Derek Mccormack (1969–)

Derek McCormack’s prose is honed to a razor sharp point. It’s so precise, the words are so well-chosen, that you scarcely notice how few of them there actually are. This is a lean, mean little novel that packs a thrilling punch. There is not one extraneous word. I am in awe.

And while it’s tempting to focus on the technical wizardry alone, which is considerable, truth is, this is no case of style over substance. The story McCormack has concocted is weird, creepy, crude and very funny. show more

The Haunted Hillbilly is an alternative history of the rise [and premature demise] of country crooner Hank Williams. In McCormack’s hands, he is a slightly dimwitted pawn who is taken under the wing of Nudie, a manipulative couturier, who also happens to be a gay vampire. Dressed in Nudie’s gaudy, bespangled creations, Hank wins over the crowd at the Grand Ole Opry before the Svengali-like vampire subjects him, and the women who love him, to one Grand Guignol torment after another. It might get downright disturbing if it wasn’t all so outrageously camp. I loved it.

McCormack is a real find. I can’t wait to sink my teeth into the rest of his work. show less

This book is a delicious, delicious treat, full of surprises.

I picked up The Show That Smells after reading the plot summary on Dennis Cooper’s blog (the book is published by Cooper’s Little House on the Bowery series). I expected a delightful, quirky and enjoyably subversive summer read. I was completely unprepared for what this little book really is: startling, funny, full of unexpected twists and morsels of horrific glee. It is almost a novel in verse, and reading it is like watching show more an unusually wonderful contemporary silent film in novel form. It smells like Edward Gorey, Kathy Acker, Ed Wood, Guy Maddin, and Jean Genet all at once, but somehow doesn't feel derivative at all.

This is a singular, unique work full of punning vampire queens, sexual slapstick, Lon Chaney and righteous queer carnie power. I can’t wait to read it again. show less

It’s fitting that filmmaker Guy Maddin’s review is so prominently featured on the cover of Derek McCormack’s latest. These two have much more in common than their shared Canadian roots.

Like Maddin’s films, McCormack’s wicked little novels are a style unto themselves; unlike anything else on the literary landscape. The Show That Smells manages to evoke the atmosphere of a grainy, sepia-tinted early talkie, while at the same time being nearly impossible to place in any particular show more time period. Written like a film treatment, replete with a cast of characters that includes country singer Jimmie Rodgers, fashion doyenne Coco Chanel, horror film star Lon Chaney as well as the author himself, it centers around some of McCormack’s favorite themes - a troubled marriage, old school country music, vampirism and haute couture. All the action takes place in the fun house hall of mirrors, where the hypnotically repetitive prose manages to conjure the grotesque, yet campy, outlaw world of carnie life.

Oh, and it’s funny too. Pitch dark humor, to be sure, but funny as hell.

After reading The Haunted Hillbilly I was eager to give the rest of Derek McCormack’s work a try and this one did not disappoint. Wry, dry and pretty darned creepy.

That’s entertainment. show less

My Thoughts:

A factious Hank Williams, a factious Grand Ol' Opry, a factious Nudie (the Western Wear guy) who happens to be a gay vampire who runs a sideshow on the side complete with wax museum and abnormal babies in jars...thing is as funny or interesting or entertaining as it might sound, it's not. I don't remember laughing once and the only reason I finished the book was because it's so short. The horror factor wasn't there either perhaps due to the minimalist wording. It just falls short show more of depth. Don't waste your time. show less