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Robin Hood and Friar Tuck-Zombie Killers (An Undead Canterbury Tale)

2/26/2013

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Robin Hood has a Zombie Problem!
I'm in the process of re-launching my narrative poem/novella, Robin Hood and Friar Tuck - Zombie Killers; a Canterbury Tale by Paul A. Freeman. Here is the link to the website I've built to market the book.

In recent years I've written 16 'Lost' Canterbury Tales (original narrative poems set in the Middle Ages), several of which have been published in their full or abridged forms.

However, on submitting a contemporary 'zombie-narrative-poem' to A.P. Fuchs, owner of the independent horror publisher Coscom Entertainment, he snapped it up for an anthology. In his acceptance email Mr Fuchs also told me that if I could write 18,000 words in a similar style (i.e. in rhyming couplets and iambic pentameters) and on a similar theme (i.e. zombies), he would publish it as a stand alone novella.

"Can I set the tale in medieval times?" I asked.

"Historical zombies are fine," Mr Fuchs replied.

Taking up his offer, I began work on what I believe is one of the few Canterbury Tales commercially published in over 600 years. Set in the Middle Ages, at the time of the Kings' Crusade, I weaved Robin Hood and his comrade-in-arms Friar Tuck into my zombie tale, along with other characters of the era and a smattering of myth fragments from the legends chronicling their exploits. One qualm I had at the time was that a supernatural theme such as an outbreak of zombie-ism might prevent my work being taken seriously by Chaucerians. My
reviews' page indicates otherwise. And anyhow, didn't the Pardoner introduce Death (or some other supernatural being) into his tale? Below is the blurb from the back of the book:

When lion-hearted Richard ruled the roost
Of England, he decided that to boost
His regal reputation he should mount
A war to wrest from Turkish men the fount
Of Christendom; yet in that desert land
A zombie plague emerged from 'midst the sand.
A necromancer's alchemistic spell
Reanimated corpses bound for Hell
(And even bound for Heaven's pearly gate).

Soon after 'twas apparent that the fate
Of all on Earth--the evil and the good--
Was in the hands of Robin of the Hood
Whose outlaw men, along with Friar Tuck,
Against rampaging hordes of zombies struck.
They fought to save the likes of you and I,
Not caring that one slip and they would die.
Their tale lies here, within this humble book--
I pray you'll spare the time to take a look...

My biggest headache was putting a title to an epic 94 pages of verse. The Monk's Second Tale was passable as a secondary title (and would be in line with the Chaucer theme), but the main title had to be something attention-grabbing. Thus Robin Hood and Friar Tuck: Zombie Killers - A Canterbury Tale by Paul A. Freeman was born.

Due to
Coscom Entertainment being a horror imprint, the title was aimed primarily at attracting fans of what's popularly known as Z-Lit. Yet when all is said and done, this narrative poem is simply a Canterbury Tale told by the Monk on the return journey of the pilgrimage. It's part of my 'Lost' Canterbury Tales project, and is the longest of those tales I've written so far.

Hopefully any sceptical Chaucer scholar reading this blog will be open-minded enough to judge my book on its story-telling merit and as a story written in the age-old tradition of the great poet himself.
Here is the link to purchasing details:

Below are links to my three Global Short Story Competition winners, my short-listed story for the National newspaper, Abu Dhabi, and my Canterbury Tale published by Coscom Entertainment:

http://coscomentertainment.com/?p=159

http://www.globalshortstories.net/octwinners2012.pdf

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesjuly09.pdf

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesdec09.pdf

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness

Happy writing!



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Lance Armstrong, Beefburgers and Chaucer

1/18/2013

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Lance Armstrong
First news, first! I've just finished off my latest 'Lost' Canterbury Tale. I've ascribed it to the pilgrim known as The Dyer, one of Chaucer's 'Orphan Pilgrims', i.e. one of the pilgrims who didn't get to tell a tale on the outward journey to Canterbury. More on this next week.

Meanwhile, I've written a couple of limericks on topical subjects. Firstly, though perhaps it's not really that humorous in view of the people he's hurt over the years - Lance Armstrong:

There once was a cheater called Lance
who led us a merry old dance.
Whilst doping for years
he bullied his peers
and devalued the great Tour de France.

On a more humorous note (though some might not think so), a limerick based on the news story that horse DNA has been found in beefburgers:

Some people might claim that a horse
shouldn't really be served as main course.
But swapping of stable
for restaurant table
is fine if you've got the right sauce.

As mentioned above, more on The Dyer's Second Tale next week once I've put it through its final edit.

Below are links to my two Global Short Story Competition winners, my short-listed story for the National newspaper, Abu Dhabi, and my Canterbury Tale published by Coscom Entertainment:

http://coscomentertainment.com/?p=159

http://www.globalshortstories.net/octwinners2012.pdf

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesjuly09.pdf

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesdec09.pdf

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness

Happy writing!

