Brendan Connell

[Evans]

Since PS Publishing has recently announced two volumes of interconnected stories, Eibonvale has just put out Unpleasant Tales, and Quentin will be publishing his next collection next year, I thought I would start a topic about Brendan Connell's fiction. What follows is part of a longer entry about it (focusing more specifically on Metrophilias) written for a hypothetical word-press blog I was thinking of setting up to talk about (read ''air own views on'') Decadence, H.P. Lovecraft, obscure authors, Arthur Machen, publishing and weird fiction in general.

In terms of prose style he is most comparable to the French author J.K. Huysmans. Both employ narrative techniques in a similar way such as using terms relating to the sense of taste to describe moods or systems of thought; sensual often lascivious similes mixed with technical terminology ( Latin or French names); long list-like sentences – rather like this one – showcasing myriads of exotic items; vivid descriptions of colour or texture; naturalistic descriptions of the types of food characters are eating, the style of cloths people are wearing; referencing specific works of art or historical philosophers, and having, in the main, the knack of being able to describe anything visceral or repulsive in colourfully artistic way. One of his own distinctive stylistic devices; as seen in the New York and Kinshasa sections of Metrophilias and, to a lesser extent, the story Virgin Hearts from Unpleasant Tales, is to sometimes employ single word sentence statements and odd forms punctuation such as mathematical signs. In the more extreme stories where this is used – mostly the Metrophilias ones - you also get increasingly confused, broken syntaxs and after a while the pieces becomes a form of stream of consciousness narrative. (end pseudo critical fragment)

Metrophilias is a modern Decadent classic and one of the best books of strange/dark fiction written so far this century. The Eibonvale Unpleasant Tales is a bit more varied in contents – fun (well, some of the time, ''effective'' would be a far better way of putting it) but no where near as groundbreaking.

I haven't read his other collection Doctor Black and the Guerrilla or his novel The Translation of Father Torturo. The latter is supposedly rather like some kind of Satanic version of Baron Corvo's legendary Hadrian the Seventh, which, again, is something else I ought to read.

[qcrisp]

Since being sent a copy of Metrophilias (thank you), I've very quickly become a fan of the writings of Brendan Connell. I don't have anything especially clever to say here except that I'd recommend his works to anyone I thought capable of opening a book.

[Freyasfire]

I've very recently read The Translation of Father Torturo which I found to be very striking and original, and at parts made me cringe and feel nauseous (in a good way!). Other than that I've only read "The Maker of Fine Instruments" in the first Strange Tales which I found absolutely brilliant. I have Metrophilias and Unpleasant Tales both in my soon to be read pile. I am highly looking forward to them both.

This is the first I've heard of the upcoming PS Publishing collections. Is there anywhere I can find out more about them?

[Evans]

Quote Originally Posted by Freyasfire

I've very recently read The Translation of Father Torturo which I found to be very striking and original, and at parts made me cringe and feel nauseous (in a good way!). Other than that I've only read "The Maker of Fine Instruments" in the first Strange Tales which I found absolutely brilliant. I have Metrophilias and Unpleasant Tales both in my soon to be read pile. I am highly looking forward to them both. This is the first I've heard of the upcoming PS Publishing collections. Is there anywhere I can find out more about them?

Hi Freyasfire

They were mentioned in the PS newsletter, I don't think there is any other more about them up on the PS site yet. Titles are The Meta-natural Adventures of Doctor Black and a novel The Architect. The latter seems to have had an unlucky history passing through Creating Chaos and Engimatic Ink before it came to PS. In some ways I wish Dan had picked it up.

There's more stuff about them on Brendan's blog:

Oxygen

[Freyasfire]

Thanks for the info Evans!

It's strange, I've been ordering a lot from PS Publishing lately, and I'm still not on their mailing list. It looks like I will have to rectify that soon somehow...

