Hello, everybody! Gosh, all sorts of things are happening!
Yesterday (July 25, 2007), the MonsterGrrls joined the literary scene as part of Mississippi Arts Hour, a program broadcast live each Thursday from Jackson's WLEZ 103.7 FM on Mississippi Public Radio. MonsterGrrls creator/author John Rose joined Mississippi Writers' Guild president Richelle Putnam and other MWG members on the program, which focuses on artists and creative folks in Mississippi. The program was hosted by Diane Williams of the Mississippi Arts Commission, and Thursday's show was an exclusive for the MWG.
In addition to John and Richelle, also appearing were Vice President Ralph Gordon, Executive Director Anne McKee, Treasurer/Parliamentarian Dan McKee, and John Floyd, a mystery writer who has recently won the 2007 Derringer Award. Mr. Floyd will also be a speaker for the Guild's 2007 PLANS Conference, which will be held in August in Meridian, MS. Other members present were chapter heads Lydia Dell (Jackson) and Barry McMullan (Meridian), and members Judy Tucker, Peggy Campbell and Jerusha Bosarge.
John promoted the Greenwood chapter and books written by members of his chapter in Greenwood, MS, and read a short excerpt from The MonsterGrrls. Other books promoted were Keetha DePriest Reed's Culinary Kudzu series and Opal Turner Brown's Against The Darkness Of The Night.
Reed's Culinary Kudzu and More Culinary Kudzu are unique among other cookbooks: they also feature
memories and stories of growing up in a Southern household. Reed herself has great credentials for being a Southern-food doyenne: a bachelor's degree in hospitality management from the University Of Southern Mississippi, award-winning public relations work, food writing, recipe development and catering. In addition to being the MWG Greenwood chapter founder and head of Pecan Street Press (her publishing company), Keetha is a member of the Southern Foodways Alliance. She blogs at the official WriteKudzu blog and is currently collaborating on a novel.
Opal Turner Brown's Against The Darkness Of The Night is a historical fiction novel which came out of stories told to her by her relatives around the fireplace. This engaging novel tells the story of Lydia Walker, who deals on a personal level with the upheaval of the Civil War when William, her husband, goes to fight. The novel details the struggles of Lydia's attempts to run the family farm on her own in her husband's absence. Opal has worked as a teacher and a volunteer within the National Park System, and is a very prolific writer with several other projects nearing completion. Against The Darkness Of The Night is available at iUniverse.
Clearly, our friend and official chronicler John is in fantastic company within the Mississippi Writers' Guild! Keep checking the Harbinger, our official MonsterGrrls website, and the other cool places listed here for all your literary needs!
Sincerely yours,
Frankie Franken
POST-MORTEM: WLEZ 103.7 FM's full schedule and roster of shows is available at www.wlezfm.com.
Richelle Putnam and the Mississippi Writers' Guild can be contacted through their website at www.mississippiwritersguild.com for information on their work and the upcoming PLANS conference. Any Greenwood, MS area authors who are interested in local membership should contact Keetha DePriest Reed through the Pecan Street Press at www.pecanst.com.
(This post begins an irregular series in which John talks about his characters and the influences of their creation. We begin with the MonsterGrrls' leader: our charming Creature, Frankie Franken.)
Frankie Franken: Nancy Drew Meets Frankenstein's Daughter
The main reason I have so violently pursued this project known as The MonsterGrrls is very simple: Upon their creation, the Grrls arrived cut from whole cloth. That has never happened with anything else I've ever come up with, and that alone seemed reason enough to pursue it.
So what to say about my Creature-Grrl, Frankie Franken? She is, quite obviously, the Child Of Frankenstein, a hybrid of both Boris Karloff and Elsa Lanchester as they appeared in the films Frankenstein and The Bride Of Frankenstein. Both of Jack Pierce's makeups were referenced for her creation: I felt she should have the green skin, the neck bolts, the stitches, the head-clamps, and of course, that beautiful, funky, Nefertiti-inspired hair, with a couple extra white streaks added and morphed into lightning bolts. (After all, there's never been any doubt in my mind that that hairdo is extremely conductive.)
Some updated elements were added too, such as a Ramones-style leather jacket, black jeans and the clunky boots, which were back in style again when the Grrls first saw the dark of night in 2001. Her T-shirt began as a striped T-shirt before I gave her a Shazam-style T-shirt, red with a yellow lightning bolt, perfect for a Creature born of lightning.
