Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Metrophilias
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1970
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: nb2012003852
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/nb2012003852
HEADING: Connell, Brendan
000 00409cz a2200133n 450
001 8902255
005 20170128142455.0
008 120209n| azannaabn |n aaa
010 __ |a nb2012003852
035 __ |a (OCoLC)oca09113479
040 __ |a Uk |b eng |e rda |c Uk |d InNd |d DLC
053 _0 |a PS3603.O545
100 1_ |a Connell, Brendan
670 __ |a The life of Polycrates and other stories for antiquated children, 2011: |b t.p. (Brendan Connell)
PERSONAL
Born 1970, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer.
WRITINGS
Contributor of fiction to literary magazines and anthologies, including McSweeney’s, Adbusters, Fast Ships, Black Sails, Leviathan 3, and Strange Tales.
SIDELIGHTS
Novelist and short story writer Brandan Connell was born in 1970, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He has published numerous books and collections of short stories that delve into fantasy, magic, and historical settings. He has contributed fiction to literary magazines and anthologies, including McSweeney’s, Adbusters, Fast Ships, Black Sails, Leviathan 3, and Strange Tales.
The Translation of Father Torturo and Lives of Notorious Cooks
Connell wrote The Translation of Father Torturo in 2005. In a gothic tale of decadence and sin set in modern Italy, the ambitious and unscrupulous Father Xavier Torturo sees his path to the Vatican. He reads occult texts to learn how to transfer supernatural powers from the dead to the living. Using this arcane knowledge, he travels throughout Italy stealing holy relics of saints and using their powers of healing to get himself noticed by the Vatican. It works, and he is on track to become pope. But absolute power corrupts absolutely, and his sins and transgressions are getting noticed too. Writing in Publishers Weekly, a reviewer commented that the plot has largely been done before, however, the book is “a highly moral tale of sins avenged and wrongs redressed.”
Connell’s 2012 Lives of Notorious Cooks presents fictional biographies of chefs and cooks over the past few thousand years, “bringing into play equal measures of humor and erudition,” according to Mark Knoblauch in Booklist. He writes about a Spartan chef whose specialty is lentils, a French king who prepares the little ortolans, a Japanese samurai who likes fast food while battling demons, a Chinese cook who invents the popular mapo doufu dish, a Baghdad pastry chef whose sweets are so good they awaken the dead, and an ex-slave from Tennessee who cooks on a railroad car. From the Renaissance to the Middle East, Connell fantasizes about great food and the quirky cooks who make it. “Connell is a master of emulating the style of antiquated manuscripts perfectly with their particular language, oblique references and cultural idiosyncrasies,” said Sam Moss online at Small Press Book Review.
Jotting from a Far Away Place and Metrophilias
In 2015, Connell published Jotting from a Far Away Place, which shifts between essay, historical document, and avant-garde. He offers fantastic tales of imagination and erudition in a collection of stories, observations, and sketches. Included are the adventures of a Taoist guitar player, the barbarity of the Countess de Báthory, a recipe for cinnabar sauce, and the reincarnation of a man into a kitchen utensil. Writing on the Cultured Vultures Web site, Jay Slayton-Joslin commented: “It’s a wonderful book, one of beautiful ideas, great prose and the craziness that keeps us believing in magic.” Drawing on Chinese, Japanese, Renaissance, and even Sanskrit, Connell explained to Slayton-Joslin, “I have always tried to pay attention to style. Content is however a part of style, because one is able to present a situation in many different ways. Every day occurrences can see seem strange or charming if presented in the proper manner.”
Connell’s 2016 anthology, Metrophilias, features thirty-six prose poems of sexual obsession, cravings, and decadence. Focused on denizens of specific cities, the stories dart around the world to the ancient cities of Athens, Thebes, and Sybaris, to the modern Kinshasa, Zurich, Berlin, and Edinburgh. In an interview online at the Short Review, Connell explained: “I wanted to have stories that represented cities in all parts of the world, and many periods in history. I also wanted the pieces to be arranged alphabetically, so I made sure there was at least one piece per letter.” Obsessions range from passions with animals and inanimate objects, to cannibalism. Noting that Connell limits himself only to male/female relationships, a writer at Publishers Weekly nevertheless praised Connell for “sparse, vivid language” and a book that is “significantly more than the sum of its parts.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist November 15, 2012, Mark Knoblauch, review of Lives of Notorious Cooks, p. 6.