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Tapestry-Maker's Second Tale Commended

12/5/2012

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Tapestry-making
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I submitted the abridged version of The Tapestry-Maker's Second Tale to Writers' Forum magazine's monthly poetry competition.

Well, although it wasn't one of the four winning entries for December, it did make the list of the five commended poems.

That's the second time one of my 'Lost' Canterbury Tales has made the commended list - the earlier one was The Knight's Second Tale, an Arthurian spoof.

I'm now hoping that third time will be lucky for me, since The Dyer's Second Tale (a more balanced and complete Tale than The Tapestry-Maker  and The Knight is currently with Writers' Forum's poetry judge.

Finger's crossed.


Below are links to my two Global Short Story Competition winners, my short-listed story for the National newspaper, Abu Dhabi, and my Canterbury Tale published by Coscom Entertainment:

http://coscomentertainment.com/?p=159

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesjuly09.pdf

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesdec09.pdf

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness

Happy writing!

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Puzzled - A Ghost Story

10/14/2012

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Taj Mahal Jigsaw
Just in case you thought I haven't been doing much recently, well, I'm working on stories of around 700-800 words for submission to a particular magazine market - plus expanding those stories so they can fit certain competition guidelines if need be.

One of the stories I've been working on was suggested to me by a comment from my nine-year-old daughter, who was writing a story for school based on the prompt 'jigsaw Puzzle'.

Almost immediately I realised an innocuous-looking jigsaw puzzle could be the centrepiece of a ghost story, where an apparently unthreatening everyday object suddenly takes on a menacing life of its own. Lo and behold, within a day I'd submitted the finished story, Puzzled, much to the chagrin of my daughter who was still struggling with her own story.

Suffice to say, as is the tradition with many ghost stories, I leave the reader wondering if there really was some spectral presence involved in the spooky events surrounding my story, or whether there was a more natural explanation.

Well, so much for the update!

Below are links to my two Global Short Story Competition winners, my short-listed story for the National newspaper, Abu Dhabi, and my Canterbury Tale published by Coscom Entertainment:

http://coscomentertainment.com/?p=159

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesjuly09.pdf

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesdec09.pdf

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness

Happy writing!


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The Weaver's Second Tale - The Earl Bites the Dust

9/4/2012

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Medieval Poisoning
I finally got to the Earl of Perth's demise in The Weaver's Second Tale. Unfortunately I haven't found the motivation yet to continue further. The storyline has become so intricate that I'll have to put together a corkboard with different coloured cards to plot the action and keep track of all the charactersd and their descriptions / character traits.

In the interim, last week I knocked out my shortest ever Canterbury Tale (The Tapestry-Maker's Second Tale) - more of that next week.

Meantime, here are eight lines from The Weaver's Second Tale dealing with James, the Earl of Perth's death:

Then suddenly the castle’s joyous mood
Transformed, replacing merriment with fear;
For struggling to his feet ’twas crystal clear
From James’s features something was amiss.
His face was pale as chalk, as if the kiss
Of scything Death had brushed against his cheek.
His lips turned blue, and when he tried to speak
No words, just laboured grunts and gasps, emerged.

Anyhow, that's it for this week!

Below are links to my two Global Short Story Competition winners, my short-listed story for the National newspaper, Abu Dhabi, and my Canterbury Tale published by Coscom Entertainment:

http://coscomentertainment.com/?p=159

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesjuly09.pdf

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesdec09.pdf

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness

Happy writing!



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Reaping the Whirlwind

8/29/2012

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Hurricane
Funnily enough, as Hurricane Isaac makes landfall, a hurricane (off the Bahamas)features in one of the two stories I sold last week to the Australian magazine Take a Break!

The editor of the magazine gave me the heads' up that he was looking specifically for stories of around 700 to 800 words, somehow recognising that I have a penchant for stories of around this length - possibly because I'm too lazy to write longer stuff with intricate character development!

Taking this advice aboard, I've been increasing my stock of 700-800-word stories and submitting them as they roll off the assembly line. This all paid off when the editor asked for first publication rights for two supernatural tales. The first, Foresight, involves a main character who can foresee major disasters, as long as he's in the vicinity of where they are about to occur. The second, Spidermen, set in Brazil and the Amazon, has an environmental theme.

So apart from giving me the opportunity to boast, there is actually a good lesson here - always listen carefully to your editor!

Bye for now, and once again I find myself promising to update you on The Weaver's Second Tale next week.

Below are links to my two Global Short Story Competition winners, my short-listed story for the National newspaper, Abu Dhabi, and my Canterbury Tale published by Coscom Entertainment:

http://coscomentertainment.com/?p=159

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesjuly09.pdf

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesdec09.pdf

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness

Happy writing!


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The Weaver's Second Tale - Friar Ted Arrives on the Scene

7/18/2012

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The Miller
When it comes to research for a story, I'm a bit of a minimalist. The way I look at it, facts can get in the way of imagination - or maybe I'm just a bit lazy. Anyhow, the problem is that once you start researching a topic, you end up with tonnes of data and there's the temptation to shoehorn it into your story.

