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August 29, 2019
Paul Tremblay's Playlist for His Story Collection "Growing Things"
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, Aimee Bender, Heidi Julavits, Hari Kunzru, and many others.
Paul Tremblay once again proves himself a master of literary horror with his short fiction collection, Growing Things. I have described these stories frequently as the love child of Kelly Link and Brian Evenson, they are that good and unforgettable.
The New York Times wrote of the book:
"In these 19 stories, Tremblay doesn’t just hold a mirror up to reality, but live-streams it, projecting the whole spectrum of our modern anxieties so vividly it feels as if we’re watching in real time . . . . You can’t help feeling that he is a writer whose reach will continue to grow and grow and grow."
In his own words, here is Paul Tremblay's Book Notes music playlist for his short fiction collection Growing Things:
This collection of nineteen stories represent a fifteen year period of my fiction writing, with many stories dealing with fears/anxieties related to growing up, growing older, or growing apart. Some of the stories have connections (or tendrils?) to my previous novels. Some of the stories are about story, and how they grow on you. Yeah. Okay, no more puns, I promise.
Let’s get to the tunes!
Epigraph
Track: “Sex Dungeons & Dragons,” The St. Pierre Snake Invasion
“Growing Things”
Tracks: “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up” Tom Waits and The Ramones cover
The unchecked growth of strange plants possibly heralds the end the world. Two sisters are holed up in a mountain cabin. Within A Head Full of Ghosts, Marjorie tells Merry an abbreviated version of this 'Growing Things' short story.
“Swim Wants to Know If It’s as Bad as Swim Thinks”
Track: “The Swimmer,” METZ
In a small New England suburb, a meth addict kidnaps her own daughter from her estranged mother as giant monsters may or may not have emerged from the sea and attack the town.
“Something About Birds”
Tracks: “Birdbrain,” Buffalo Tom and “Bird Dream of The Olympus Mons,” The Pixies
A young man interviews a reclusive author who famously wrote one horror story that has captivated the imagination of the horror community for decades. After the interview, the older writer gives the interviewer a small bird’s head. It’s an invitation to a party the older writer is hosting.
“The Getaway”
Tracks: “Ribcage,” The Bronx, “Nails that Stick Up Get Hammered Down,” Stanford Prison Experiment
A crime/horror hybrid. Four men rob a pawn shop at gunpoint and things begin go weirdly and horribly wrong during the getaway drive: the men start to mysteriously disappear in bloody/horrific fashion.
“Nineteen Snapshots of Dennisport”
Tracks: “Make It Real or Fantasy,” The Scorpions, “Twilight Zone,” Golden Earring
I took an old family vacation and turned it into a crime/horror story with many of the happenings within the tale innocently belonging to a long ago family fun time. Of course the lens of nostalgia is always a little hazy and dangerous. In that spirit, when I was a painfully awkward teen on Cape Cod, I spent many house listening to The Scorpions on a Walkman.
“Where We All Will Be”
Track: “Harmony in My Head,” Buzzcocks
A college-aged student home on winter break wakes to find everyone around him (including his father) mindlessly migrating toward the ocean. The student is the only person, seemingly, unaffected.
“The Teacher”
Track: “Sleep Now in the Fire,” Rage Against the Machine
A high school student and her classmates are forced to watch most (not all, not yet) of a disturbing video from a terrible incident that occurred at a day care. The teacher shows the class other horrifying videos, all featuring death and cruelty, but the day care video starts to infect the lives of the students.
“Notes from ‘The Barn in the Wild’”
Track: “Guest House,” Daughters
A story told through annotated notes and diary entries, a John Krakauer-esque explorer/journalist investigates the mysterious disappearance of a restless young man who hitchhiked from Vermont to Labrador, Canada. The young man found a barn in the middle of the wilderness as well as a black book that recounts the purported occult activities within the mysterious structure.
“_________”
Track: “The Descent,” Bob Mould, “Bury a Friend,” Billy Eilish
A stay-at-home dad takes his two children to the local pond for their swimming lessons. A strange woman shows up at the beach pretending to be his wife. The macabre purpose of her charade doesn’t become clear until after it is too late.