Publishers Weekly October 17, 2005, review of The Translation of Father Torturo, p. 45; May 2, 2016, review of Metrophilias, p. 37.
ONLINE
Cultured Vultures, https://culturedvultures.com/ (November 4, 2015), Jay Slayton-Joslin, review of Jotting from a Far Away Place.
Short Review, http://www.theshortreview.com/ (March 1, 2017), interview with Connell.
Small Press Book Review, http://thesmallpressbookreview.blogspot.com/ (March 20, 2017), Sam Moss, review of Lives of Notorious Cooks.*
About
Brendan Connell was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1970. He has had fiction published in numerous places, including McSweeney’s, Adbusters, Fast Ships, Black Sails (Nightshade Books, 2008), and the World Fantasy Award winning anthologies Leviathan 3 (The Ministry of Whimsy, 2002), and Strange Tales (Tartarus Press, 2003).
Published books:
The Translation of Father Torturo (Prime Books, 2005)
Dr. Black and the Guerrillia (Grafitisk Press, 2005)
Metrophilias (Better Non Sequitur, 2010)
Unpleasant Tales (Eibonvale Press, 2010)
The Life of Polycrates and Other Stories for Antiquated Children (Chomu Press, 2011)
The Architect (PS Publishing, 2012)
Lives of Notorious Cooks (Chomu Press, 2012)
Miss Homicide Plays the Flute (Eibonvale Press, 2013)
The Cutest Girl in Class (a co-operative novel done with Quentin S. Crisp and Justin Isis; Snuggly Books, 2013)
The Galaxy Club (Chomu Press, 2014)
The Metanatural Adventures of Dr. Black (PS Publishing, 2014)
Cannibals of West Papua (Zagava, 2015)
Jottings from a Far-Away Place (Snuggly Books, 2015)
Forthcoming books:
Clark (Snuggly Books, 2016)
Pleasant Tales (Eibonvale Press, 2017)
Interview with Brendan Connell
The Short Review: How long did it take you to write all the stories in your collection?
Brendan Connell: The bulk of them I wrote over a period of about two years. A few however I had written much earlier. These earlier ones I changed and rewrote a bit for the book.
TSR: Did you have a collection in mind when you were writing them?
BC: Yes. It was intended to be a single thing from the beginning. My actual intention was to write it fairly quickly, but for various reasons it ended up taking longer than expected.
TSR: How did you choose which stories to include and in what order?
BC: Well, I wanted to have stories that represented cities in all parts of the world, and many periods in history. I also wanted the pieces to be arranged alphabetically, so I made sure there was at least one piece per letter.
TSR: What does the word "story" mean to you?
BC: For me, any piece of writing that has action in it is a story. Truth be told though, in a sort of technical way, I don’t consider Metrophilias to be a collection of short stories, as a lot of the pieces are more like anecdotes.
TSR: Do you have a reader in mind when you write stories?
BC: Usually I write what I myself would like to read.
TSR: Is there anything you'd like to ask someone who has read your collection, anything at all?
BC: I am always interested to hear how people view the book, but I don’t have a specific question I want answered. Obviously I want the book to be liked, but I am willing to accept any criticism that it might get.
TSR: How does it feel knowing that people are buying your book?
BC: It feels correct. I believe people should buy my books. Metrophilias is not perfect (is anything?), but I think on a writing level it can hold its own against other new books out there. I realise that this isn’t a very modest statement. But I did put a decent amount of thought into the book, so there is no reason why it shouldn’t succeed.
TSR: What are you working on now?
BC: Right now I am putting the final touches on a collection for Chômu Press titled The Life of Polycrates and Other Stories for Antiquated Children. That will be out next year. Aside from that, I am finishing a full-length novel that should be completed within the next month or so, and working on a couple of other books, one being a book of jottings, another being a sequel to my novel The Translation of Father Torturo.
TSR: What are the three most recent short story collections you've read?
BC: 1. Stories to Caution the World, by Feng Menglong. This is a Ming Dynasty collection that has a lot of fantastic material. 2. A collection of stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa that I can’t remember the name of. 3. La Pipe de cidre, by Octave Mirbeau. I don’t think this exists in English.
