Monsters

Derrick Jensen

Description

Monsters is an illustrated collection of wild, weird, and whimsical tales with a twist. These stories are not about mythical creatures; here, the creatures speak for themselves. There’s an orc who hates Tolkien, a young demon awash in teenage angst, an angel abandoned by Jesus who finds the Fates. Jensen creates a world both delicately dreamlike and all too real, where the villain is sometimes the victim and evil is not always what we thought.

If stories teach us how to be human, then the stories in Monsters are the ones we need now. These are fractured fairy tales for grown-ups, where the roots of sadism are laid bare and the horrors of human supremacism are firmly faced. But as in all of Jensen’s work, love is both always possible and also a call to action. By turns macabre, melancholy, and magical, these stories and their accompanying images will leave you wondering who the real monsters are and how they can be defeated.

Informations

• Publié par: PM Press
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781629634524
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Copyright 2017 by Derrick Jensen
Illustrations copyright 2017 by Anthony Chun, Cherise Clarke, Kyle Danley, Sandra Griffin, Riina Kellasaare, Stephanie McMillan, Geoffrey Smith, Anita Zotkina
This edition PM Press 2017
A FLASHPOINT PRESS FIRST EDITION
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Cover and interior design by Tiiu Kellasaare
Edited by Theresa Noll and Mary Holden
Flashpoint Press, PO Box 903, Crescent City, CA 95531, www.flashpointpress.com
PM Press, PO Box 23912, Oakland, CA 94623, www.pmpress.org
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN (paperback) 9781629634364
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017939521
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Jensen, Derrick, 1960- author.
Title: Monsters / by Derrick Jensen.
Description: First edition. Crescent City, CA : Flashpoint Press, 2017.
ALSO BY DERRICK JENSEN
Listening to the Land: Conversations About Nature, Culture, and Eros
Railroads and Clearcuts: Legacy of Congress s 1864 Northern Pacific Railroad Land Grant
A Language Older Than Words
Standup Tragedy, 2 CD set
The Culture of Make Believe
Strangely Like War: The Global Assault on Forests
Walking on Water: Reading, Writing, and Revolution
The Other Side of Darkness, 3 CD set
Welcome to the Machine: Science, Surveillance, and the Culture of Control
Endgame, Volume 1: The Problem of Civilization
Endgame, Volume 2: Resistance
Thought to Exist in the Wild: Awakening from the Nightmare of Zoos
As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Stay in Denial
Now This War Has Two Sides, live double CD
How Shall I Live My Life?: On Liberating the World from Civilization
What We Leave Behind
Songs of the Dead
Lives Less Valuable
Resistance Against Empire
Mischief in the Forest
Deep Green Resistance
Dreams
Truths Among Us: Conversations on Building a New Culture
The Derrick Jensen Reader: Writings on Environmental Revolution
The Knitting Circle Rapist Annihilation Squad
Earth at Risk: Building a Resistance Movement to Save the Planet
The Myth of Human Supremacy
CONTENTS
Cover illustration by Geoffrey Smith
Frontispiece illustration by Riina Kellasaare
INTRODUCTION
MONSTERS
Illustrations by Anita Zotkina
DEMON SPAWN
Illustrations by Stephanie McMillan
KILLER
First illustration by Geoffrey Smith, final two by Anita Zotkina
WERECREATURE
Illustrations by Anthony Chun
SKELETON
First and third illustrations by Cherise Clark, second by Anita Zotkina
THE MURDERED TREE
Illustrations by Sundra Ure Griffin
GHOST
Illustrations by Anita Zotkina
TROLL PART I
First illustration by Geoffrey Smith, final two by Anita Zotkina
ANGEL
Illustrations by Kyle Danley
VAMPIRE
First illustration by Geoffrey Smith, final two by Anita Zotkina
TROLL PART II
Illustrations by Anthony Chun
ORC
Illustrations by Anita Zotkina
LEPRECHAUN
Illustrations by Cherise Clark
THE DELIVERY
Illustrations by Cherise Clark
TROLL PART III
Illustrations by Kyle Danley
Monster illustration by Roxanne Jane Mann
Endpiece illustration by Cherise Clark
Can I describe how I feel within the context of our culture? perhaps like a hurricane tethered to a bullet train, sometimes as though the part of my brain that processes time is broken, sometimes maybe other parts too as if I m a clown a caricature rather than real as if while finding beauty in the complexity I ve become caught in the gears as if I m alone even when I m not sometimes
Riina Kellasaare
INTRODUCTION
From beginning to end, this book, like many books, is the result of a series of conversations.
The first conversation took place at a local book signing. Someone approached me, handed me a pile of her books tied with a ribbon, and said she was an artist who d like to work with me. I often get approached by people who want to collaborate, and I have to turn almost all of them down, mainly because I d never get any of my own work done. But there weren t many people at the signing, and the more I looked at her artwork, the more I liked it. And I was between projects, so .
