The Last Bizarre Tale: Stories by David Madden

Though he has authored more than eleven novels, including Cassandra Singing, The Suicide’s Wife, Abducted by Circumstance, and the recent London Bridge in Plague and Fire, David Madden has been publishing short stories for all six decades of his active career. The Last Bizarre Tale consists of works that appeared in journals but that have not appeared together as a collection. Madden used two stories, “The Singer” and “Second Look Presents: the Rape of an Indian Brave,” as chapters in his 1980 novel On the Big Wind. “The Headless Girl’s Mother” was first published as a chapter in a serialized novel entitled Hair of the Dog. Two other stories developed out of longer versions of Madden’s novels. “A Demon in My View” is part of a sequel, not yet published, to Bijou. All of the stories in David Madden’s third collection are distinguished by variety of content and by shifting styles and often innovative techniques. They are to varying degrees and in various ways bizarre in their characters and their relationships, in the kinds of internal and external conflicts, and in locales and themes. The title story, The Last Bizarre Tale, involving a corpse that has hung on a hook in a funeral home garage for decades, is evocative of Poe and, in its dark, grotesque humor, Flannery O’Connor and Carson McCullers. “Process is as important as product to David Madden,” writes editor James Perkins, “and one can learn as much about the process of writing as about the human condition by a careful reading of these stories.”

About the Author :
James A. Perkins is a professor of English Emeritus at Westminster College. He is the author of The Cass Mastern Material: The Core of Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men. He is coeditor, with Jeffrey J. Folks, of Southern Writers at Century’s End and coauthor, with Randy J. Hendricks, of David Madden: A Writer for All Genres.

Review :
"Some writers have a talent for storytelling. Far fewer writers have a talent for literary innovation. Madden masterfully combines both talents." --Winston Groom, author of Forrest Gump "This collection of stories by the celebrated David Madden showcases a wide variety of themes, styles, and approaches. It is also as if the author dared himself to undertake as many novel forms as possible; to each of them he brings deft artistry, piercing observation, and an uncanny understanding of the inner lives of outsiders. A fine achievement!" --Fred Chappell, author of Ancestors and Others: New and Selected Stories "For anyone wishing to rediscover or discover the work of David Madden--and that should include not only aspiring writers but all lovers of great literature--The Last Bizarre Tale is the perfect place to start . . . yet another step toward a wider public recognition that Madden is a master craftsman and an American storyteller of the first rank. I was nailed to the wall by the autobiographical 'James Agee Never Lived in This House.'" --Mark Powell, author of The Dark Corner "In these stories, David Madden proves himself a master of the brilliant narrative left turn, the oddly illuminating digression, the swoop you never expected. No one else writes stories quite like these, and they are a revelation." --Charles Baxter, author of Gryphon: New and Selected Stories "Here's a gathering of serious fictions to delight serious readers. Madden's stories are wide-ranging and richly varied. Manifest in voices that occupy a span from the conventional authorial to the eccentric, style here leans toward the lyric, but is never unrestrained. His characters' epiphanies become the reader's, created through crisp dialogue that is always on the money. A number of David Madden's stories are indeed bizarre, but never gratuitously so. If there is a common subject or theme, it is the writer's and the reader's imagination. Madden's fictional worlds are grim and gritty in their depiction of human nature and history, but humanity persists, redeeming the possibility of redemption. Whatever the milieu, the felt presence of place grounds the author's examination and exploration of the real world, which is what these fictions ultimately deliver." --Gordon Weaver, author of The Eight Corners of the World "David Madden is a true master of fiction - one of our most adept creators of memorable characters and unforgettable voices. The Last Bizarre Tale is a wonderful collection. These stories display the full range of his skill and the grand sweep of a remarkable career." --Mark Childress, author of Georgia Bottoms and Crazy in Alabama "The twenty-two spellbinding stories collected here were written over the past sixty-six years of David Madden's remarkable writing career, and they demonstrate the amazing range of his talents and the extremely wide angle of his vision. Madden's inventive use of point of view allows his myriad memorable characters--often characters who live somewhere on the edge--to speak for themselves in a rich variety of voices. In a time when linked story collections are so popular, The Last Bizarre Tale offers the multiplicities of an anthology collection--the best form to present Madden's innovative fictions. Because David Madden's prodigal imagination knows no bounds, The Last Bizarre Tale will soar into readers' hearts." --Allen Wier, author of Tahano The Last Bizarre Tale presents a rich medley of uncommon tales. If Edgar Allen Poe had collaborated with Salvador Dali, these are the kinds of haunting and otherworldly fictions they might have co-written. For years David Madden's innovative stories and novels have been transporting readers to previously unimagined worlds, and this stunning collection is one of his best books yet. --Richard Bausch, author of Before, During, After