BOOKS
INTERVIEW: Brendan Connell, Author Of Jottings From A Far Away Place
Jay Slayton-JoslinBy Jay Slayton-Joslin On Nov 4, 2015
Share
Recently, we’ve had the pleasure of reading and reviewing Jottings From a Far Away Place by Brendan Connell. It’s a wonderful book, one of beautiful ideas, great prose and the craziness that keeps us believing in magic. Brendan was kind enough to stop by and answer a few questions.
Jottings From A Far Away Place is a strange and wonderful book. Do you feel that it is similar or different to your previous works?
It depends—it has similarities with some of my other books, such as Metrophilias, but it is also a very different book than the others. Generally, however, most of my books are fairly dissimilar one to the next. Some themes are revisited—but I would hope that if someone reads one book, they don’t feel that they have read all my books.
The style of the book was definitely unique, where did your influences come from for this work?There were a lot of influences—most notably some older genres of Chinese and Japanese writing. Aside from that, there are also obvious references to Latin, Renaissance and Sanskrit works. I would hope the book also contains a certain amount of originality—things influenced by actual experience and thought rather than coming from outside.
It’s a book that doesn’t just rely on its strangeness, the prose is wonderful. Did you struggle to create good writing juxtaposed against the surreal?
Not really. I didn’t deliberately attempt to write anything surreal. I have always tried to pay attention to style. Content is however a part of style, because one is able to present a situation in many different ways. Every day occurrences can see seem strange or charming if presented in the proper manner. At the same time, so called ‘weird’ things can often seem mundane and exceedingly trite when presented in the wrong way.
You’ve had a lot of experiences working with different presses. What advice do you have for writers looking to find a home for their work based on your own knowledge?
Well, looking for a home for a piece of writing can be a discouraging process. When I started submitting material to various places, the internet was fairly new and I spent a lot of money on stamps and envelopes and had a great deal of rejection. Gradually I started to learn which places were more open to publishing my writing, and things became a bit easier in that regard. Mainly though, I think, the most important thing is trying to develop a good style and to write good books and not worry too much about the ‘getting published’ part. I see a lot of writers spend a lot of time social networking and trying to get published, when they haven’t actually developed a good style yet. A certain amount of that is okay—but without first concentrating on a style, and working on gathering a small body of work—well, without that, it is like opening up a restaurant without having a chef in the kitchen.
The title Jottings From A Far Away Place fits the book superbly, is it just a nice title or do you feel these stories came from somewhere unusual?
I am actually not sure. The term ‘jottings’ comes from the Chinese ‘biji’—which is a certain genre of writing. I don’t remember what inspired the rest of the title though—but it seemed catchy enough to keep.
This is your second book with Snuggly Books, how did you come to work with them?
The first was a collaboration novel called The Cutest Girl in Class—a book written with Quentin S. Crisp and Justin Isis. Snuggly Books was originally an arm of a press called Hieroglyphic. They had published a translation I did with my wife of the prose of Guido Gozzano, as well as some shorter pieces in their journal Sacrum Regnum and a short story in an Arthur Machen tribute. So that is the association.
From your experience over the years, how has publishing changed and how is the role of the author different since you started writing?
Well, my experience is limited mostly to the small press. I mean, I have had things published by large presses—but mostly that isn’t really my world. As I mentioned earlier, when I first started to be published, things were done in a physical manner. You sent out manuscripts, and they sent you back magazines and journals with stories published in them. I believe it was actually easier to get published in that environment—and also in the earlier days of the internet. Once things like Facebook came along, it really changed the environment. Writers seem to have started to spend far too much time on self promotion. Many writers who are very vocal on social media, and seem to be taken quite seriously, have, from my observations, not accomplished a great deal in terms of actually producing books. Others produce inferior books and, via connections on social media, are able to get traction off of them. Publishers are so inundated with emails that they are much less open to unagented work. Also, some people who are good writers are less good at keeping up their ‘internet image’ while some people who are poor writers have excellent internet and social networking skills. With all this, to use writing as a form of artistic expression has become extremely difficult.
Do you have any preference with how people engage with your work via kindle or print?