A couple of lunches later we d decided I d write a series of stories on monsters, and she d illustrate them. I was excited. When I was a child I loved reading myths and fairy tales. In my early twenties I graduated to reading Joseph Campbell (whose book The Hero with a Thousand Faces had as its working title How to Read a Fairy Tale) and others who described the importance of stories to the transmission of culture from generation to generation. The stories of Hercules, then-or Hansel and Gretel, for that matter (and of course the same is true for every cultural story, from Star Wars to Salem s Lot) -can be read as lessons on how to be human. Then in my late twenties I encountered the work of feminists like Mary Daly and Jane Caputi, who made clear that these stories not only teach us how to be human, but teach us how to be human within the particular cultural context of the story s tellers and listeners. So Jason slaying Medusa or the male god Marduk slaying the female dragon and earth-creator Tiamat became stories of the violent ascendancy of patriarchy. The same can be said of stories in the Bible, and the same can be said of many of the stories in this culture, from those told by Hitchcock to those told by Norman Mailer. And these stories, even those told a very long time ago, have real-world effects.
All of which brings us back to stories about monsters. What do they teach us? Why do we so love them?
Whatever the answers, stories about monsters are among the most popular ever told, from our first oral tales to Bram Stoker s Dracula to the latest Stephen King novel.
Perhaps you can see why I was excited about this project. I wanted to write stories that would reimagine monsters. And no, I didn t want to make them warm and fuzzy. I wanted them (or at least some of them) to still be frightening. Monsters do exist, and they scare the hell out of me. But the older I get, the less frightened I am of Medusa, and the more frightened I am of her killer Jason.
So I wrote the stories. Then I handed them over to the artist, and . Well, nothing. She disappeared. Which reminded me of one of the reasons I don t generally collaborate with people I don t know.
It all turned out for the best, however, because this gave me the opportunity to widen the conversation, to include not just one artist but many, each adding his or her own vision to these stories. That process has been a joy, and from my perspective at least, a triumph. I m proud of the varied interpretations these artists have brought to these stories.
And finally, I ve always loved learning about the seeds from which other authors stories germinate, so at the end of the book I ve appended a brief description of each story s inspiration.
Enough of this palaver. The bottom line is that I enjoyed writing these stories, and I hope you enjoy reading them. I must admit I also hope that at least one or two frightens you just the tiniest bit.
Monsters
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANITA ZOTKINA
H E WAKES, AS HE SO OFTEN DOES, moments before his alarm is to ring. He reaches to the nightstand to turn it off. He hears the soft sound of his wife s footfalls as she makes her way across the still-dark room, hears the door open, then sees her silhouette against the slightly-less-dark hall. The door shuts again. She s on her way to wake the children, and then to the kitchen to make breakfast for all.
He is filled, as he so often is, with a profound gratitude for this life he has been given, for the family he shares, for the simple elegance of their daily routines, for his ability to work and to provide food and shelter for them, especially during this time of sacrifice.
He reaches again to the nightstand, this time to turn on the light. Then he sits, and slides his feet from under the covers and over the side of the bed. He stands, walks to the wardrobe, opens it. He dresses.
By now he can hear the children, their sleepy voices drifting through the walls.

He s at the kitchen table. The scents of coffee, sausage, and eggs permeate the air. The children file in, sit in their accustomed chairs. His youngest son s shirt is buttoned wrong, so he points this out. The child fixes the error with his tiny hands.
An overweight, graying dachshund waddles into the room. The man looks at his children, ostentatiously checks to make sure his wife s back is turned, winks, then hands the dog a piece of sausage.
His wife says, I know what you just did.

The children giggle.
She turns to face him, says, We shouldn t be wasteful. We must be grateful for what we have.
I am, he responds, and he thinks again about his good fortune to be able to provide all this for his family. He asks his children, Are you grateful?
Yes, papa, they say.
He takes a bite of eggs, chews carefully, swallows. He looks at the dog again, then asks, Where s Schatzi? Normally their two elderly dachshunds are inseparable.
His wife responds, She can t get up this morning. A look passes between them. She continues, I think it may be time.
Another look between them. His expression warns her not to discuss it in front of the children.