From the back cover:
In this witty and entertaining account of the rise of horror and comic book movies, Stephanella Walsh explores clichés, mises-en-scène, beloved characters, ridiculous outcomes, psychological dilemmas and gory parodies. From Leatherface to Freddy, Michael and Jason, from Blade to Spider-man, Batman and The Name of The Rose, Slaughter is the Best Medicine is a profound analysis of how imagination and horror are intertwined with our lives and ourselves.
The above is the PR version of things, but what I really would like the blurb to say is this: By juxtaposing the ghastly and the everyday, the mundane and the fantastic, the deformed monster and the pulp paper hero, this exciting new author demonstrates that a mixture of rubbish and really good stuff makes for one hell of a movie superstar. ELECTRIFYING!
This is the work of my writing alter ego, a tabloid writer of the basest level who would define Battlefield Earth, Waterworld and Showgirls as magnificent and gripping. Once I finished the book, I did not limit myself to pen multiple versions of the same improbable blurb dear reader, of course not! I sat in my local Starbucks glassy-eyed, day-dreaming a series of snappy one-liners that would suit the back of Beverly Hills Cop The Complete Series or equivalent. For example (NB: list not exhaustive):
It's easily the best cross-infected film/cultural studies cum English/Gothic text of the year and, for my money, of the decade. Electrifying.
Where was this book when I was a student of English? Subtle, sharp, entertaining, electrifying. I couldn't put it down.
Epic, operatic, humorous, electrifying: Slaughter is the Best Medicine is all of these. Don't put it down, buy it now.
An immensely entertaining and electrifying new voice.
Here is a breakthrough analysis with something for everyone. With delightful old characters, experience horror from an all-new electrifying perspective.
Join Freddy Krueger, Spider-man and The Dark Knight in an electrifying new journey.
Isn't this the reason why we write anyway? To amuse and entertain ourselves? Insofar as Slaughter is the Best Medicine is concerned though, it wasn't all fun and games on the back lawn and unicorns and fairies over a caramel macchiato... If you want to know about the process of Slaughter, please continue reading. If you only care about the publishing deal, jump here. If you want to read a few pages, go here.
The Process of Slaughter
Scattered thoughts about one section of my PhD on horror movies and Blade in particular had occurred to me between February and April 2007, as testified by a few seemingly unconnected notes found in my notepad. It was not until May 7 2007 however that the evil plan gathered momentum. I utilised the day off by starting as follows: 'Horror and superhero movies go hand-in-hand and are on the same level because of their shared pulp-fiction associations'. Cringe-worthy, bland, clunky, a little embarrassing and certainly not electrifying, but that really was the first line of these eight pages, the first four of which concentrated on Spider-man and 9/11, the others on linking Spider-man to horror and Stan Lee to Leonardo da Vinci.
In no time at all, I had a 3,500-word section about the Spider-man movies, with particular emphasis on the first one. This Peter Parker is a hero at odds with the notions of heroism, power and responsibility, a modern-day Prometheus in spite of himself and one who operates while fearing the possibility that disaster may fall out of the blue sky. Reeling from the 9/11 tragedy, audiences were receptive to the message of heroism against all odds. I had written what I mostly wanted to read: not a little Empire-like review of the movie, but a short study of it contextualised within the critical framework which was then hailing Sam Raimi as a superhero director. However, I had already exhausted my notes and I couldn't yet see the logical connection between this piece and slasher movies, something I envisaged would begin this particular section. I started scanning my folders for anything to latch on (read: I was certain I could recycle myself). In 2005, upon release of Batman Begins, I convinced myself that The Times Literary Supplement would jump at the opportunity to publish a review by an unknown on-and-off freelancer with one piece on bikini lines for Glamour magazine to her name. I cannot tell you why on earth I thought that my very fleeting association with one of the Condé Nast titles would likely impress the big intelligent brains at the TLS, but seeing that they had recently published letters, replies, counter-replies and counter-counter-replies of one of my ex uni professors who had taken exception to a less than stellar review of his latest opus, I figured that a little piece about The Batman could not possibly lower the tone any further. I never heard a thing from them which, believe you me, surprised me at the time (laugh away if you must), but I did not delete my piece on capitalistic Gotham, on Bruce Wayne as a byproduct of it and on the bat as an empty signifier. I threw no fit of despondency over my misunderstood genius; I filed the piece away and plucked it out from hard-drive obscurity two years later. The transition from Spider-man to Batman was smooth, even though these two characters