Fast forward six hundred years, and yours truly is writing the pilgrims’ return journey to London. No problem you might think, until you realize that there are 33 pilgrims - which translates to 33 stories!
Still not a problem? Well, what I haven’t mentioned is that Chaucer, aka ‘The Father of English Poetry’, told his Tales as rhymed poems, ranging in length from fifteen hundred words to fifteen thousand words.
So far three of my ‘Lost’ Canterbury Tales have been commercially published, the most successful one featuring my own rather bizarre take on that lovable swashbuckling rogue, Robin Hood.
In keeping with my goal of writing in as many different genres as possible (my ‘Lost’ Tales cover everything from Chick Lit, to Arthurian legends, to fairy tales), when the zombie-horror publisher Coscom Entertainment suggested I write an 18,000-word novella for them, I jumped at the chance.
“Medieval zombies,” the publisher assured me, “will be fine.”
Six weeks later, having knocked out 500 words of rhyming couplets per day, the awesomely titled Robin Hood and Friar Tuck, Zombie Killers – a Canterbury Tale by Paul A. Freeman was ready for submission.
The publisher’s response? ‘Wow!’
Part of the novella’s blurb – written in the style of the rest of the book – is below:
The fate of all--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.
There’s been much speculation as to why Chaucer himself never wrote a Canterbury Tale featuring that perennial English hero, Robin Hood. One possibility is that having been mugged twice on the streets of London, Chaucer didn’t feel inclined to romanticize a man who was probably, in reality (if indeed he ever existed), a common criminal.
Anyhow, the bottom line is that Chaucer’s loss is my gain.
Below are links to my Canterbury Tale published by Coscom Entertainment, my most recent Global Short Story Competition winner, my short-listed story for the National newspaper, Abu Dhabi's, annual short story competition and a story that appeared on the Every Day Fiction site - where you can leave a comment:
http://chaucers-uncle.weebly.com/index.html
http://www.inscribemedia.co.uk/assets/october-ebook.pdf
http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness
http://www.everydayfiction.com/the-d-day-diorama-by-paul-a-freeman/#comments
Happy writing!