“Our Town’s Monster”
Tracks: “You’re a Prisoner,” Death, “Our Mutant,” Big Business
What starts as a quirky, satirical, slice-of-life, history-of-a-town living with the legend of a swamp monster turns bloody after the monster rises up on goes on a merciless rampage.
“A Haunted House Is a Wheel Upon Which Some Are Broken”
Track: “Nina’s Ghost,” Neigborhood Brats
An old woman returns to her childhood home. Each room is haunted by a bevy of ghosts real and imagined. The story is told via a choose-your-own-adventure style/device.
“It Won’t Go Away”
Track: “1,000,000,” Nine Inch Nails
A recently divorced writer struggling to make ends meet tries to piece together twhy his best friend—a financially successful horror writer—killed himself in front of a room full of his fans. As he does so, he begins to finds clues in the eerie, shadowy blurs within photographs.
“Notes from the Dog Walkers”
Track: “Ride Captain Ride,” Blues Image
My parents had this old 45 record and we wore it out when I was a kid. This song somehow makes it into this story.
The centerpiece of the collection, this novella is told via notes left by a group of three people who walk the dog of a horror writer. The notes become increasingly bizarre, dark, and creepy, particularly as one dog walker digs deeply into the horror writer’s life and work.
“Further Questions for the Somnambulist”
Track: “38 Souls,” Bottomless Pit, “Hamsterland,” Christian Fitness
A story written for an anthology of stories inspired by the silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. This story serves as a missing scene from the film, with the Somnambulist being posed a bevy of questions from a rapacious crowd.
“The Ice Tower”
Track: “Ice Station Zebra,” Silkworm
A group of adventure sports enthusiasts go to Antarctica to climb an inexplicable ice tower (described as an upside down icicle, hundreds of feet tall). One climber does not come down from the climb as a white storm comes in, and the other climbers begin to hear voices/messages coming from the tower.
“Society of the Monsterhood”
Track: “Grippo,” Saul Williams
Four children who are bused from a big city to the suburbs to an exclusive private school are picked on at school and at home. They create a legend of a monster living in an alley that protects them. No one believes them until people from the neighborhood begin to go missing.
“Her Red Right Hand”
Track: “Small Red Boy,” AJJ
A young girl trying to deal with the death of her mother and her father’s descent into alcoholism is forced to confront a demon that lives in a ‘healing well’ at the edge of their wooded property. She draws Mike Mignola’s Hellboy in a series of pictures to help her defeat the demon.
“It’s Against the Law to Feed the Ducks”
Track: “Kid,” The Pretenders
A young family vacations on popular Lake Winnipesauke in New Hampshire. The story is told from the POV of Danny, who is five. His parents witness a global catastrophe on the television but they don’t let Danny see it. Family drama mixes with apocalyptic fears/anxieties as in the aftermath of the event, Danny’s parents try not to let on that something terrible has happened (and will happen).
“The Thirteenth Temple”
Tracks: “Low,” Low Dose, “Skyscraper,” Bad Religion
Merry (a character from my novel A Head Full of Ghosts) is attending San Diego Comic Con promoting her controversial biography/tell all. When confronted by a rabid fan, Merry tells the fan a story called “The Thirteenth Temple.”
Set in a village (time/place not specified), Mom, Dad, and Merry drag three wooden planks into the village square. They build the first temple by tenting the planks together, but they also knock it down, beginning a mysterious ritual of temples.
Paul Tremblay and Growing Things links:
the author's website
the author's Wikipedia entry
Booklist review
Kirkus review
Los Angeles Times review
New York Times review
NPR Books review
GQ interview with the author
Largehearted Boy playlist by the author for Cabin at the End of the Woods
Largehearted Boy playlist by the author for A Head Full of Ghosts
Largehearted Boy playlist by the author for In the Mean Time
Largehearted Boy playlist by the author for The Little Sleep
Largehearted Boy playlist by the author for No Sleep till Wonderland
Largehearted Boy playlist by the author for Swallowing a Donkey's Eye
Slant interview with the author
WBUR interview with the author
WGBH interview with the author
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