I strongly prefer people read it in print. Most of my books I have refused to have put on Kindle or be released as e-books. There will however be an e-book edition of Jottings from a Far Away Place. It is also somewhat discouraging to see how many people pirate e-books. In all my books though, the physical book is better than the e-book. I would prefer if people read them with all electronic devices turned off.
How do you view your earlier writing after such an extensive publication history?
There are a few things that I don’t like, but most of it is fine. Some earlier books, like Unpleasant Tales, I couldn’t write again. I would have trouble writing some of the darker stories in that again. Many earlier things I wrote mainly because I knew I could easily get them published. Now I rarely write something with that motivation.
What’s next for you?
I have a couple of new novels finished. I suspect at least one of them will be released in 2016. I am also working on a few more books. Two of them are tie-ins to earlier books, and two of them are totally unrelated.
The Translation of Father Torturo
Publishers Weekly.
252.41 (Oct. 17, 2005): p45.
COPYRIGHT 2005 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Translation of Father Torturo BRENDAN CONNELL. Prime (www.prime-books.com), $29.95 (196p) ISBN 0-8095-0042-6; $17.95 paper
ISBN 0-8095-0043-4
Black magic and thuggery assist a Machiavellian priest's ascent to the papal throne in this predictable but gleefully subversive modern gothic.
Xavier Torturo, a quiet but ambitious seminarian in rural Italy, gets entrusted with an ancient occult text about the translation of powers from the
dead to the living. Soon thereafter, a relic of Saint Anthony disappears from its shrine, and Xavier--coincidentally?--shows the power to heal by
the laying on of hands. Combining his newly developed talent for miracles with secular skills of blackmail and manipulation, Torturo secures his
ticket to the Vatican, where his underlings' excesses and his own past indiscretions ultimately precipitate his swift and gruesome downfall.
Connell paints a scabrous portrait of the Vatican as a site of absolute power that corrupts absolutely, but there's little to his story that hasn't been
seen in more inventively plotted works. Its transgressive spirit notwithstanding, the novel is a highly moral tale of sins avenged and wrongs
redressed, played out in a setting reeking of incense and decadence. (Dec.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"The Translation of Father Torturo." Publishers Weekly, 17 Oct. 2005, p. 45. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA138226116&it=r&asid=0a3bedd93395c769297c479609cd2554. Accessed 4 Feb.
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A138226116
---
2/4/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1486245917224 2/3
Lives of Notorious Cooks
Mark Knoblauch
Booklist.
109.6 (Nov. 15, 2012): p6.
COPYRIGHT 2012 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
Lives of Notorious Cooks.
By Brendan Connell.
Dec. 2017. 180p. Chomu, paper, $12.50 (9781907681202).641.514.
Connell conjures up several dozen cooks' "biographies," bringing into play equal measures of humor and erudition. These short pieces represent
virtually all cultures and eras. A Spartan chef dedicates his life to lentil cookery. A Japanese swordsman, perhaps too preoccupied with fast food,
has an encounter with a demon whom he turns into chopsticks. A clearly unhinged French chef cooks on the front lines at the Battle of the
Somme. Connell fashions a wonderfully realized version of the invention of mapo doufu, one of Chinas most celebrated dishes. A Baghdad pastry
chef bakes sweets that animate even the dead. An ex-slave becomes a renowned railroad dining-car chef. Anyone who's ever studied Renaissance
menus will laugh out loud at Connell's sumptuously outlandish list of dishes served at a papal lunch. Avid foodies may exploit Connell's fantasies
as entertainment to regale fellow diners following an especially boozy repast.
Knoblauch, Mark
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Knoblauch, Mark. "Lives of Notorious Cooks." Booklist, 15 Nov. 2012, p. 6. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA310867515&it=r&asid=b763baa46f47f5b7ec98c97b5c1a4c78. Accessed 4 Feb.
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A310867515
---
2/4/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1486245917224 3/3
Metrophilias
Publishers Weekly.
263.18 (May 2, 2016): p37.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Metrophilias
Brendan Connell. Snuggly, $12.50 trade paper (132p) ISBN 978-1-943813-07-0
Connell explores sexual obsession across time and geography with sparse, vivid language in this exotic and sensual thematic collection of prose
poems. The settings range across six continents and three dozen cities, from ancient Athens and Sybaris to contemporary Kinshasa and Zurich.
