The Man Who Murdered His Muse: a chapbook

Frater_Tsalal

Frater_Tsalal

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THE MAN WHO MURDERED HIS MUSE, a story I wrote back in 2017, is being released as a chapbook by Eibonvale Press and is now available to order from their website, along with various other new chapbooks by Gaurav Monga, David Gullen, Andrew Hook, and Sophie Essex:

Eibonvale Press - Chapbooks

From the publisher:

"Set among the alt and goth scenes in a small US college city, this novella is a dark and sharp horror story about the art of writing, twisted intellectualism, mainstream success and the sometimes highly warped relationships people can have with their creative muses. James Champagne’s prose is colourful, dark, complex and intense, with the flavour of an ancient bitter herbal liqueur served in a goblet of industrial glass and barbed wire."

Having read some of the other Eibonvale Press chapbooks over the years (to say nothing of some of their full-length books) I consider this quite the honor!

Chap09_Muse.jpg
 
The Man Who Murdered His Muse Review:

Hamsa Cauldron is a young woman with literary ambitions working the bar in a goth nightclub in a small New England town. Her nights a filled with sameness, pale skinned youths dancing the night away, the same stories of heartbreak and struggles comes to her across the counter. But one night a mysterious stranger walks into the bar, a man out of place in the gothic environment, he tells a bizarre and dark tale of obsession in the search for literary inspiration.

“I found myself wondering if perhaps the night sky was nothing more than a giant mirror crafted by unknown hands, a cosmic looking glass whose sole purpose was to reflect our own spiritual emptiness back at us.”

The Man Who Murdered His Muse is a dark noir/horror tale exploring the lengths to which some may go when faced with obsession. Turning some of the more standard tropes of the noir and horror genre on its head, the ominous stranger with a story to tell is an older gentleman, who pours his heart out to a young woman who perhaps sees an opportunity in the stranger's tale, making her the aggressor in the narrative. Hamsa comes off not only as a street smart, intellectual young woman, but curious and willing to test her own boundaries in the face of the unknown. Some of Champagne’s finest writing and prose shines through the narrative, creating a wonderfully poetic sheen over the dark and twisting streets of New England, feeling almost like a voice-over in some black and white crime drama of the 50s. The usual array of references litter the story as is typical with Champagne’s writing, curious references to mythology, literature, comic books and movies and a rather brilliant line-up of Gothic music. Here the allusions to film, books, and music take the shape of the world of the characters, creating a vibrant backdrop to the story.

The Man Who Murdered His Muse is one of James Champagne’s finest stories, a short detour into noir territory seen through the lens of the alternative goth scene, a bizarre tale of obsession and the search for literary inspiration
 
I loved this chapbook. I read it immediately after reading Harlem Smoke. I am stone cold convinced that James is a ridiculously gifted weird stylist. Huge fan of his work after reading those back to back.
 
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