Just a quick note, as I should be working (always). I suppose the notice here, from a bookseller, amounts to a kind of review of All God's Angels, Beware!. Someone has taken the time, anyway, to write something original about the book rather than simply copy-and-pasting the usual publicity bumf:
Crisp’s fourth collection and a much anticipated one. Demented, slippery, surreal and generally bizarre supernatural fiction. That said, Crisp is also incredibly literate and his style harkens back to the golden age trans-real literature. This volume, like all titles emanating from Ex Occidente, limited to just a few hundred copies, in this case 350. Missing the dread and gloom and style of the masters of dark fiction? Well, I think Crisp may have the prescription for your malady.
The reason – or excuse, if you like – for my posting this is that in a recent post on my blog I said, "I generally (if I think about it) consider myself not to be well read. Sometimes though (I'm afraid this is an objectionable thing to say, but I must), I am forced to consider that I might be relatively well read." (I hate quoting myself… at least I hate other people quoting themselves, so I'm assuming I hate me doing it, too.)
I do appreciate being called "incredibly literate", but I wonder if it's really true. Where do you go from "incredibly" (which, if we refer to the almost forgotten actual meaning of the word means "unbelievably", does it not?)? There are plenty of people more literate than myself. What would we call them, to say that they're more than incredibly literate? I think I'm reasonably literate considering the fact that I had very poor primary and secondary education. But I'm certainly not like those authors who can pepper their works (rather annoyingly when there are no footnotes) with Greek and Latin phrases, and for whom history, philosophy and so on are an already established foundation that they started building on long ago. I wish I were. Most of my early reading was in areas that would be barely recognised as literature, and most of the reading in my entire life has been driven by 'the pleasure principle'. I do value education (which in my experience has mainly had to be self-education), but I've been really more preoccupied in sniffing out strange fictional perfumes than in becoming… literate, expert, erudite, etc.
There was a point I wanted to make – I think it may be only this: I hope that the application of "incredibly" here is merely generous. If what seems to me average were generally considered exceptional, I'd have to take it as further evidence that we're slipping into a world that I don't want to live in much longer.
Note: Have just had a toilet break, and it occurred to me that the above is bound to be taken in one or more of a large number of wrong ways. I'm not going to delete it now that I've taken all that time writing it when I should have been working, etc. I'm happy to have readers who think I'm incredibly literate – I just find it a bit puzzling. Also, there's another way in which the word 'literate' could be applied here that would make sense. I didn't explore that because a) no time, b) I've already gazed deeply into my navel, and sadly despite c) it would give the reviewer credit for appropriate use of the word. Ta.
Anonymous writes:should read “however you brought them to life”
Anonymous writes:But *Rule Dementia!* is like impossible to find which is also thanks to being amazing, I’ll assume.
Anonymous writes:This is such a great post (do I have to qualify by saying “in my opinion”?), I was drinking water while reading and lets just say I’ll blame the wittiness of it on my nose causing my trousers a fair degree of wetness–in point of fact, it now looks like I have peed myself. Thank YOU very much, Mr. Crisp.
Anonymous writes:Further, I have to move “All God’s Angel’s” further up on my stack. How can you ever be “extremely well-read” if people save your flipping books to read later because *they are sure to be exemplary*…..I just realized my misunderstanding of your second paragraph and, I don’t know if I’m giddy of what, I think I really am going to wee myself this time! I thought you meant that people didn’t read your books, therefore not well read! I’m sorry I never do this but I feel the need to let you know that I find this wildly hilarious and I am literally laughing at (both the real, not the imagined, witticism &) my own stupidity (it’s probably bad that I’m also delighted by this particular example of it, rather than my usual frustration and dismay). Any way, you are my favorite living writer for having wrote the novel RYAOB! and the story “The Tattooist” (and I very much am generally uninterested in real-life people like the ones depicted in this story you brought them to life with CPR or something and more importantly made them be able to be real for me, a tremendous achievement (to me)). As for publishing, it seems to me to be quality over quantity. Send me a bibliography and I will track down everything you’ve ever published and I will unfortunately save it for an auspicious rainy day.
Hello Anon. Thanks for the comments and your generous praise. I’ll see if I can ferret out an up to date bibliography to paste here.I’m sorry that my books are often so hard to get hold of. Hopefully this won’t always be the case.Anyway, I hope AGAB doesn’t disappoint when you come to it. I’m really not sure I know what to think of my work these days.Hope you’re having a good Sunday.
This is a bibliography of my standalone publications: The Nightmare Exhibition (BJM Press, 2001)Interview with the Necrophile (long poem)The PsychopompsThe LegacyDating the AndroidDecayLife SpansThe Reversible ManThe RecluseThe Nightmare Exhibition Morbid Tales (Tartarus Press, 2004)The MermaidFar-Off ThingsCousin XA LakeThe Two-TimerThe TattooistAgelessAutumn Colours Rule Dementia! (Rainfall Books, 2005)Jellyfish JoeThe Haunted BicycleZugzwangThe Tao of Petite BeigeThe WaitingUnimaginable Joys Shrike (PS Publishing, 2009), novella All God’s Angels, Beware! (Ex Occidente, 2009)Troubled JoeThe Were-Sheep of AbercraveYnys-y-PlagKarakasaA Cup of TeaAsking For ItThe Fox WeddingMise en AbymeItaliannettoSuicide Watch “Remember You’re a One-Ball!” (Chomu Press, 2010), novelTwo chapbooks were also released by Rainfall Books. I can’t remember the dates now, but they were:The Psychopomps and OthersThe PsychopompsThe LegacyDecaySado-ga-shimaSado-ga-shimaSome as-yet-uncollected work (which will be collected if we’re not hit by a comet first, etc.), is in the Postscripts journal. E.G.:DreamspaceThe Primate SanctuaryNon-AttachmentA story of mine called ‘The Fairy Killer’ was in Strange Tales II from Tartarus Press. Tzimtzum, a novella, was included in the anthology Cinnabar’s Gnosis from Ex Occidente.’The Cypher’ was in an old issue of… Midnight Street, I think.There have been one or two other such published but uncollected pieces, but they may appear in my forthcoming collection (I don’t know when), Defeated Dogs. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks.