Debris and Detritus: In Which a Local Screenwriter Wreaks Havoc With Greek Myths (and the Reader Enjoys Every Minute)

Debris and detritus CoverJust in time for February 14, one of Humboldt’s own screenwriters, Max Adams, (winner of multiple awards and with a major motion picture to her credit) puts a bullet in Johnny Valentine.

Johnny was a strapping young computer nerd–which is to say too old to live with his mother, overweight very tall and awkward, and tragically attired in a hoody, ill-fitting jeans, and a T-shirt advertising an anime character–so the bullet didn’t really slow him down. Johnny had a lot of padding in his left butt cheek.

Well, Adams herself doesn’t actually pull the trigger, but Bris does. Bris, or to be more formal, Debris, is a character in Adams’ short story that leads off a new anthology Debris & Detritus: The Lesser Greek Gods Running Amok, which will be released on Valentine’s Day. Bris, wearing her Prada shoes, and her twin have been tracked down to their decaying mansion by Johnny Valentine. What are they going to do with him now that he’s been tied up with a hole in his backside?

Bris eventually resolves her little problem. But, each of the authors in the anthology spins their own take on Debris and Detritus, and, in each story, the two lesser gods are tangled in another complication. In one tale, they’re twin brothers. In another a set of trolls. But, always they wreak havoc on the mere mortals that deal with them.

If you want to relax with this sly wink at classic literature, send Hermes winging his way to Amazon to put in your order.

Facebooktwitterpinterestmail

Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules

Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

6 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Juan Aztec
Guest
Juan Aztec
7 years ago

Yeah I was a Nicholl Fellowships finalist one year. Nothing happened. No agent. No manager. No sale. No movie.

Look at this year’s winners. All young without exception.

The Academy screens out Latinos and anyone over thirty. They have no interest in new voices, just the same ol’ same ol’.

visitor
Guest
visitor
7 years ago
Reply to  Juan Aztec

Thanks for bringing this work attention, Kym. Early reviews on LibraryThing are all positive.

Fun concept; neat to see writers remixing mythology (though I don’t recall an actual “Debris” or “Detritus”). The Greek myths were mostly remixes of other mythologies; e.g. Hermes is a remix of the Egyptian god, Thoth. Mercury has bits of Thoth in him and reflects Hermes, too.
All three have sly winks. 😉

“Look at this year’s winners. All young without exception.”

I took a look. Never heard of the Nicholl Fellowships before reading this piece and your comment. Of this year’s winners, 4 out of 6 recipients are women. Two of the women are minorities in their country, the US; one, Indian-American, the other, African-American. Only able to find an age on one recipient; she’s 39 years old (and black).
Two of the other women appear to be over 30. Tough to tell ages from photos.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2016/11/04/academy-dedicates-screenwriting-awards-anton-yelchin/93279214/

One thing about all of these winners and the few from previous years that I checked out: most of them are very, very active in pushing their careers; most have other activities they’re engaged in, both professionally and otherwise. Several of this year’s winners already have some sort of professional representation. Several winners from previous years show some success post-award. Winners are often from outside of the US; it is presented as an international award. A brother-and-sister team from Australia are among this year’s winners.

Scanning the lists of semifinalists from the past five years, I noted only one Latina:
https://twitter.com/amariamontoya
There may be others; semifinalists are listed by name, their submission and their city and country, not ethnicity nor age.
In that same time period, noted only 3 Asian-sounding names. Tough to gauge any bias in this award.

All the best to you with your current and future endeavours, Juan.

Max
Guest
Max
7 years ago

This is so great. Thank you for the write up, Kym. Best birthday surprise ever yay! I am so glad you enjoyed the book.

Patricia Burroughs aka Pooks
Guest

I’m thrilled that you enjoyed Max’s story as much as I did. As the editor, I got to hand pick my writers and she was one of the first who came to mind. And boy, did she deliver. I put her story first in the book strategically and with delight. I knew that people reading the sample would see her first page and it would turn into an auto-click/auto-buy!

Thanks for the great article!

Pooks [aka proud editor of Debris & Detritus: The Lesser Greek Gods Running Amok]

Denise
Guest
Denise
7 years ago

I found each story to be intriguing and well written in the anthology. Max’s story was one of my favorites in the collection, her take on Debris and Detritus as female demigods were superb. The characters change with with each author’s vision, and it makes reading each story such a treat.

trackback

[…] Debris and Detritus: In Which a Local Screenwriter Wreaks Havoc With Greek Myths (and the Reader Enj… Kym Kemp, Redheaded Blackbelt […]