Nothing Bad 1/7/11

NOTHING BAD MAGAZINE

1st July 2011

Summer CyclingPhotography: Katie Coleslaw

Styling: Sophie BewModel: Tobias Revell

Summer Cycling

white terry shirt - Orlebar Brownpink shorts - Orlebar Brown

watch - Toywatch

Summer Cycling

green vest - Topmanyellow shorts - Orlebar Brownwhite cycling shorts - Adidas Originalsshoes - models ownwatch - Gary Card for Swatch

Summer Cycling

Summer Cycling

red Terry shirt - Orlebar Brownblack shorts - Orlebar Brownblack cycling shorts - Adidas Originals

neoprene navy t-shirt - COSyellow shorts - Orlebar Brownwatch - Gary Card for Swatch

Summer Cycling

neoprene maroon hoody - COSgreen vest - Topman

navy jersey shorts - Topmanwhite cylcing shorts - Adidas Originals

Summer Cycling

shoes - Adidas

Summer Cycling

white terry shirt - Orlebar Brownpink shorts - Orlebar Brown

watch - Toywatchshoes - Nike

Summer CyclingSummer Cycling

Summer Cycling

Summer CyclingSummer Cycling

Summer Cycling

Words by Arianna ReicheIllustrations by Kate Prior

Timothy Schaffert

Timothy Schaffert

Your works have an implicit vastness -- it is immediately recognisable that everything of yours is really a story within a story within a story, and it seems like its creator has envisioned every detail of the universe it occupies. How long, and to what degree, have you been mapping out this universe and where did it come from?

One story was all it took for us to get obsessed with Timothy Schaffert. The Nebraska native contributed to My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me, an anthology of ‘re-imagined fairy-tales’. The Mermaid in the Tree, his take on The Little Mermaid, was dark, courageous and fantastical; apocalyptic Disneyland Dickens with a touch of femme magic. We spoke to Schaffert about how he conjured his stylish, gothic universe and about his latest novel, the stories within a story of The Coffins of Little Hope.

Timothy Schaffert

I started writing my novel “The Coffins of Little Hope” two years ago; I often write about small towns—specifically, small rural towns on the verge of collapse. When I heard that the Harry Potter novels were likely printed covertly, in unassuming locales across the country, to prevent, as much as possible, any copies slipping into the culture a minute too soon, I knew I had to invent one of these towns, and I knew I had to invent a famous children’s book series. It was fascinating to follow all the hype and enthusiasm for the final Harry Potter—and the publisher’s determination to release the book to everyone all at once, to preserve the integrity of suspense—it wasn’t just a marketing decision but a creative one.The world of the fictional children’s books in my novel—an orphan asylum in some vague but dreary landscape, in some unspecified gothic past—put itself together as I wrote about it. I was channeling all sorts of influences — I love Roald Dahl, but even more than Dahl, I love Edward Gorey. I also had in mind Stephen King’s Misery. The children’s book ultimately grew and grew within the confines of the central narrative, so much so that I had to trim it back quite a bit. Not only was there the children’s book series within the novel I was writing, but there were counterfeit versions, fan fiction, the author’s early draft, and even a book within the book within the book. Not even a map of characters and locales would save the reader. So I recognised that I must write about this world under separate cover. The “Miranda-and-Desiree

Timothy Schaffert

novels,” as they’re called in the book, are still very much a significant part of The Coffins of Little Hope, but their presence is more enigmatic than literal. So I’m putting together some Miranda-and-Desiree stories to stand on their own.

What is it about The Little Mermaid that you found compelling, or was it a case where the My Mother She Killed Me... editors saw a fairy tale within your work?

I was telling Kate Bernheimer, the editor for the anthology, about The Coffins of Little Hope, and specifically a reference within the novel to a mermaid who’d hung herself in a tree, and she ultimately suggested that I write it as a short story with The Little Mermaid in mind. I wrote “The Mermaid in the Tree” in a week, immersed in its world, following wherever it led me. Hans Christian Andersen’s story is among my favourites—has any story ever so perfectly captured the ache of longing? She abandons her family for love, and for the promise of everlasting life. Like any young person, she seeks transformation—and, as with some young people, she seeks a transformation that’s romantic and devastating and impossible. Hans Christian Andersen fell in love all the time, passionately, with women, with men. But the ones he loved always loved someone else. Over 150 years later, his heartbreak reflected in that story is so apparent, so raw.

Timothy Schaffert

Tell us a little bit more about Coffins of Little Hope.

The narrator is an 83-year-old obituary writer, a woman named S. Myles. She considers herself one of the community’s “death merchants”—someone celebrating and chronicling the dead in this dying town. The place is a little sleepy, a little overlooked for the most part, until a local farm-woman claims that her daughter was abducted. It’s quickly apparent, however, that the mother is delusional, and no child ever existed. But the case isn’t easily dismissed as the town, and subsequently the whole country and its news cycles, become invested in the mystery of the child. The children’s book series becomes key to examining the farm-woman’s psychology.

What is the literary landscape in Omaha like right now?

Timothy Schaffert

I’ve lived most of my life in Nebraska and I’ve lived in Omaha for the last 13 years. In Omaha, people read their poetry in bars, art galleries, theatres, museums. There’s an incredible amount of collaboration, all the various arts disciplines intermingling and intersecting in enticing ways—visual artists seek out poets and fiction writers for book projects, performing artists seek collaboration with writers. The great thing about Omaha is you can really invent your own subculture. There’s something about the city that will always feel vaguely unformed and easily impressionable. It’s open to interpretation. You could probably start your own cult, if you felt so inclined.

Timothy Schaffert

Next Issue8th July 2011

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