Looking back on "Guignoir" today, I see things I'd change if I had another shot at it. To me, the narrator's voice seems a little stiff at times, and at other times it's almost too polished. But making such revisions for this collection would be cheating in a way, because I still want the story to accurately reflect the place I was at and the things I was feeling when I wrote it.
Some of those feelings have changed as I've moved on, of course, but not all of them. One thing in particular hasn't changed—the comments the narrator makes about storytelling and modern mythology still ring true. "Guignoir" reflects my belief in the power of fiction more than any other story I've written. In some ways I look at it as my statement of purpose as a writer, and I hope I'll always have the creative enthusiasm that drove me to write it in the first place.
So far, so good. Like that last line says: "I'm thinking big." That hasn't changed, either.
You can bank on it.
About the Author
NORMAN PARTRIDGE'S first novel, Slippin' into Darkness, was called "a killer novel" by LOCUS and "easily the most auspicious genre debut of the year" by Stephen King. His first collection of short stories, Mr. Fox and other Feral Tales, won the Bram Stoker Award and was a World Fantasy Award nominee. In addition to more than fifty published short stories and several comic scripts, he co-edited It Came From the Drive-In, an anthology of stories inspired by the horror and science fiction films of the fifties.
A third-generation Californian, Partridge has worked in public libraries and steel mills. He enjoys rock 'n' roll music, cheeseburgers, and movies in which lots of things blow up.
Table of Contents
THE ELECTRIFIED BOXING HOLLYWOOD COWBOY IN A GORILLA SUIT
JOHNNY HALLOWEEN
88 SINS
THE CUT MAN
DEAD CELEBS
’59 FRANKENSTEIN
CANDY BARS FOR ELVIS
STYX
WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD
GORILLA GUNSLINGER
DEAD MAN’S HAND
APOTROPAICS
SHE’S MY WITCH
BAD INTENTIONS
TYRANNOSAURUS
GUIGNOIR
STORY NOTES
Bad Intentions Page 27