Click on the image to enlarge.

This concludes our Dickens bicentennial snippets, but the fun’s not over yet! Listen as we discuss how Dickens is firmly connected to the science fiction genre (and much, much more) in our upcoming podcast, ready for launching in a couple of hours time… watch this space!

Charles Dickens may be one of the most famous writers in the Western literary canon, but this does not mean that he is universally loved. In fact, it could mean quite the opposite – that his enduring popularity might lead many to throw their hands into the air and exclaim, “but what’s the big deal?!” and possibly other – less diplomatic – expressions.

Let it never be said that we here at Schlock are one-sided, so as part of our ongoing appreciation of Dickens’ long and ever-green career, we’ve asked two of our readers to tell us why exactly they love – or hate – the great Victorian novelist.

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Why I hate Dickens

In one way or another Charles Dickens has infiltrated many people’s lives, be it through his novels or for anyone born after 1988, The Muppet Christmas Carol. Dickens’ – or rather, his works’- popularity puts him forward as the most established author in history; this owing to the fact that a great deal of his works have been adapted into various media, as well as having served to inspire countless writers.

Many people have even gone as far as to call Dickens the best writer to ever grace humanity with his immortal literary presence. Which you know, is total bullshit. Sought after? Influential? Sure, but I don’t think stringing together a series of long, winding (and not to mention repetitive) sentences really fulfil the criteria for best writer.

Personally, I find that statement hard to stomach considering that to assert that Dickens is such a superior writer, one would have to read all of his work, and let’s face it, while completely plausible, that’s a lot of reading. Most of Dickens’ novels are on average 500 pages long; Bleak House takes the cake at a whopping 1024 pages. Dickens wrote 20 novels and over 30 short stories, which in his case are probably more like novellas, you have to admit – that’s a shitload of pages.

And this is why I have beef with Dickens. Way back in the mid-1800s, writers often wrote for magazines and other periodicals, where instalments of their stories were published. This notion of serialisation is exactly why Dickens’ writing rubs me the wrong way. Because his work was serialised, in the same vein as TV show writers do nowadays, Dickens would create unnecessary plot twists to keep people interested. This little deviant venture evidently worked in his favoured because, as history has it, people would flock to buy whatever periodical he was published in. Now as you can imagine, the more people bought the periodical, the more money said periodical made, hence Dickens receiving a hefty pay. And let’s not even talk about when Dickens’ published his work in his own periodical, giving him an even bigger chunk of the profits.

So basically, this so-called amazing writer produced stories that were semi-autobiographical (read, narcissistic) riddled with unnecessary plot twists that only served to confuse the reader and cheapen the storyline, while relatives or barely mentioned characters coincidentally turn out to be criminals or millionaires willing to take in any orphan that passes their way and made bucket loads of money off of rehashing the same formula time and time again.

- Diane Brincat

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Why I love Dickens

Charles Dickens always wanted to be an actor. So keen were his thespian aspirations that he spent three years attending the theatre every single day. On the fateful day of a big audition he had finally secured, he fell ill and never made the gig. Instead he became a journalist. At risk of sounding pretentious, I am quite excited by the actor-cum-journalist parallel between this great Victorian writer and me. Perhaps it’s because even though he didn’t quite fulfill the dream he had in mind, he still was so colourful in other ways: in the way he dressed, and in the way he wrote. Though Dickens achieved greatness….

I love Dickens because his writing is so theatrical. Though flat, his descriptions of characters’ idiosyncrasies brings them to life. When I think of this author I think of the anachronistic Mrs Havisham in her voluminous yet tattered, greying wedding dress, of the cadaver-faced Uriah Heep with sleepless eyes like “two red suns”, of the pathetic nouveau-riche Boffins and who could forget that pick-pocketing, “loathsome reptile, engendered in the slime and darkness through which he moved”, Fagin.

It’s these lowly characters I find myself remembering as well as the dreary and grey London with its dark, muddy waters (it’s presence so strong, you could say the city is a character too). Is it schadenfreude I wonder? Considering this austere and bleak environment we’re living in, is it a consolation to read of someone else’s hard times?

- Veronica Stivala

Part of Schlock’s Dickens bicentennial celebrations.

Schlock, however, has been eagerly preparing for a celebration of a more bookish kind – the bicentennial celebrations of Charles Dickens, who would have been 200 on 7 February of this year. We hope you’ve enjoyed our Old Curiosity Schlock pictures and now, you can hear our discussion on the great Victorian novelist (any and all feedback is most welcome).

But despite the importance of celebrating one of the greatest writers of fiction ever, here at Schlock we take colourful tomfoolery very seriously, as will be evident in Bettina’s mini-essay on carnival during Medici-era Florence.

We’re also very proud to feature a song from Brikkuni – Malta’s leading pop-folk ensemble – who have generously donated a cut from their latest album, Trabokk.

To kick things off, however, we have a couple of excellent flash fiction pieces from our vaults.

We hope you enjoy this stuffed-to-the-brim podcast. Remember to let us know what you think!

Flash Fiction

01:08 – The White Peacock by Bettina Borg Cardona

03:04 – A Minute Incident by Peter Farrugia

Music

07:31 – Il-Gallinar Tas-Sultan by Brikkuni

Feature

13:29 – Carnival in Renaissance Florence by Bettina Borg Cardona

Discussion

19:14 – Charles Dickens Bicentennial Discussion: Bettina, Teodor, Marco and Mike go from Great Expectations to Neuromancer as they explore the multi-faceted – and enduring – appeal of Charles Dickens. Later on, Annette joins the fray, finding a direct correlation between Dickens and another mainstay of the science fiction genre: George Orwell.

