Afterthoughts: The inaugural quartet from Madras Press

In a nutshell: If these four titles offer a good indication of the literary quality that we can expect from Madras Press in the coming months/years, then ahead lies fun, fresh and exciting reading times. Buy all four of these titles if you can, but if you can’t then I implore you to at least buy one.

You may have seen me talking about new publisher Madras Press quite a bit lately (HERE and HERE), but for those who don’t know, Madras Press are a ‘new (publishing) kid on the block’, with a distinct focus on publishing individual titles in the shorter novella form. They’re also a non-profit publisher, with all proceeds from the book sales going to the charity of each author’s choosing. Their first four titles (which together are ‘tagged’ as Series #1), were just published a few days ago, and now, having had the chance to read the first four myself, I’m offering up my afterthoughts on this inaugural quartet of titles.

I’ll kick things off by talking about the construction of the books, because their form at least, is something unique (or at the very least rare). All the titles are published in a 5” x 5” format (12.7cm x 12.7cm) – an exact square – which makes for a comfortable reading experience; the books fit in the hand beautifully. Their format makes them a bit awkward for the average pocket, but they’re perfect for bag or briefcase. All the books are in paperback format, and employing a nice touch, the inside front cover of each title has a pre-printed bookplate where the owner of the book can scribble their name, and claim eternal ownership (provided the owner isn’t one of these pristine book collectors of course ).

On to the review of the stories themselves then, and I’ll run through each one individually, before closing with a word or two on the set as whole. We’ll begin with the title designated #1 in the set, and I’ll follow through with the rest in numerical order. First up then The Third Elevator by Aimee Bender:

The Third Elevator by Aimee Bender – From about the age of five my daughter Katy has entertained the family on a daily basis, by recounting her nightly dreams to us across the breakfast table. It’s always a pleasure hearing where her mind has taken during the night, not least because Katy’s dreams are always delightfully whimsical and highly imaginative. So why am I telling you all this? Well, because when I read the The Third Elevator by Aimee Bender, I was instantly reminded of the kind of world that occupies Katy’s mind during the night-time.

Reading very much like a classic fairy tale, the world of The Third Elevator is the epitome of whimsical, and it is populated by some wonderfully imaginative characters, and interactions. Among the characters to be found in the story’s pages is a swan who finds love and companionship with a bluebird, a claustrophobic miner who yearns for the fresh air, and a logger with a guilty conscience for chopping down trees. Remarkably, given that they are such an eclectic array of characters, all their paths do cross, and at a place probably more imaginative than anything else to be found in Bender’s imaginary kingdom – a standalone glass-walled lobby, which contains three elevators; one made of gold, one made of wood and one made entirely of feathers.

I think that’s about all I’m going to say about The Third Elevator for now, because it’s a delight to just let the story unfold, without knowing where it may be taking you. All I will say is that The Third Elevator is not only ‘dripping’ with allegory and moral message, it’s one of these rare stories that leaves the reader with that special, warm feel-good afterglow.

Rating:

The Third Elevator | December 2009 | $6.00 | PAPERBACK | 48 PP | ISBN: 9780982525401

****

Bobcat by Rebacca Lee – Moving on to the second title in this first series, and at 33 pages this is the shortest story in the set. However, the old adage ‘the best things come in small packages’ definitely rings true on this occasion, because Lee’s story, for me, is the best of the bunch. If I’m being completely honest then my passion for anything NYC may have a lot to do with me choosing this as my favourite (Bobcat is set in an apartment in Manhattan), but putting that aside, the story, even given its short length, engaged me to the maximum.

The plot for Bobcat centres around a fateful dinner party hosted by a professional couple – a heavily-pregnant lawyer and her writer husband – and it’s clear even before the guests begin to arrive, that this particular evening of wining and dining may not run as smoothly as expected. Part of the problem is the hosts themselves. From the outset they begin arguing over a fairly innocuous point, which sets the tone for the evening. More than the marital discord between the hosts though, it’s the eclectic mix of characters that author Lee has thrown together for this story that really makes it work.

We already have the neurotic wife and seemingly butter-wouldn’t-melt husband. And to this mix is added Lizbet, the spirited friend of the wife. The husband’s publisher Frances, whose close relationship with the husband has made the wife highly suspicious. Susan, a somewhat eccentric and enigmatic character, who had recently lost her left arm in a bobcat attack in Nepal. And finally, married couple, the Donner-Nilsons; husband and wife. The wife is unaware that the husband is having an affair with a woman ‘so beautiful it’s hard to form any other opinions of her’, but almost everyone else at the dinner party this night knows about it.

And so the stage is set for the story, and one can imagine that rising tensions will become a theme for the night. That’s pretty much how it goes, but with a great deal of story-telling eloquence from Lee (this story shows why there is a good reason why Lee is an associate professor of creative writing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington). My favourite literary byte, which I think exemplifies Lee’s prowess with the pen, is one which would probably be skimmed over by a lot of people, due to its insignificance to the overall story. It’s the description of a trifle, brought by the vivacious Lizbet, and it goes a little something like this:

Lizbet had brought a huge trifle for dessert…normally I don’t like trifle…but Lizbet’s trifle was perfect and mysterious-seeming – anise, raspberry, and port, with a gingerbread base. Lizbet basically knew how to live a happy life and this was revealed in the trifle – she put in what she loved and left out what she didn’t.

