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ALYSSA STURGILL: SPIDER PIE 1) Inspirations. You've inspired us deeply with SPIDER PIE. What inspires you? Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass, sideshow freaks, women, body modification, George Carlin, forensic psychology, and most of all movies. I'd like to be a filmmaker myself, so my biggest inspirations are guys like Takashi Miike, David Cronenberg, David Lynch, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Lloyd Kaufman, Frank Hennenlotter, and all the lesser-known little guys making kickass movies that are largely ignored by the moviegoing public. 2) Who are your favorite authors and musicians & what titles could you recommend for folks to check out? Really most of my stuff is inspired more by movies than books, as I like my writing to be more visual in nature. So I don't read as much as most authors do. But I love Chuck Palahniuk, Hunter S. Thompson, William S. Burroughs, Charles Baudelaire, Anthony Burgess, Clive Barker, Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), the usual guys. Plus other Bizarros like John Lawson, Carlton Mellick III, etc. Musically, I like Genitorturers, Tom Waits, Screeching Weasel, 45 Grave, Dead Kennedys, Laibach, L7, Nick Cave, Queen Adreena, Wild Man Fischer, and Rasputina. 3) The irreal is new to us, can you describe a bit about it as a genre and what is you favorite aspect of the irreal? Well, D. Harlan Wilson calls it "irreal," but many folks nowadays refer to this genre/movement as "Bizarro." I think when he calls it irreal, he is using that in more of an academic context, which could include the works of guys like Kafka. Bizarro has a lot of its roots in Beat literature, surrealism, dadaism, and other forms of literary madness, but we've added our own visions to these movements and given them a newer, more visceral form. One might say that Burroughs' stuff had Bizarro elements and inspired Bizarro, but I wouldn't say that Naked Lunch IS Bizarro anymore than I would say that Dracula is "Goth." I tend to think of it more as a movement or subculture than a genre, more like what the Beats did, rather than a bunch of books with specific common elements like the horror or sci-fi genres. Bizarro is the ultimate in anything goes literature. Everything is acceptable, nothing is taboo. The weirder, the better. In Bizarro, if you want to write a story where Alan Thicke gets sodomized with an aborted fetus then bursts into song, it's not only acceptable, but encouraged. By working outside the mainstream, many of our authors are able to develop a cult following and get some recognition (even a little dough!) without having to involuntarily censor anything they say. We're establishing a large community of authors, zines, and publishers that give us that freedom. I can write anything I want, and if it's good, it'll get published somewhere. I have the closest thing possible to absolute creative freedom. Still more info on the movement can be found at our forum, http://www.mondobizarroforum.net . You'll also find 100+ members, most of which are authors that write Bizarro stuff. 4) What other projects are you involved with? Bloodcookies is my main thing, right now. The October issue (Issue V) is running a little late due to scheduling problems, but should be up soon. We're a for-writers, by-writers publication. Basically I, and my coeditor, wanted to create the kind of publication we always wished WE could submit to - no censorship, no form letters, and total open-mindedness with regards to content. We have a strong tendency to favor Bizarro work - the more visceral the better - but if we like it, we use it. Period. The Bloodcookies website can be seen at: http://www.thepoisonedapple.com/bloodcookies Bloodcookies has an MP3 radio counterpart, Bloodcookie Radio, which plays a lot of the music listed above, as well as serial killer interviews, audiobooks, Bizarro readings, and weird Old Time Radio. More info on that is available at the Bloodcookies site. I also recently completed a screenplay called The Hand of Glory, which I hope to film if I can get the funding. Anyone who can help in any way or who wants to participate in the project is welcome to contact me via e-mail. The Hand of Glory is a sort of Bizarro punk Spaghetti Western, complete with Jesus, Nazis, lactating zombies, she-male hookers, triggerhappy lesbians, BDSM, midgets, fetuses, limbless madams, and Manic-Depressive punk gunslingers. More info about that can be seen at http://www.gorewhore.net 5) What has been your most surreal experience as a result of the publication of SPIDER PIE? There've been a few odd ones. A five-year-old accidentally won a copy of Spider Pie at the raffle at our family reunion, which was immediately confiscated by his parents. At this year's Horrorfind convention, a friend told a couple of shoppers that my book included a story where a woman gives birth to kittens and nurses them, and they immediately exclaimed that they must have it. Carlton Mellick III told me he keeps his copy of it in the bathroom. Not sure what he was getting at there. ;) 6) For your fans (and we are one of 'em)... What message would like like to say to them? Okay, sure, the Kool Aid tastes a little funny, but that doesn't mean I put something IN it. I mean, I like, totally wouldn't do that. | |||||||||||||||||||
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