Frankie possesses her own kind of beauty, and her personality is very Grrl-next-door: sweet, intrepid, outgoing, and most importantly, intelligent. I had seen enough of dumb Frankensteins: though Boris Karloff's characterization of the Creature is both terrifying and sad, it has been the template for any number of goofball characterizations, and nearly all of them fall far from Mary Shelley's original Creature, which was cunning, well-spoken, thoughtful and quite self-aware. I wanted to go back to this, and as a result, Dr. Franken, who is Frankie's creator and "father", ensured that Frankie would be intelligent by teaching her once she got off the slab. I felt that Victor Frankenstein's big mistake was that he gave up on his Creature almost from the moment it woke up. I've never been sure what he expected: a home-grown, homemade homunculus cannot be expected to turn out like Brad Pitt mixed with Albert Einstein no matter how good you are. The Creature needed training, direction and acceptance. Most of all, it needed love.
And that's one of the real horrors these days when you think about it: that a lot of teenagers don't get the care and direction and love that they need. If you're going to be a parent, your child needs these things. If the child doesn't get them, it will become quite literally a monster, pure and simple.
So Frankie got trained in etiquette, poise, grammar, speech, vocabulary, and tap dancing (heh-heh, thank you, Mel Brooks; Young Frankenstein is still one of the best Frankenstein movies ever made). And there was, inevitably, a Nancy Drew influence; both of them have the same taste for adventure, and despite Frankie's enormous talents in Mad Science, I think she has a secret desire to be a detective. She's read all of her universe's equivalent of Nancy Drew, and her adventures at Clearwater High, (both present and forthcoming) will give her plenty of opportunity to sharpen her skills. Of the Grrls, she's probably my personal favorite, and she serves as a continuing inspiration and drive to keep working and keep punching with the Grrls, because she's one of the reasons that I've just got to see what happens next.
Next: Bethany Ruthven
Good evening, darlings, and thank you for reading. As you all probably know (mostly because the bloody media won't let us alone about anything anymore), the seventh and final book in J. K. Rowling's much-admired Harry Potter series, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, has just been released. Having finished it, I was initially loath to do a review of it because, quite frankly, none of us here at MonsterGrrls Central have any intention of giving away the answer to the big question: Does Harry Potter die?
Nevertheless, we must respond, so here is the MonsterGrrls' official answer, which I have been duly authorized to give: Buy the bloody thing and read it yourself if you want to find out, you grubby little git. What kind of monsters do you think we are?
Now, I'm sure that some of you are wondering how I'm going to be able to review this book without giving away the proper answer to the does-Harry-die question. Well, here's how it goes:
People die. Other people become seriously injured. Some other people prove themselves to be right sodding bastards. Still other people confirm deep suspicions about themselves and their character that you have probably had all along. There's a quest (duh). There's quite a bit of violence, fighting and magic-using, which goes without saying (also duh). Two major characters do die, after all, in quite spectacular ways. (No, I'm not going to tell you who. See above.) Tons of secrets are finally revealed
.
And in the end (and I hope I'm not giving too much away by saying this), that which has been given the least amount of analysis and scrutiny throughout the whole of this series, that which has had almost no press or media attention at all, is that which ultimately saves the day.
Now read the bleeding thing yourself and you'll see what I'm talking about.
Sincerely yours,
Bethany Ruthven
BETHANY'S RATING:
Full marks. Completely sodding brilliant. But then, it's J. K. Rowling, so what else could it be?
POST-MORTEM: In the event that you are now searching around for something else to take up your time, an excellent fantasy called The MonsterGrrls is available for purchase at http://www.monstergrrls.com, or go directly to http://www.cafepress.com/themonstershop. It's quite good and more spiritually satisfying than being on Myspace, so come round and have a look. --B. R.
According to an AP news story we discovered on the Internet this morning, Castle Dracula is now up for sale. The Bran Castle, located in central Romania, was put up for sale Monday by Archduke Dominic Habsburg, the heir to the estate through the line of Princess Illeana. Baytree Capital, the company representing Habsburg, will sell "to the right purchaser under the right circumstances" and predicts to sell for more than $135 million.