As nice as it would be for him to have brought out an Ex Occidente edition, I'm just happy he seems to be getting some much deserved recognition from more publishers as of late. What is most important is that these upcoming stories and novels see print!

[waffles]

I have nothing insightful to add. I'm just thrilled that there are more works coming out - especially tales of Dr. Black!

[G. S. Carnivals]

She swung the implement which was grasped in her hands, dashed it through the long, slender stalk, decapitated the prettiness. There was a slight cry, and she herself, the tall, gaunt woman, screamed in beastly rage. She spied the pot containing Spiranthes Cernua, Nodding Ladies' Tresses, of yellowish white, spiking, spiral-shaped blossom, and this she frantically pulled down, sent tumbling to the floor. The air was filled with its odour, like vanilla or jasmine, potent as the hair of a freshly scalped courtesan. Then the whirlwind came. The woman spun through the room; uprooting exquisite rarities; she slashed madly with her weapon; swept aside the Neoglaziovias; attacked, hacked at the Blooming Box plant, scattered those vivid yellow flowers; fenced with the sword shaped leaves of the Apostle's Iris, thrashed it until it was nude, stripped of every blue and white petal. From plant to plant, flower to flower she went, in unmethodical rage, clawing with the fury of a fighting cat, now and again letting loose some vulgar, un-lady-like phrase. Verdure, and the soft, colourful tissue of flowers flew through the air. The Natal Plum she killed, and stomped on the fragrant leaves of the Tropical Lilac.-She stood panting, dazed, the hoe still grasped loosely in her hands. All around was devastation; the floor strewn with their mangled corpses, broken pottery shards, disturbed soil; petals, countless patches of blood, gobbets of flesh.

Brendan Connell - "Sirens"

[Derek]

Currently reading 'Metrophilias' and 'Unpleasant Tales' - two wonderfully grotesque collections.

Looking forward to the Chomu release.

[Evans]

One of the best stories from Unpleasant Tales "The Tongue", a light hearted Absurbist fantasy written in rich prose is availible to read online here:

The Tongue

It contains one of the most striking passages from his fiction:

Quote

There are days when the world is reduced to cinders and we stalk across it inhaling the smell of our own burning flesh. At such times our sense of indentity is mutated, awful, and we are guided by odd madnetic principles -pushed forward like lonely clouds.

Also, I'm sorry to repost more of my ramblings but if anyone is interested here is the entry on Connell's fiction in full it may look slightly strange through lack of indents and font). I decided not to go ahead with the blog idea mostly because I realised what I would be doing would be essentially be duplicating the idea of the Tartarus Press Wormwoodiana Blog

