AReCafe is proud to welcome guest author Shirin Dubbin!
Remixing Macabre and Grimm: The true tales of an aspiring Buffy’s love of fairytales, her flirtation with horror and how she finally found satisfaction in the arms of UF.
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The way I hear it, there’s nothing new. There are only thirty-six dramatic structures. That’s it. So there’s only one-way to create something original: the mash-up.
And oh, how we love a good mash-up.
Somewhere online there’s a musical magician who mixed Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit and Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean into a spellbinder called Billie Jean the Teen. Blast this song in your car, roll down your windows, and watch spontaneous dancing breakout in the streets. (I’ve done it and it’s magical.)
In literature, Science Fiction met Victorian Historical and birthed Steampunk. Science Fiction, that sly dog, also mixed it up with Westerns to create Space Opera. In the land of love, Romance and Thrillers went midnight dancing and came back with Romantic Suspense. Romance, that saucy wench, also snuck off with Urban Fantasy to bring us Paranormal Romance.
Urban Fantasy. That’s the origin I’m most interested in. Which brings me to bedtime stories and the darkly twisted tales of Halloween versus the darkly romantic adventure of fairytales.
As a kid I devoured myths and legends—even the bloody ones (all right, especially the bloody ones)—but I’ll admit ghost stories and urban legends gave me the shakes. I needed the rules of engagement found in fairytales in order to believe my hero (and I) had a chance of survival. The modern monsters scoffed at rules. Their unstoppable blood rages didn’t thrill as much as send me screaming for mommy. I’m betting a lot of you felt the same.
Chaos Tryst
Here’s the thing. I need a hero. In fairytales I always had one. Witty and intrepid, quest bound and falling in love. On the flipside, the creatures in ghost stories got the better of the protagonist every time. What chance would I have against them when they scritch-scratched on my bedroom window one All Hallows Eve? (Imagine me making the neck slicing gesture right now with exes where my eyes used to be.) “Ack.”
As I’ve said, mash-ups breed ingenuity; mythic heroes kick ass; the monsters won’t quit; and surviving urban legends is an iffy prospect. Somewhere in the back of my mind I hear Tim Gunn enthuse, “Make it work.” Hm, well…
I’m sure the imaginations of authors like Charles De Lint, Emma Bull, and Terri Windling traversed similar paths to discover dark cities where magic and blood filled the air as thickly as fog. These authors were among the first to bring the quick witted and brave heroes of myths and fairytales into an urban landscape and pit them against the denizens of ghost stories and urban legends. Of course their protagonists weren’t the pretty princesses and dapper princes of Disney storybooks. These heroes rose from the world of the Brothers Grimm. They were well-versed in blood and magic, they had means to skirt the long cloak of death, and they knew how to deal with monsters.
Chaos Tryst, Now Available!
This is the mash-up that sculpted nightmares into my ideal genre: Urban Legends met Fairytales to birth Urban Fantasy.
You should have seen my face when I picked up my first urban fantasy. Hell yeah! The best of both worlds had converged. I can’t think of a better genre for a kick-ass Halloween. But you’ll have to let me know, there’s a hellmouth at the Lincoln Memorial that needs closing and I’m the only slayer in town.
Shirin Dubbin’s “Macabre and Grimm” Recommendations
BOOKS
Fables by Bill Willingham
Whether you like urban fantasy/paranormal romance or comics/graphic novels this series is king. Grab as many trades as you can. Snow White and Bigby Wolf (the original Big Bad) lead a cast of fables and fairytales living in modern NYC. They’re on the run from a world-crushing dictator known only as “The Adversary,” and just wait until you find out who “he” is and what he’s done to a beloved Disney character. (I’ve still got the shakes.)
Sandman, American Gods and Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
To paraphrase my friend and fellow Carina Press author, Shawn Kupfer: some artists you just buy on faith “ and it [is] very rare that my faith-buying [goes] unrewarded.” Neil Gaiman always comes through for me and in the above titles he deftly blends myth, legend, world religion, and folklore into our world. There is darkness, blood, magic and betrayal in all these books along with enough humor to keep you alternately gripping your chair and giggling.
The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
The Replacement is creepy in a lovely goose-bump-tingly way. Brenna Yovanoff has created a compelling character study dressed-up as a ghost story—perfect for Halloween or late nights beneath the covers.
(Excerpted from my review at SFRevu.com)
Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs
Somehow Mercy Thompson has survived long enough to 1. become embroiled in a werewolf civil war; 2. battle a sorcerer-turned-vampire; 3. keep her gremlin ex-boss from being framed for murder (suffering serious damage in the bargain); 4. do a little ghost-busting that led to more vampire drama; 5. Keep the werewolves at the back door while fighting off the fae at the front gate; and 6. deal with a rapacious river monster while bonding with a great American folklore figure. And Mercy does all this in the shadow of an actual Mystery Machine, filled with a far more deadly (namely werewolves, vampires and fae) version of Scooby’s crew. If the term ‘ass-kicking chick’ has ever found a more apt heroine I can’t think of who.
(Excerpted from my review at SFRevu.com)
Fever series by Karen Marie Moning
One of my top five heroes of all time, Jericho Barrons, is featured in this series. He alone is reason enough to read these books, but they’re also wonderfully imagined, gritty, fantastical, romantic, heart wrenching and include a huge dose of Celtic and Irish myth injected into modern day Dublin. Moning doesn’t pull a single punch. She freaks you out with monsters and danger but thrills you with great characters and action enough to leave you loving it.
TELEVISION
Hush – Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Season 4
The Gentlemen scared my friend Adriana and me so badly she refused to leave my house the night they first aired (I was glad she wouldn’t go). Making matters worse, neither of us had the guts to get off the couch to go to the bathroom. Joss Whedon created the perfect mash-up of fairytale and urban legend with the macabre grins of these silent menaces. They even have their own nursery rhyme. =shudder=
Blink – Doctor Who (new) – Series 3
Steven Moffat, Doctor Who show runner, may have re-imagined The Gentlemen to create his The Silence but the Weeping Angels are all his own. Imagine statues stalking you. You will never outrun them and by the way you can’t blink. If you do you’re gone. Talk about edge of your seat. I think I poked holes through the couch cushions while watching this episode. I’ll leave you with a warning from The Doctor himself, “Don’t blink. Blink and you’re dead. Don’t turn your back. Don’t look away. And don’t blink. Good Luck.”
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BONUS FREE READ
In celebration of the mash-up of fairytales and Halloween, and her new release, Chaos Tryst, Shirin Dubbin and All Romance bring you an exclusive free read of Whipstitch – In which a pair of Faebled nemeses come together for an All Hallows sewing bee. Whipstitch is a “love gone horribly wrong” companion to the “rollicking romantic action” and modern adventures of Goldilocks in Chaos Tryst.