So what's the point? Well, I needed to know if bagpipes existed in medieval times, and strangely enough, the earliest mention of them in England appears to be from Chaucer's General Prologue, which says of the Miller:

A baggepipe wel koude he blowe and sowne,
And therwithal he broghte us out of towne.

Getting back to my Weaver's Second Tale, written in the style of a Sherlock Holmes story, Arthur Conan Doyle often had Holmes make reference to a previous case early on in his stories. So I decided to do the same. Below is that 60-word section, with Friar Ted arriving on the scene and explaining to Doctor Weston what he's been up to:

“Myself? I’ve been residing with the Thane
Of Ayr who was afflicted by the bane
Of other-worldly bagpipes late at night.
The purpose was to cause a fatal fright,
To scare the man to death whilst in his bed
By cunning use of superstitious dread.
The culprit I unmasked within a day -
No more am I at liberty to say.”

More news on The Weaver's Second Tale next week.

Below are links to my two Global Short Story Competition winners, my short-listed story for the National newspaper, Abu Dhabi, and my Canterbury Tale published by Coscom Entertainment:

http://coscomentertainment.com/?p=159

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesjuly09.pdf

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesdec09.pdf

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness

Happy writing!


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The Weaver's Tale - Main Characters Introduced

7/12/2012

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Slowly but surely, The Weaver's Second Tale is coming along. Since it's a crime story, one of the biggest challenges has been the initial introduction of the characters who will become suspects at a later point in the tale.

A major difficulty is to make the introductions brief, yet memorable, a challenge made doubly difficult by the fact that the story is a narrative poem. However, although the writing is slow, I feel I've succeeded in sketching three-dimensional characters in as few a words as possible.

Below is part of the description of Earl James of Perth's son:

This sullen boy, clept Andrew, stayed detached
From other lads, yet grew to be unmatched
In horsemanship and battling with a sword;
Then adolescence guided him abroad
In search of wilful lasses living near
The castle gate, or else to hunt for deer
Amongst the forest trees, till every day
Was spent pursuing one of either prey.

By next week, I hope to report on murder being done - in my story, that is.

Below are links to my two Global Short Story Competition winners, my short-listed story for the National newspaper, Abu Dhabi, and my Canterbury Tale published by Coscom Entertainment:

http://coscomentertainment.com/?p=159

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesjuly09.pdf

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesdec09.pdf

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness

Happy writing!

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New Profile Picture

6/4/2012

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Paul A. Freeman
Last weekend, on the way to the souk to get a few refreshing beverages, I passed a photography shop. Since I'd been promising myself for ages to have a new profile picture done,  I popped in.

Luckily we're in the digital age because it took four sittings to get the right picture. The culprit was my glasses, which kept reflecting the light of the flash.

Anyhow, we picked a pic, chose a background and the next day the rather flattering portrait on the left was ready for collection.

How much airbrushing has gone on I don't know, but suffice to say my face looks considerably younger in the picture than the mug that stares back at me from the mirror every morning.

It does amuse me that a lot of authors tend to use pictures of themselves that are a decade or more old on their profiles. That said, I don't think I'll be getting another picture done in a while.

That's it for this week.

Below are links to my two Global Short Story Competition winners, my short-listed story for the National newspaper, Abu Dhabi, and my Canterbury Tale published by Coscom Entertainment:

http://coscomentertainment.com/?p=159

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesjuly09.pdf

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesdec09.pdf

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness

Happy writing!

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Beware the Green-Eyed Monster Jealousy

5/22/2012

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Picture
A Barrel
I actually did quite a bit of writing this week.

My company had its Family Day, so I took the kids along and made notes for an article for the in-house magazine.

Next day I took my son along to a birthday party at an entertainments centre in a mall. This gave me plenty of time to sit in the cafe downstairs and write up the article longhand.

Later I wrote up an idea for a short story in flash (abridged) form, but alas missed the deadline for posting it by a few minutes.

Yesterday I finished off the article, got its approval, sent it to the editor and got word it'll form the text to a special supplement.

Also yesterday, for some reason a limerick about Othello popped into my head - hence the picture of the barrel, as you'll see if you read below: 

An envious husband, Othello,
was quite an inventive young fellow.
My wife's fooled around,
thought the Moor, so he drowned
the poor girl in a barrel of Jell-O.

That's about it for the week. Time for a more academic exercise - a paper for my PhD.

Below are links to my two Global Short Story Competition winners, my short-listed story for the National newspaper, Abu Dhabi, and my Canterbury Tale published by Coscom Entertainment:

http://coscomentertainment.com/?p=159

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesjuly09.pdf

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesdec09.pdf

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness

Happy writing!

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    Paul A. Freeman

    Paul A. Freeman is an English instructor working in Abu Dhabi, in the Middle East. He lives there with his wife and three young children.

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