My Name Was Never Frankenstein

Bryan Furuness

Description

You know the names and the stories, but you've never seen them like this before!

My Name Was Never Frankenstein: And Other Classic Adventure Tales Reanimated brings your favorite characters back to life in new and exciting escapades. In this inventive collection, a stellar cast of writers uses classic adventure tales as a launch pad for an eclectic mix of prequels, alternate universes, spin-offs, and total reboots. Imagine Ahab is shipwrecked on an island of cannibals, or Mr. Hyde tells his side of the story, or the scarecrow from Oz struggles with the mystery of his existence. By turns wry and haunting, My Name Was Never Frankenstein upends old territory and classic characters to reclaim them for a new generation.

1. The Return of the Ape Man / Edward Porter

2. John Thorton Speaks / Pam Houston

3. A True History of the Notorious Mr. Edward Hyde / Tony Eprile

4. Island of the Kingsbride / Molly Gutman

5. What the Fire God Said to the Beasts / Michael Poore

6. Huck and Hominy: A Legend / Corey Mesler

7. The Planning Meeting for Bringing College Classes to the Local Prison Takes a Weird Turn / Kathleen Founds

8. Afterwards / Gregory Maguire

9. Listen to Me / Bryan Furuness

10. Dear Nobody / Kristy Logan

11. There Was Once a Man / Kelcey Parker Ervick

12. The Legends of Żorro / Michael Czyzniejewski

13. The Wonderworld / Margaret Patton Chapman

14. My Name Was Never Frankenstein / Rachel Brittain

Sujets

• Dr. Jekyll
• Mr. Hyde
• Ajab
• Adventure (Guyana)
• Capitán Nemo
• Vulpini
• Cráter Odysseus
• Corey Mesler
• Edward Porter
• Tony Eprile
• Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
• The Wizard of Oz
• Fairy tale
• Odysseus
• Moby-Dick
• Ahab
• Adventure
• Gregory Maguire
• King Kong
• Classics
• Achab
• Le Magicien d'Oz (film, 1939)
• Moby Dick
• Nemo
• Zorro
• Fiction
• Tarzan
• Frankenstein

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780253036384
• Langue: English