The castle was built in the 14th century as a fortress against the Ottoman Turks. The royal family moved in during the 1920's but lost the castle to communist regime in 1948. Since then the castle has been restored and has gained popularity as a tourist attraction in Romania, due to the legend that Vlad The Impaler, the Wallachian warlord who inspired Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, spent a night in the castle during the 1400's.
Our own vampire Grrl Bethany Ruthven commented on the sale: "It's a lovely old home, but I think $135 million's a bit pricey. I'd put up maybe $90 million if they threw in all the furniture and did something about that moldy spot in the dungeon. The most preferable thing would be to sell it to someone who would continue its current status as a tourist attraction, because the property is historically significant. But that's overstating the obvious."
The castle's namesake was not available for comment, though the venerable count has been reported to be sighted at various times in the vicinity. Ruthven, upon hearing this, snorted, "Yeah. Him and Elvis."
The full story on Castle Dracula is available at the title link above. Let the bidding commence, and as always, caveat emptor...
So here's the thing. I'm doing an early morning email check; I've got a Writers' Guild meeting at my house tonight, lots to do, so I'm grabbing a few quick messages. Like you, I use an email browser that throws tons of news and media crap at me when I open it up, in the hopes that I might click on some of it to see what's what. So I'm waiting to get my stuff and I see an entertainment headline: "Nicole Giggles About Jail."
Most of us, of course, have been following with half an ear the trials and tribulations of Paris Hilton and her "jail time." So I clicked on it, and the headline of the article quoted Miz Nicole Richie as saying, "Everyone goes to jail."
News flash: Not everyone goes to jail, you jackass. In my world, you're not supposed to go to jail, and some of us don't. Instead we try to live our lives, get on with things, not hurt anybody if we can possibly avoid it and stay out of trouble as much as possible. And because of this, we are touted as boring "little people."
Now here's my question: How much longer are we going to let these idiots who call themselves "celebrities" and have become famous for doing nothing stay in the limelight?
That's my word on the whole situation. I'm outta here. More Grrl talk next time.
Below is the text of an email I sent to a friend in my Writers' Guild group, when she asked for some thoughts on happiness:
Happiness.... hmmm. This could take a while.
I confess to being really suspicious of "happiness" as people use the word today. I have seen things that made some people happy and have completely not understood why this happened. I have seen other things that made other people happy but made me want to commit unrestrained, bloody and potentially ritualistic murder, such as The Lawrence Welk Show, which was a pleasant experience for those in my family except for me. I have always been happy with the knowledge that Lawrence Welk never knew of the Ramones or included a single Ramones song in his repetoire, because I am certain that if he had I would most likely be in jail today, serving my third life sentence for breaking into a television studio and trying to beat a large number of old people senseless with an axe that was lodged into the bellows of an accordion.
There's tons of stuff out there today that's supposed to make you happy: cell phones, DSL, satellite TV, wireless networks, comfortable underpants, dating websites, new cars, housecleaning tools with disposable/replaceable parts, flat-screen TVs, travel discount services, credit cards with allegedly low interest rates, music mp3 players, downloadable music for less than a dollar, all kinds of medicines for all kinds of discomforts and upsets with all kinds of potential side effects (but hey, there's a one-in-a-million shot you'll experience them, right?), DVD special editions, Paris Hilton going to jail, that really annoying person getting voted out of American Idol... and the list just goes on with no end in sight. I notice sometimes that I seem happier when I am either not aware or less aware of these things.
I have a reputation for not being "happy" at times. This is partially because I am a quiet person who is not prone to talk unless he has something to say (which seems to really bother more people that I had first believed), and partially because I am not fully convinced that people are supposed to spend every single day of their lives chock-full of gutbusting yucks. I am sort of like Fox Mulder in The X-Files: "I want to believe." And yet, the more I see of society, the more convinced I am that maybe we should be seeking contentment instead of happiness, mainly because one seems to last longer and is more durable in the long run than the other. I think that happiness is something that should be appreciated more than sought, like a good meal or a fireworks display, or some other such experience. When we all went to the writers' conference in Clinton, one thing that Carolyn Haines said that I noticed was that humans are geared toward pleasure. This stuck with me, mainly because it was a frightening thing when you consider just how far some people will go in the pursuit of pleasure.