could not operate on more different levels. In my mind however I could move from one to the next as my writing was slowly focusing on reframed narratives of heroism, and not on hero vs. anti-hero or self-sacrifice vs. vigilantism. I was certain that, eventually, my grand plan to lead to this from slasher horrors would come to fruition. And so it did. I began where I wanted by saying exactly what I wanted. By late summer 2008, finally freed of my hideous full-time job which hampered my progress to less than snail-like pace, I was 15,000 words in. I had written about The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, about the legacy of Romantic Imagination, about what's hiding behind Jason's mask, about Freddy and Elm Street, about the three Blades, about Dr Wertham's Seduction of The Innocent and I had made the transition from horror to superhero movies (Blade was instrumental in achieving this). But of course in July 2008, The Dark Knight had made an appearance. The night I returned from the preview, right after sticking the very fabulous lenticular poster to my wardrobe, I wrote about it furiously. On 5 September 2008, I filled seven pages of notes about Batman as the Dantesque Minotaur gnawing at his own flesh and about the Joker as the maker of discord. On page six I enlightened myself (and please forgive the sorry state of this very raw annotation): 'His smile isn't painted on, it is etched on his very face, so that his mask is always on. Like the monks in The Name of The Rose, this character fights laughter and turns it inside out, for there is nothing funny about violence'. Two paragraphs on Eco's masterpiece follow, then on the next page I am comparing and contrasting the Joker with Jorge. At the very bottom I wrote in big letters: 'Consider how LAUGHTER can be turned into SLAUGHTER just by adding a little character'. And above it: 'It takes just a little madness'. In a very embarrassing self-congratulatory flourish I also added: 'HE SPLIT WITH LAUGHTER HA HA HA HA!' I wrote another 6,000 words and I was done. The Deal Let me start with a little flashback. As I was packing for a business trip to Chicago in January 2008, I made a point to take the Mac with me, so that I could plough away at one project dear to my heart. As I was coming to terms with Slaughter is the Best Medicine as part of my PhD research, I had fixated myself on writing a work of humorous narrative non-fiction, The Gym Diaries - A Slob's Fight For Fitness. I had written the first few chapters of it, I had the introduction, a short prologue and epilogue and I knew that I had to crack on the proposal. Being physically removed from home for some time seemed like the best pretext to take a break from all other work while I was entertaining myself in foreign land. Except being a high-flyer crushed by on-the-job responsibility and a writer do not gel very well. I would return to my quarters at nine in the evening, after an eleven-hour day, and on a few occasions fell asleep in my clothes. But one evening I worked through the buzzing ears and the pins and the needles on my face. It was 22 January 2008 and I remember it distinctively because it was the evening when Heath Ledger was found dead. I continued writing until 3 am, then I got up at 7 to go to my other job. The proposal went out to the first agent on 29 March, and let me stress right here that you must not underestimate how much work a really good proposal requires. And remember that it is the process, not just the product, which is worth your time. Seven months down the line I was discussing the stagnating situation with a publisher whom I would never have approached for The Gym Diaries, but who insisted I gave him the proposal. Up until that point, the book had received fabulous feedback from just about everyone who had seen it (an agent even called me, which flabbergasted me out of my skin, as I had only sent her the spec letter), but it had also been thrown back in my face on the grounds of my lacking a sizable platform (read: an audience, you). The response from this publisher was just as encouraging as the others, the project sounds great and this is a really good package and blah blah blah. However, by that point I was feeling a little deflated and less committed to it and so I mentioned in passing all the other writing work I was undertaking, from PhD to a children's book, and lamented the need to watch something 'other than another Elm Street because they are coming outta my ears right now'. Well, you can imagine what happened next. The proposal for The Gym Diaries got me a deal for Slaughter instead, as the publisher read what I had at the time, told me that he could not put it down and that it should be published on its own. I signed the contract in September 2009, I was presented with a choice of covers in November, I saw the first proofs in December and... Slaughter is coming. Read An Excerpt Slaughter is the Best Medicine is a monograph which will be available for purchase in late 2012. You'll find it on Amazon, on the publisher's website and on here as well, if you'd like a signed copy (and even typing that makes me feel very intelligent and important you understand...). Meanwhile, here are a couple of pages for your enjoyment. And thank you very much for reading.
