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Post by justin on Dec 20, 2007 17:03:25 GMT
Heard a very interesting anecdote from Maurice of Zardoz books yesterday...
A few years back he took some visiting friends from the US to Hay-on-Wye for a spot of second hand book shopping. One of them pulled a NEL pulp off a shelf and found inside a hand-written note from someone claiming to be the true author who had disguised himself with a pseudonym. A pre Beetle Juice Tim Burton?! Crazy enough to be true. Does anyone know of any Burton fiction? Maurice couldn't remember the title or cover...
Maurice also mentioned some long-haired lunatic who shoved The Paperback Fanatic under the nose of every punter at the last Zardoz fair! Sounds like a fine fellow to me. Apparently the fair was sufficiently successful to hold another in 2008 with a number of people already committing to dealer tables who hadn't attended for a while. After being taken for granted/losing out to internet sales, Maurice felt the social side of the fair was proving to be a draw again.
Just back from the dentist if this note makes even less sense than normal But I didn't imagine it!
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Post by weirdmonger on Dec 20, 2007 17:23:22 GMT
found inside a hand-written note from someone claiming to be the true author who had disguised himself with a pseudonym. Nobody handwrites things these days, do they? Tesco sent me a shopping list in green biro, however, yesterday. So I guess it's moot. |
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Post by dem on Dec 20, 2007 17:58:50 GMT
Thanks for sharing that one with us, Des! I'm not sure about pulp fiction but Tim Burton has certainly had some poetry published though I'm afraid I don't know the source. A friend of mine once sent me a home made Christmas card (the best kind) on which they'd pasted a copy of his The Boy With The Nails In His Eyes (!) Maurice also mentioned some long-haired lunatic who shoved The Paperback Fanatic under the nose of every punter at the last Zardoz fair! Sounds a right creep! It's funny though. Nightreader and me hung around that stall for ages and we never noticed him. I guess he must've skulked off back to his swamp before we arrived. |
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Post by Steve on Dec 20, 2007 18:30:48 GMT
I'm not sure about pulp fiction but Tim Burton has certainly had some poetry published though I'm afraid I don't know the source. A friend of mine once sent me a home made Christmas card (the best kind) on which they'd pasted a copy of his The Boy With The Nails In His Eyes (!) "The Boy With The Nails In His Eyes" comes from his book The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories. Actually a book of poems. You can find the whole book online with a quick google (I hesitate to post links these days because you never know who sees these things). I'm wondering if this other mysterious book has anything to do with Michael McDowell? I'll get back to you... |
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Post by Steve on Dec 20, 2007 19:34:42 GMT
What I'm thinking is this;
Michael McDowell was an American author, he died in 1999, who wrote horror, mysteries and thrillers.
His horror books, The Amulet, Cold Moon Over Babylon, The Elementals, and Gilded Needles were published in the UK by Fontana in the early 80s.
Now, this next bit is what's got me thinking... he also wrote screenplays, two with Tim Burton; The Nightmare Before Christmas and Beetlejuice.
So I'm wondering, did the person who wrote this note say they were Tim Burton, or did they say something like; "I did this book under a pseudonym before I wrote Beetlejuice".
I can't point to any particular title, I don't know that McDowell ever had anything published by NEL, but he also wrote under at least two other pseudonyms and was a self-confessed "commercial writer" (i.e. "paperback hack"). He therefore seems like a much more likely candidate for this mysterious pulp than Burton, whose only other published work is a book of poems most of which don't run more than a few lines (it's been suggested that the poem, "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy", is in fact also the work of McDowell).
Mind you, it's also possible that this note was merely the ramblings of some deranged madman. I do that sort of thing all the time. Only the other day, I slipped a hand-written note into a copy of Eat Them Alive claiming it was all my own work and that I was actually Kenneth Brannagh....
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Post by justin on Dec 21, 2007 19:40:09 GMT
Genius detective work Steve. Makes sense to me. Although the thought of Tim Burton penning that mythical missing horror series book for NEL is very appealing.
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Post by dem on Jan 28, 2010 19:17:04 GMT
Tim Burton - The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories (Faber & Faber, 1998)  Cover illustration by Tim Burton: Design by Pentagram
Robot Boy
Staring Girl
The Boy with Nails in His Eyes
The Girl with Many Eyes
Stain Boy
The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy
Voodoo Girl
Stain Boy's Special Christmas
The Girl Who Turned into a Bed
Roy, the Toxic Boy
James
Stick Boy's Festive Season
Brie Boy
Mummy Boy
Junk Girl
The Pin Cushion Queen
Melonhead
Sue
The Hideous Penguin Boy
Char Boy
Anchor Baby
Oyster Boy Steps OutBlurb: 'The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories exquisitely conveys the pain of an adolescent outsider. Like Tim Burton's movies, the work manages to be both childlike and sophisticated, blending the innocent with the macabre.' - New York Times
Tim Burton — the creative genius behind Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Mars Attacks! and Nightmare Before Christmas, among others — now gives birth to a cast of gruesomely sympathetic children: misunderstood outcasts who struggle to find love and belonging in their cruel, cruel worlds. His lovingly lurid illustrations evoke both the sweetness and tragedy of these hopeful, yet hapless, beings.my first, and most likely, best charity shop find of 2010 - it can only be downhill from here but i don't even care. this doesn't really add much to the above by way of useful info, but the first name on the brief acknowledgments list is Michael McDowell.
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Post by sadako on Feb 7, 2024 0:54:07 GMT
Heard a very interesting anecdote from Maurice of Zardoz books yesterday... A few years back he took some visiting friends from the US to Hay-on-Wye for a spot of second hand book shopping. One of them pulled a NEL pulp off a shelf and found inside a hand-written note from someone claiming to be the true author who had disguised himself with a pseudonym. A pre Beetle Juice Tim Burton?! Crazy enough to be true. Does anyone know of any Burton fiction? Maurice couldn't remember the title or cover... Maurice also mentioned some long-haired lunatic who shoved The Paperback Fanatic under the nose of every punter at the last Zardoz fair! Sounds like a fine fellow to me. Apparently the fair was sufficiently successful to hold another in 2008 with a number of people already committing to dealer tables who hadn't attended for a while. After being taken for granted/losing out to internet sales, Maurice felt the social side of the fair was proving to be a draw again. Just back from the dentist if this note makes even less sense than normal But I didn't imagine it! Just discovered this enticing anecdote, just as I’m discovering Michael McDowell and rediscovering the wide world of NEL. So many 70s NEL authors did one or two books and disappeared. The obvious possibility is that these were pen names… |
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