That's my opinion. Do consider that I have five days of school left while reading, and use grains of salt accordingly.
Now just for the record, here are a few things that make me happy:
1) Any Ramones album
2) A new pair of Converse black monochrome Chuck Taylors (Converse Chuck Taylors are the rock and roll shoe, folks)
3) Good Italian food, shared with good friends
4) Sleeping late
5) Finishing mowing the yard (this probably makes everybody happy, but so what)
I will also add this about happiness: I think that some happiness is found in accomplishment of a task. I remember very strongly that when I finished writing The MonsterGrrls, I felt very, very happy. I felt a great sense of having finished something that I really needed to do. And even today, I still get that feeling when I have completed something connected with this project, whether it's an artwork, or a webpage, or a product design--anything. I believe that one reason I feel this way is because I rediscovered something that I was very passionate about, and I became even more convinced that real happiness is connected to treasuring and appreciating the things that have value to me, and not to somebody else. I think, in some ways, that this is what life is about.
Don't anybody expect me and the Grrls to leave yet. We're gonna stick around a while.
Welcome to the beginning of the new FrankenGeek Press blog. This blog is a production of one John Rose (me), who created The MonsterGrrls, a novel self-published under the imprint name of FrankenGeek Press, and is a great story about four teenage monsters sent to a human high school. If you haven't already gotten a copy, well, you should.
This blog is a bit different from our sister publication, The Morlock Heights Harbinger, in that it is personally written by the publisher, and is an attempt to communicate some thoughts about the creation of these characters and their world, what I plan to do in the coming months with the Grrls, show some archival material (and do we have archival material? You bet we does, honey chile) and maybe rant a little bit about how weird everything is becoming, which is not always a bad thing. We're going to start off with five things about me:
1) I was born in Meridian, MS, and grew up in a house a good ten miles out of town, in a rural section populated with woods, trees and forests, where birds sang every morning and squirrels and other forest creatures frolicked in the treetops, and there was little fuss or bother from the outside world. I saw the flaw in this right away, and began working on getting out. Maybe some people can live in the middle of nature, but I'm not one of them. I need cars going by on the road and next-door neighbors who wave hello as they walk by on the street, kids playing in the front yard of their house and dogs barking to each other, and friends that I can gather with. I need the noises of other people living, and I have those things where I live now, in a neighborhood in Greenwood, MS.
2) I have an extremely low tolerance for what drive-in-movie critic Joe Bob Briggs refers to as bullstuff, and there have been occasions where my personal relationship with other people and the world at large has suffered because of it. Bullstuff is more and more prevalent in society these days, and with the coming of the Internet, the average daily percentage of bullstuff entering modern life has increased by about 5000 percent. Gentle reader(s), I pledge to you now, with my mind and my heart, that I shall try with all my being to avoid bringing bullstuff unto you.
3) I used to listen to a great deal of music. Because the majority of my musical heroes are either dead or inactive and music in modern times has become a quagmire, I no longer do this. Some of the bands I still listen to and am unrepentant about enjoying can be found here and here.
4) I read a lot and have tons of books that I haven't read yet. Whether I will live long enough to read them all is anybody's guess.
5) I like Blogger and use it exclusively. This is not any sort of plug; it's just true. I've tried that damn Myspace thing twice already, and, well... jeez. (Though I have heard good things about Yahoo 360...)
Check out more weird stuff from the Press at www.monstergrrls.com.
POST MORTEM: Well, there is a page for me now on Yahoo 360, but to be honest... don't wait up. If you want the news straight up, come to this blog or the Harbinger. We'll leave a light on in the crypt...
We are pleased to announce that today, April 18, 2007, is the 30th anniversary of one of our favorite bands, the Misfits!
Begun by Glenn Danzig and Jerry Only way back in 1977, the Misfits have survived breakups, personnel changes and countless other obstacles to become one of punk rock's greatest and most influential bands. The Misfits have continued into the Internet age with Misfits.com, their own website, and Jerry Only still heads and plays in the band, though Danzig and previous members have moved on to other things. For our own part, we love the Misfits and can often be found grooving to both their classic and new music, and the MonsterGrrls are proud to claim the Misfits as a major influence and inspiration on our own fiendish fang-faced frivolities! ("They even look a lot like Morlock Heights' own Teenage Undead! Super-cool band!" --Frankie)
Now, the Misfits will soon relaunch their website with a cool new look, new features and special content from their own archives. Click the link above to visit their site and preview the way-cool new 30th Anniverscary logo by Dave Burke of Monster Fetish, and keep checking back with us here at The Morlock Heights Harbinger, as we will proudly announce when the new site is launched! It's all a part of keeping the American Nightmare alive!