Quote

While we are on the subject of modern decadent literature and strange fiction that doesn't fall into any other particular genre I thought I would periodically mention one or two authors whose works I think are worth checking out. First up would be Brendan Connell. His work has appeared in various anthologies, generally under the heading of Magical Realism, but up until recently I hadn't chanced upon any of it. In terms of prose style he is most comparable to the French author J.K. Huysmans. Both employ narrative techniques in a similar way such as using terms relating to the sense of taste to describe moods or systems of thought; sensual often lascivious similes mixed with technical terminology ( Latin or French names); long list-like sentences – rather like this one – showcasing myriads of exotic items; vivid descriptions of colour or texture; naturalistic descriptions of the types of food characters are eating, the style of cloths people are wearing; referencing specific works of art or historical philosophers, and having, in the main, the knack of being able to describe anything visceral or repulsive in colourfully artistic way. One of his own distinctive stylistic devices; as seen in the New York and Kinshasa sections of Metrophilias and, to a lesser extent, in the story "Virgin Hearts" from Unpleasant Tales, is to sometimes employ single word sentence statements and odd forms punctuation such as mathematical signs. In the more extreme stories where this is used – mostly the Metrophilias ones - you also get increasingly confused, broken syntaxs and after a while the pieces becomes a form of stream of consciousness narrative. Now onto the books I've read: Metrophilias is a short, 76 page volume and, in my opinion one the truly great books of strange/dark fiction written in the last ten years. In terms of contents the closest comparison I can think of – in English at any rate, I need to track down a translation D'Aurevilly's The She-Devils and Huysmans' Parisian Sketches – would be Arthur Machen's short story “The Idealist” and some of the more carnal pieces from Ornaments in Jade. The book is a series of 36 unconnected vignettes, each set in a different city, dealing with various corrupt desires and mad loves. Though quite a few of them seem repulsive, on the whole there's nothing too gruesome or at all violent; most of more unpleasant actions are the things the characters do to themselves. Interestingly in some of the reviews I've read the reviews have held the book to be about the corrupting effect of the modern urban environment on people's lives, which I don't necessarily agree with since, as well being placed against different cultural backgrounds, the stories are also set throughout history. Narrative styles range greatly from story to story from classic Decadent vignette format for "Carthage" and the Absinthe one the title of which escapes me, to the aforementioned abolished syntax, almost stream of consciousness style for "New York". Some of them like "Peking" or "Seville" almost take on the nature of a fable whose specific meaning has been tantalizingly obscured in translation; a hidden interior meaning that remains just out of reach, a feeling which the book itself gives as a whole. Because of this I would be tempted to class it as a work of Symbolist Literature. Unpleasant Tales is a more recent of the two books, having been released both in limited hardcover and trade paperback by David Rix' Eibonvale Press in the September of this year. Unlike Metrophilias it is a general collection of stories, twenty two in all, without thematic or narrative linkage. Quite a few of the stories start off with a similar premise: a single often wealthy individual, pursuing an unusual hobby or interest which eventually brings them or their unlucky guests to an unpleasant end. The treasure houses of these Des Esseintes-like collectors give the author a good opportunity to showcase his repartee of obscure facts and naturalistic technical terminology: within the first half of the book the reader is introduced to the world's most comprehensive tattoo collection, putrescent aromatics, ancient Roman cuisine and musical instruments crafted from still living flesh. However, as a couple of them tread on similar themes, inevitably some of the stories begin suffer a little from comparison with each other and might have been better placed in separate volumes. Happily from the middle of the book onwards the stories begin to vary far more in structure and theme from, going from backwoods conte cruel to light hearted Absurdist fantasy. Amongst these the most effective for me were “The Last of the Burraways”, an unpleasant family history set done with the feel of a piece of Restoration Drama; “Sirens”, abut a spinster's jealousy towards her floral love rivals; and “The Woman of Paper”, a tale of a scholar's devotion to the Goddess of Origami. After finishing Unpleasant Tales the reader is left with the impression that, unlike its counterpart, the pieces in this collection are best read separately, and preferably interspersed with something written in a completely different style Both books come recommended by me, but Metrophilias is definitely the strongest out of the two. As well as these there are two other books by this author available at present which I haven't yet had the opportunity to read. One of them, The Translation of Father Torturo, is a novel about a down-trodden priest who, with the help of an ancient work of organ transferring magick and some inventive thinking, discovers a way to literally ''burrow'' the miraculous powers of those how have gone before him and sets out to use this new found sanctity to seize the Papal Throne by fair means or foul. Though the method maybe different the plot description instantly brings to mind Hadrian the Seventh; Fredrick Rolfe/ Baron Corvo's Legendary novel about an eccentric Englishman who becomes Prelate and set's about putting the world to rights with the powers of the Holy See. I'm particularly keen on getting hold of this one when I have the money – Papal Fantasy seems to be an incredibly eclectic niche genre. The other Connell volume is a chapbook entitled Dr Black and the Guerrilla which deals with a maverick cryptozoologist’s journey through the rain forests of South America and the bizarre political conspiracy he uncovers there.

[Nemonymous]

Pleased to have had three Brendan Connell stories originating in Nemonymous:

Sirens 2003

Maledict Michela 2004

The Last Mermaid 2009