I think that’s a remarkable piece of writing, and I can’t really top it, so on that beautifully poetic note, I’ll move on to book #3 in the series.

Rating:

Bobcat | December 2009 | $6.00 | PAPERBACK | 36 PP | ISBN: 9780887276279

****

Sweet Tomb by Trinie Dalton – Enter the third book in this first series then, and it’s a return to the world of the whimsical, with a very inventive tale about a sugar-addicted witch called Candy (how appropriate ).

Undoubtedly inspired in the first place by the Brothers Grimm, and their Hansel and Gretel tale, author Trinie Dalton takes the concept of a witch living in a confectionery-constructed cottage in the forest, and makes something fresh, original, and wholly entertaining.

It’s difficult to tell you too much more without spoiling the story (which I admit does get a little odder than odd towards the end), but keep a lookout for Chad, Candy’s vampiric boyfriend, and my absolute most favourite character – Dalton’s superbly re-engineered vision of Death, who in this story is a female with a insatiable lust for footwear; a lust which is largely satisfied by Death’s ‘eternal shoe supply’ agreement with Lucifer. Funny stuff!

Rating:

Sweet Tomb | December 2009 | $7.00 | PAPERBACK | 104 PP | ISBN: 9780982525432

****

A Mere Pittance by Sumanth Prabhaker – And so we come to the final book in this first series, and the longest at 120 pages. It’s also the story that was penned by none other than Madras Publishing’s founding editor himself, Sumanth Prabhaker, so we’re in the presence of literary ‘royalty’ for this one .

I’ve got to be honest and declare from the outset that this isn’t an easy story to engage with, at least in the beginning. Presented entirely in the form of dialogue, A Mere Pittance recounts a phone conversation between a man and a woman. The woman has been hospitalised in an unnamed country (it’s fairly easy to work out from her descriptive clues where she is), and the man (her partner? former partner?), aside from anything else, is trying to work out the woman’s global location, while she, at the same time, recounts the details of a bizarre accident she’s been involved in, where the primary cause is a lowly, little caterpillar (aww..bless – although not really when you hear about the caterpillar ).

My difficulty in engaging with the story doesn’t really come from any density in the prose. Aside from having to ruminate somewhat on the story’s metaphysical aspect, the ‘plot’ for A Mere Pittance is well-constructed and logical enough. Rather the problem in engaging with the story comes more from the complete absence of any dialogue tags or verbs, which in the early stages at least, had me backtracking to work out who was saying what, especially when there are quite a number digressions in the conversation. To be fair however, part of my problem with engaging this story may be more idiosyncratic than anything else. The dialogue exchange in A Mere Pittance is turn for turn, and Prabhaker thoughtfully using an ellipsis i.e. “…” whenever one of the characters does not respond. So in theory one shouldn’t get lost when reading, but for some reason I did, and often.

Thankfully however things do improve. The story reaches a point where it’s impossible to lose track of who’s speaking (maybe I’d also gotten a little more used to the form by then), and the story ends up being rather enjoyable. I was still left me puzzling over the real meaning of the story at the end, but that’s not unusual for me, particularly with a story that has a metaphysical ‘flavour’ to it.

So do I declare A Mere Pittance to be a recommended read? Absolutely, if only for the unique reading experience. Just be prepared if you’re a similar reader to me i.e. one who needs everything to be formulaic and laid out on a plate, to put in a little bit of reading effort to reap any reward.

Rating:

A Mere Pittance | December 2009 | $7.00 | PAPERBACK | 120 PP | ISBN: 9780982525418

****

Although each of the titles in this series is an independent entity, and can be purchased as so, I wanted to close these afterthoughts by commenting briefly on the books as a unified set. If anyone does buy these books as a collection (as I’m sure many will), then I think the purchaser can be assured of a broad and eclectic reading experience (which I’m sure would have been the editor’s intention from the outset). The reading choice is broad enough to cover most tastes, and although there’s a slight lean towards the more surreal and/or metaphysical kind of story in this inaugural set, I don’t think anyone is going to be too disappointed with any of these books. They work as a collection by being wide-ranging and I think that’s what’s important to a publisher working with a wide range of genres.

So Madras Press have undoubtedly set off on the right foot here. They’ve brought to press a quartet of stories which can all be considered fresh, exciting and new; a quartet of stories which probably would have never seen the light of day if it weren’t for Madras Press’ motivation to publish such an ‘awkward to publish’ story form. The format of publishing these stories as individual titles works. The unique dimensions they’ve used for the books work. And I love that all of the profits from the sale of these books go to worthy causes. For those reasons alone I recommend these books with great enthusiasm. Now the wait begins for the second series…groan