Click the photo above to learn more about the Misfits' music at Amazon.com!
We're pleased to post this wonderful email letter from Charla Miley, an old high school friend of mine and a MonsterGrrls reader in Jackson, MS. Last year I attended a high school reunion and brought a copy of The MonsterGrrls to show the class of '86. Her email was titled "Monster Girls Rule!"
John, Hey there! Tom Beck sent me a list of NE emails last week, and I was so glad to see yours on there. I ordered your book right after the reunion, and I have to tell you, I think it is absolutely amazing. No kidding, I was into it right from the beginning. I was excited about the thought of reading something that someone I knew had written, but I was not prepared for it to be so good. I loved the pop culture references. I don't know anything about monster/vampire lore, but I was certain that your references were hilarious to anyone who did.
I think the biggest evidence of praise is that my younger brother loved it. He called me laughing his head off about the part where Emily and Theo say they want to rule the world. That reference had escaped me, but apparently my brother was a big Animaniacs (I think that is the show, right?) fan. The only problem is that he took my copy and "loaned" it to his brother-in-law, who is a teacher a SEHS. He is teaching on Mississippi authors, and has apparently been referencing your work in his class. Maybe it'll translate into some sales. At least it will for me, because I don't think I am going to see that copy again. Not to inflate your head too much, but the book was very, very good. I can't wait for the second book to come out. October, right?
Your website is great, too. By the way, which teacher did you ask about doing the werewolf paper for--Mrs. McCraney or Mrs. Boyd? I just laughed imagining either one's reaction!!
Anyway, I just wanted to pass this along to you. You are very talented, and I can't wait to see what you come up with next.
Charla
I appreciate Charla's kind words very much. Any other readers of the book are welcome to share their thoughts at fangclub@netdoor.com, or post a note on our guestbook at www.monstergrrls.com.
Pleasant screams, everybody...
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Our charming Creature Frankie is clocking in today with this special post to celebrate the publishing of Mary Shelley's classic novel. Click our title link above and visit the Bakken Library's cool 'n creepy Frankenstein exhibit. --J.R.)
Hello, everybody! Today is the official birthday of Frankenstein--not just a Creature like myself, but the whole idea. The classic novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley was published on this day in 1818, and it's still going strong 189 years later.
During the year 1816, a teenaged Mary Shelley and her husband-to-be, Percy Bysshe Shelley, visited Lord Byron in Switzerland. While they were visiting, Byron challenged the Shelleys and his personal physician John William Polidori to each write a horror story. While Byron wrote a bit about vampires**and Polidori managed to write a short story called The Vampyre, Mary turned out a full-blown novel about a scientist who creates a monster in an attempt to learn the secret of creating life. This novel went on to be one of the most well-known books in the world, birthing stage plays and movie adaptations of the story, as well as creating an immortal character in pop culture. Not bad for a young girl like me! (Well, maybe not quite like me, since I'm a Creature, but you get the idea.)
We proudly salute Mary Shelley and recognize her as one of the original MonsterGrrls, and wish her creation a monstrously happy birthday!
Sincerely,
Frankie Franken
**Bethany footnotes: "Hmmph. Not surprised at all, really. I knew Lord Byron briefly, and with all the carousing and drinking it's a wonder he managed to stay upright long enough to write anything."
Q: Who, or what, are The MonsterGrrls? And who is John Rose?
A: The MonsterGrrls (the what) is the title of a new novel series written by John Rose. The MonsterGrrls (the who) are Frankie Franken, Bethany Ruthven, Punkin Nightshade, and Harriet Von Lupin, four teenage girls who are (respectively) a Creature, a vampire, a witch, and a werewolf. John Rose (who is not a monster) is a forty-two-year-old art teacher from Greenwood, MS, who created the MonsterGrrls (both the who and the what).
Q: So they're all monsters?
A: Yes, except for John Rose. (Sometimes.)
