The True History of Puss in Boots on Mars – written by rare book librarian Michael Joseph and illustrated by Alexander Library Shipping and Receiving Coordinator Henry Charles – is just now out from Cats in the Basement Press. The book is a retelling of a classic fairy tale with a twist: much of the text is replaced with Martian words. Joseph and Charles visited the administrative suite to present VP for Information Services and University Librarian Krisellen Maloney with a copy that was hot off the presses.
This book is actually the fourth foray into writing modern takes on literary fairy-tales for Michael Joseph. He has previously self-published The True History of Puss in Boots in 2009; La Nouvea Chatte Blanche, “A Gracesian retelling of a fairy tale by Charles Perrault’s contemporary Madane D’Aulnoy;” and Inherent Ogres, “A free adaptation of d’Aulnoy’s The Bee and the Orange Tree using only to words found in Thomas Pynchon’s Inherent Vice.”
This most recent book, The True History of Puss in Boots on Mars, Joseph notes that he and Charles are working with a double conceptual frame: pretending to be opportunistically following the Mars craze by pretending to write a thinly disguised, pulpy, version of our original book. So for promoting the book, they’ve used phrases like “8 years in the making” (since it was 8 years since the first Puss), “at last the story can be told” and “it came from the Red Planet.”
“Every book has had a purpose or an identity,” explains Joseph. “Puss (about which I wrote a conference paper) illustrates my interpretation of the original Perrault tale as a tale about generosity of spirit (rather than cunning); Chatte Blanche explores the idea that d’Aulnoy’s tale is a garbled version of Robert Graves’s White Goddess. I thought the original version, in which the cat asks to be decapitated, and then transforms into a princess who recounts a story of being enchanted, was needlessly bloody-minded and tedious. Besides, it betrays the reader’s trust by first articulating the value and beauty of a cat who has her own castle and retinue and who has sophisticated conversation and enjoys a cultivated life, and then explaining it was all the work of an evil wizard. Inherent Ogres was an attempt to write a procedural novel and reverse the reader’s sympathies, so that the ogres are more human than the princess and the prince (a bit Shrek-like, but more adult); and Puss in Books on Mars is nonsense–it’s our first attempt at nonsense.”
In addition to his partnership with Henry Charles, (“I’ve been extremely lucky to have Henry as an illustrator. He’s talented and makes great drawings that people like as soon as they see them. He immediately gets the point of the story, he’s got a sneaky sense of humor, and he’s creative.”), Joseph credits the quality of the finished book to designer Sarah K. Stengle (“a brilliant and first-rate artist.”) who designed and printed the books.
If you are interested in learning more about The True History of Puss in Boots on Mars please contact Michael Joseph.
