weird, it made me laugh, it’s kind of gross, I recommend it. I get disappointed by a fair amount of books published by the big ones. However I think most recently was After by Anna Todd, the Harry Styles inspired romance. I want to make it clear that I wasn’t expecting it to be good and, to be fair, I had a good time for most of it. It was unintentionally funny and quite silly. Then, suddenly, something happened and it took it too far. I stopped reading. Actually, I made a video if you’re interested: What's the one question you wish you would get asked but never do? And what would be the answer? Would you like to visit my amazing and surreal fashion shop and have loads of stuff for free? Yes!  No one knows where or what Tower Ltd Surprise Packages is or why it’s sending gifts to complete strangers across The City. All they know is that each package is the best thing that’s ever happened to them…or the worst.
In one box is a packet of seeds that allows you to grow your perfect date. In another there’s a cupcake that causes anyone who eats it to grow eyeballs all over their skin. There’s also a parcel with a mousetrap that turns all your enemies tiny. Or you could receive your autobiography, which when signed, makes your every thought famous. Or maybe even a key to a secret door that leads to another dimension where all your unfinished and abandoned projects exist. But with each package received comes both fortune and misfortune that will surely result in unexpected consequences. Like a season of episodes from The Twilight Zone or Friday the 13th The Series, comes a collection of dark and humorous stories from the premier British female author of bizarro fiction. Comments are closed.
|
Archives
May 2023
|
RSS Feed
|
|