Q: So what kind of monster is a Creature?
A: Creature was originally the term used to describe the monster in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. For the purposes of this novel, Frankie, who is a Frankenstein monster, is referred to as a Creature.
Q: Oh. So is Bethany like the vampires in Buffy The Vampire Slayer?
A: No. Joss Whedon, who created Buffy, based his vampires on an old historical tradition which states that a vampire is a dead body without a soul that is possessed by a demon. Bethany, on the other hand, is neither demonic nor entirely soulless; instead she is "Undead," which here means that her soul is trapped between life and death by dark vampiric magics, which require that she drink blood to live.
Q: Wait a minute, I'm getting confused. What is this again?
A: The MonsterGrrls is a novel series about the adventures of Frankie, Bethany, Punkin and Harriet, who are all monsterkind (or monsters). They live in an alternate universe called the Unknown World, in a place created by and for monsters called Morlock Heights. It is separated from the human world (ours) by a magical Barrier. The monsters of Morlock Heights are attempting to live in harmony with humans (us), and because of this, the Grrls are sent to high school with humans in the small town of Clearwater.
Q: It says here John Rose lives in Greenwood, MS. Was Clearwater based on Greenwood?
A: No. Clearwater is mostly derived from John's experiences of living in small towns, and is not set in Mississippi. John himself has said that he doesn't actually know where Clearwater is; all he knows is that it's somewhere in America.
Q: Is The MonsterGrrls a series of horror novels? Does John read horror fiction?
A: The MonsterGrrls is not horror in the traditional sense, but more of a comedy-fantasy with elements of horror (after all, it is about monsters). As for horror fiction, John does read rather a lot of Stephen King, and is very keen on Edgar Allan Poe, H. P. Lovecraft, and Laurell K. Hamilton. But if The MonsterGrrls was directly inspired by anything John read, it would have to be Terry Pratchett's Discworld series.
Q: I heard that witches are sometimes called Wiccans. Is Punkin Wiccan?
A: No. Punkin does not follow any specific traditions of witchcraft (though research on witches was done for this novel, and we do on occasion have some fun with what we learned). She is more along the original definition of witch, which was a woman who knew a little more about midwifery, herbal medicine and arcane knowledge than most people.
Q: If Harriet's a werewolf, doesn't that mean that she's only a monster for part of the time?
A: No. Werewolves in this novel are able to maintain a wolfman-type form at will, and they are usually most comfortable in that form.
Q: But I thought werewolves only changed at full moon.
A: Well, that's the cool thing about fantasy fiction: any rules that are previously established may be changed, added to or rewritten outright. Though werewolves in Morlock Heights must respond to their "monster" side during the full moon, most of the time they stay in their wolfman form. And Harriet actually explains in the story why she doesn't try to look human all the time.
Q: So tell me.
A: Sorry. You'll have to read the books in order to find out.
Q: So where do I get it?
A: The first book in the series is called Out From The Shadows, and is now available from Createspace or at Amazon.com. There is also an online store of MonsterGrrls T-shirts and other merchandise at Atomic Brain Industries.
Q: This is all weird.
A: Well, of course it is; that's how these things get done. After all, Mad Science is a cottage industry, or rather a castle tower industry.
Join us at our little monster mash, if you dare. Check back soon and tell them the Mad Doctor sent you...
memories and stories of growing up in a Southern household. Reed herself has great credentials for being a Southern-food doyenne: a bachelor's degree in hospitality management from the University Of Southern Mississippi, award-winning public relations work, food writing, recipe development and catering. In addition to being the MWG Greenwood chapter founder and head of Pecan Street Press (her publishing company), Keetha is a member of the Southern Foodways Alliance. She blogs at the official WriteKudzu blog and is currently collaborating on a novel.
Opal Turner Brown's Against The Darkness Of The Night is a historical fiction novel which came out of stories told to her by her relatives around the fireplace. This engaging novel tells the story of Lydia Walker, who deals on a personal level with the upheaval of the Civil War when William, her husband, goes to fight. The novel details the struggles of Lydia's attempts to run the family farm on her own in her husband's absence. Opal has worked as a teacher and a volunteer within the National Park System, and is a very prolific writer with several other projects nearing completion. Against The Darkness Of The Night is available at iUniverse.