Extrait

M Y N AME W AS N EVER
FRANKENSTEIN
M Y N AME W AS N EVER
FRANKENSTEIN
And Other Classic Adventure Tales Remixed
Edited by
BRYAN FURUNESS
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
This book is a publication of
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
Office of Scholarly Publishing
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress.indiana.edu
2018 by Bryan Furuness
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Furuness, Bryan, editor, author.
Title: My name was never Frankenstein ; and other classic adventure tales remixed / edited by Bryan Furuness.
Other titles: Classic adventure tales remixed
Description: Bloomington, Indiana : Indiana University Press, [2018] Identifiers: LCCN 2018019385 (print) LCCN 2018025458 (ebook) ISBN 9780253036360 (e-book) ISBN 9780253036346 (cl : alk. paper) ISBN 9780253036353 (pb : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Fictitious characters-Fiction. Short stories. GSAFD: Adventure stories. Suspense fiction.
Classification: LCC PN6120.95.A38 (ebook) LCC PN6120.95.A38 M9 2018 (print) DDC 808.83/87-dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018019385
1 2 3 4 5 23 22 21 20 19 18
For my boys, Eli and Evan: You are my adventure .
R EPRINTED BY P ERMISSION
Huck and Hominy: A Legend 2003, first appeared in Arkansas Review: A Journal of Delta Studies and is reprinted with the permission of Corey Mesler
Listen to Me 2015, first appeared in Ninth Letter and is reprinted with the permission of Bryan Furuness
Dear Nobody 2017, first appeared in Booth and is reprinted with the permission of Kirsty Logan
There Once Was a Man 2017, first appeared in Booth and is reprinted with the permission of Kelcey Ervick
A True History of the Notorious Mr. Edward Hyde 1995, first appeared in Ploughshares and is reprinted with the permission of Tony Eprile
Scarecrow Reprinted as Afterwards by permission of John Hawkins and Associates, Inc. Copyright 2001 Gregory Maguire
The Legends of orro 2017, first appeared in Booth and is reprinted with the permission of Michael Czyzniejewski
C ONTENTS
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
I NTRODUCTION
1 T HE R ETURN OF THE A PE M AN
Edward Porter
2 J OHN T HORNTON S PEAKS
Pam Houston
3 I SLAND OF THE K INGSBRIDE
Molly Gutman
4 W HAT THE F IRE G OD S AID TO THE B EASTS
Michael Poore
5 H UCK AND H OMINY: A L EGEND
Corey Mesler
6 T HE P LANNING M EETING FOR B RINGING C OLLEGE C LASSES TO THE L OCAL P RISON T AKES A W EIRD T URN
Kathleen Founds
7 L ISTEN TO M E
Bryan Furuness
8 D EAR N OBODY
Kirsty Logan
9 T HERE O NCE W AS A M AN
Kelcey Parker Ervick
10 T HE L EGENDS OF ORRO
Michael Czyzniejewski
11 T HE W ONDERWORLD
Margaret Patton Chapman
12 M Y N AME W AS N EVER F RANKENSTEIN
Rachel Brittain
13 A T RUE H ISTORY OF THE N OTORIOUS M R . E DWARD H YDE
Tony Eprile
14 A FTERWARDS
Gregory Maguire
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
THE EDITOR WISHES TO THANK HIS EDITOR, ASHLEY RUNYON, WHO launched this whole adventure. Thank you, too, to the whole team at Break Away Books and Indiana University Press. An honor and a pleasure to work with you.
Thank you to Booth and its editor in chief, Rob Stapleton, for the logistical and moral support. Always good to run with you, Chief.
The last and biggest goes to my family. None of this would be possible without you. Us, always.
I NTRODUCTION
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE MAGICIAN KING BY LEV GROSSMAN, THE main character-Quentin-is a king in the land of Fillory. He s a magician in a magical land, but he s grown a little bored of the whole scene. Then one day the royal court comes upon an ancient clock tree thrashing in a wind that no one else can feel. It was a Fillorian wonder, a real one, wild and grand and strange, and Quentin feels a twinge of fear, and something more. Awe. They were looking the mystery in the face. This was the raw stuff, the main line, the old, old magic.
As you might predict, Quentin is drawn toward the clock tree, and an adventure begins.
In our world, stories are old magic. Some stories are more raw and elemental than others, though. Some fictional universes are wild frontiers, begging for exploration. Myths, for example. Fairy tales. And the newer territory of adventure tales.
Consider Tarzan. Zorro. Ahab. Nemo. You know them, even if you have never read the books or seen the movies. They re embedded in the cloud of our culture, our network of subconscious minds. Classic adventure tales are our new myths (though old enough, fortunately for this project, to be in the public domain). The characters from adventure tales are endlessly fascinating, their universes expansive. Like Quentin, I m drawn toward this magic.
Fortunately, I m not alone. Plenty of writers want to play with this magic, too. All the stories in this book use a classic adventure tale as a jumping-off point, but they jump in different directions. You ll see prequels, alternate universes, spin-offs, and total reboots. The result is an eclectic mix of tales, some wry, some haunting, but all captivating. It s wild and grand and strange, so let s get to it. And, who knows, maybe in the end you ll want to enter these mysteries and play with this magic, too.
M Y N AME W AS N EVER
FRANKENSTEIN
1
T HE R ETURN OF THE A PE M AN
Edward Porter
Cheeta
I haven t seen Jane in years. Last I heard she had an antiques shop in Pasadena. I couldn t face her. I don t want her to see the way I am now. My pelt looks like Methuselah s bath mat. I barely have any paunch left, and I used to have a nice fat one, too. I can t remember the last time I had a good grooming. These days, I m lucky if I remember to check my own head for ticks. One day you re an alpha and you think it ll last forever, then you re a beta, then I don t know, the bottom drops out, and you re way downstream in the white man alphabet. Not that I give a damn. Don t have a troop, don t want one; been there, swung on that, thank you very much.
In LA, nobody wants to hear your shitty little story anyway. Gomangani, Tarmangani, my aunt Fanny, no one cares, just pay your tab. And I didn t blow my movie money, not all of it. My PETA rep got me disability, too. I should have been dead forever ago. I m going to sit here by the hotel pool with my Hennessey and my Dunhills until the janitor puts me in the compost bin. I want to go out like Warren Zevon. Look away down Gower Avenue, know what I m saying?
Him? You mean, His Lordship? No idea where he is. Don t know, don t care. I won t say his jungle name. I won t give him that anymore. He s forfeited the moral right to it, as far as I m concerned. Did you know he trademarked it, and he ll sue your ass if you use it? I call it the T-word. If I have to talk about him, I call him that, or His Lordship. It s funny, nobody remembers his actual name. It s John. How boring is that? Me John-you Jane. What a farce.
I believed in him once. It seems ludicrous now. All I can say is, you didn t know him when. He was beautiful, man. Once.
What did I see in her? I know what you re thinking. You bet I just wanted to fuck the boss s girlfriend. Or maybe you think it was revenge for the way I came off in the movies, like I was his errand boy. Cheeta! Run for help! Get Tantor the elephant! Every time the action heated up, and the kids stopped fighting over jujubes and actually watched the movie, all you d see of me is my scrawny naked ass hustling off screen. Then you wouldn t see me again until just before the credits, when I d be in the background hitting myself in the head with a palm leaf as the music came up. You know what the business was like back then. They didn t want it good, they wanted it Thursday. But I have no regrets, and I think my work stands up. I did what I could with the writing I was given. Anyway, that was years later. So no, it wasn t about payback. I fell for her hard.
I can t say she was a looker. Body like a snake with breasts, weird green eyes, no fur, that bizarre, grub-colored skin. Nothing much in the way of nails, nothing that could really dig into a guy s fur and come up with the lice. And, oh my fucking Christ, that leopard-skin one-piece. I still get the heebie-jeebies thinking about it. It made her look sad and lost, like she was pretending to be something she wasn t. That wasn t her idea. He put her in that outfit. He wanted everyone to know she belonged to him. How messed up is that, to dress your girlfriend like she s a little you?
I can t tell you the number of times the two of them showed up at the clearing and the whole troop looked at each other, like, can you believe this? Are they for real? I mean, I m a chimpanzee, and you re dressing as a leopard. Do you have any idea how disturbing that is for me? It s an insult, if you want to know the truth. What if my kid sees you? He s going to have a conniption. But that s not the worst of it. After he settles down and gets used to you, after you two play with him, bounce him around, put him on your weird, hairless shoulders, is he going to lose his fear of leopards? Because that is a big problem right there. I am definitely not okay with my kid thinking leopards are cool. For that matter, the name he gave me: Cheeta. Cheetahs are one of my predators, t