Be sure to subscribe to Schlock’s podcast on iTunes.

Illustration by Daniela Attard

“My meaning simply is, that whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do well; that whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself to completely; that in great aims and in small, I have always been thoroughly in earnest.” – Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

Part of Schlock’s Dickens bicentennial celebrations.

Illustration by Ellen Pace

“I saw that everything within my view which ought to be white, had been white long ago, and had lost its lustre, and was faded and yellow…” – Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

Part of Schlock’s Dickens bicentennial celebrations.

Photo by Daniel Vella

“Heart of London, there is a moral in thy every stroke! as I look on at thy indomitable working, which neither death, nor press of life, nor grief, nor gladness out of doors will influence one jot, I seem to hear a voice within thee which sinks into my heart, bidding me, as I elbow my way among the crowd, have some thought for the meanest wretch that passes, and, being a man, to turn away with scorn and pride from none that bear the human shape.” – Charles Dickens, Master Humphrey’s Clock 

Part of Schlock’s Dickens bicentennial celebrations.

Charles Dickens celebrates his 200th birthday this year.

In the run up to Charles Dickens’ bicentennial celebrations – the great Victorian author was born on February 7 – Schlock will join in the fun worldwide with a podcast focused on his work and more.

But in the meantime, we’ll be regaling you with a series of images recalling – however loosely – the multitudinous sprawl of Dickens’ classic novels and stories. Because love him or hate him, Dickens’ enduring tales of poverty and triumph, of injustice and goodness, remain a persistent influence on writers and artists even centuries after his death.

Our illustrations and photographers are already hard at work at some beautiful images – so be sure to keep an eye on the site, and your ears peeled for the podcast!

Remember to follow Schlock on Twitter and Facebook. Also, you may subscribe to our podcasts via iTunes!

Now get listening!

Readings

The Heart of Verona by Lara Schembri - 00:00:54

Megafauna by Marco Attard - 00:05:15

Breakfast in Dread by Bettina Borg Cardona - 00:09:01

Feature

Annette goes through 2011, a year certainly packed with all sorts of happenings; from revolutions and international scandals. It even brought around a pretty decent selection of treats of a pop-cultural nature. Agree/disagree? Let us know in the comments, will you? 00:12:15

Our thanks go to Annette for her aural contributions, Kurt for providing the music, Thom for help with recording the flashes and Marco for managing to put the podcast together, bit by tiny bit.

Musicians! We want your musics! Apply through this post or our email address.

Don’t forget you can subscribe to the Schlock podcast via iTunes,where you can also leave us nice review and rating over there. Actually, it’d be great if you do. Thanks for listening, and our dulcet tones will be back in, oh, a month or so. Until then, be kind, babies. Be kind. 

Copyright: Ellen Pace

With the Apocalypse on its way, Schlock has decided to celebrate our total annihilation in an issue of epic proportions. There’s stories, articles and poems, along with exceptional illustrations and photographs. The end may be nigh but it’s not all doom and gloom: amidst the wailing and gnashing of teeth, there’s a liberal dose of surreal farce – and the promise of redemption.

So stick with Schlock and we’ll be back (hopefully) with a debut, new concept issue next year. Enjoy!

(We will be publishing the PDF version later)

CONTENTS

The City is Landing by Kristine Ong Muslim, illustrated by various artists
Dreams of the End by Bettina Borg Cardona
To end, and end again by Teodor Reljic
Our Little Cult by Manuel Royal
On Killing Yourself by A. A. Garrison
The Truest Story of Jesse James by Ron Scheer
Literature in Zero Gravity by Julie Jansen
The Guardians of Armageddon by Joseph Farley
Pass the Can by Robert William Iveniuk
Not with a Bang, but a Squeaker by Thomas Pluck
The End by Peter Farrugia

copyright: Marco Attard

Copyright: Thomas Cuschieri

Copyright: Thomas Cuschieri

Copyright: Daniela Attard

Copyright: Daniela Attard

Copyright: Teena Faye Kingswell

Copyright: Ellen Pace

The City is Landing by Kristine Ong Muslim

after Jacek Yerka’s “The city is landing”

(first appeared in Linger Fiction #1, January 2011)

We do not travel in spacecrafts. We arrive in hordes on the back of a dead planet. We carve out the whole city, whole villages and their inhabitants, then send them to space. The drawbridge we tuck out of sight to discourage marauders.

We land with a thud in the middle of what looks like a marshland. The impact has decimated our tail, the unreinforced buildings where the commoners live. The castle and the courtyard are safe in the middle, and all our scientists have survived.

The air is thin but breathable. The gravitational pull makes it more sluggish to move than what we have been accustomed to back home. Nice to see that in this particular planet, acid rain has not managed to kill most of the trees. Strange how the branches bend even in the absence of wind. It is only days later that we realize they are not trees.

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Kristine Ong Muslim authored several chapbooks, most recently Night Fish (2011). Forthcoming books are the full-length short fiction collection We Bury the Landscape (Queen’s Ferry Press), the full-length poetry collection Grim Series (Popcorn Press), and the print poetry chapbook Insomnia (Medulla Publishing). Her stories and poems appeared in hundreds of publications, including Abyss & Apex, Expanded Horizons, and Space & Time. She received several Honorable Mentions in Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror as well multiple nominations for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Web 2011, and the Science Fiction Poetry Association’s Rhysling Award. Her online home is http://kristinemuslim.weebly.com.