The characters' obsessions cover an astonishing number of specific passions, from inanimate objects to animals, as well as specific actions,
including cannibalism and extreme carnivorousness. One of the most striking tales, "Edinburgh," tells of a man obsessed with the letter W: "That
semivowel of horns became for me not merely a representation of love, but the object itself." The extraordinary and unusual collection, though
significantly more than the sum of its parts or an iteration of locations and erotic desires, is best enjoyed in small doses, to avoid reader fatigue.
However, readers may wonder why Connell limits his depicted interactions, even between human and nonhuman objects, to the male/female
dynamic, (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Metrophilias." Publishers Weekly, 2 May 2016, p. 37+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA452884001&it=r&asid=76a0c3144b914bcffc036679f4aa5db8. Accessed 4 Feb.
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A452884001
Review of Brendan Connell's LIVES OF NOTORIOUS COOKS
Lives of Notorious Cooks
Brendan Connell. Chomu Press, $12 paperback (180p) ISBN: 978-1-907681-20-2
Abstinence and indulgence, pleasure and pain. Each meal holds a microcosm of the world of desires. Brendan Connell has compiled a group of the most exquisite, the most transcendent, the most tortured masters of the culinary world for our reading pleasure. Lives of Notorious Cooks brings together 51 of the world’s greatest masters of cookery and in doing so also provides us a unique view of the antique world through its skillets, cleavers and stomachs. He prefaces the book with a mysterious caveat: This book may be fiction or may be fact. It is probably best not to cite this work in any essays intended as part of an academic history qualification. Enough said.
The eras of the cooks range from one hundred years to four thousand or more years ago and they come from ancient Roman, Egyptian, Chinese, Japanese and English cultures among others. The portraits vary in length from one page tapas to full multi course eleven page feasts. The cooks themselves may come as grandiose divas who live theatrical lives and consume just as much as they cook, mountain dwelling ascetics who hesitate to cut vegetables too vigorously in honor of the plant’s Buddha nature, and some who are only mentioned briefly in their own stories. Regardless, Connell captures the tone of the times and places perfectly.
Connell is a master of emulating the style of antiquated manuscripts perfectly with their particular language, oblique references and cultural idiosyncrasies. Each portrait is produced from what appear to be varying amounts of fact, speculation and extrapolation. If the (admittedly limited) fact checking I performed is any indication then Connell has done a noteworthy amount of research and has filled in the gaps with his warped and powerful imagination. His humor is bone dry, slipped in almost like an afterthought—though without losing any potency. Some jokes are reminiscent of the famous Spam sketch from Monthy Python’s Flying Circus and I found myself laughing out loud at more than a few of the stories. He wields repetition to great effect and often whips around and drops novelty right as you are settling into a common groove. The paranormal plays a role in many of the stories, with demons and goddesses popping up to little fanfare to help or hinder the cooks and in at least one case to become enchanted cookware. This combination of brevity and the supernatural had me at times feeling traces of Borges though the writing here is totally unique.
One of the great pillars of the work is the dishes and recipes Connell describes. Playing with obscure delicacies and very probable (but probably impossible) dishes he serves us eight pound swallow tongue pies by the truckload, wormwood cakes and the moon (or so it seems…). The lists of ornate, luxurious and sometimes revolting dishes goes on and on and provides just as much entertainment as the stories themselves. Not only the foods but how much and how the dishes are prepared provide ample entertainment: feasts of absurd size and acts of grotesque overindulgence abound, living foods and dishes of mimicry are common.
The stories did sometimes seem repetitive and Connell uses similar tricks from time to time. I initially took this as a fault in the work but came to feel after reading further that this is usually just a small humorous act on Connell’s part. The writing throughout is fantastic and as mentioned above Connell is an excellent mimic of the styles of the time. Of course if these styles do not resonate with you than appreciation the Lives of Notorious Cooks may be slightly limited.
Connell has compiled an excellent and entertaining resource for those interested in the seamy side of the culinary world. Thoroughly enjoyable and often bizarre, it is a rousing and lively look into history and the people who cooked for it. (December 2012)
Purchase Lives of Notorious Cooks HERE.
Reviewer bio: Sam Moss lives in the Pacific Northwest. He is currently working on a novel called Basic Analysis. He writes for the zine NADA at nadadadamagazine.blogspot.com and his blog can be found at perfidiousscript.blogspot.com .