McSweeney’s + eMusic = Pulpy Goodness

Some stories are so vibrant, so dramatic, so engrossing, that they just seem made to be read aloud. Luckily for us, it turns out that the archives of McSweeney’s are filled with tons of such stories. So when the indie publisher mailed a microphone to five of its most audacious writers to record pieces for an exclusive eMusic audiobook, we knew we’d be in for a treat. Pulpy entertainment abounds in Notes from the Field, in which a sprinkling of McSweeney’s fairy dust adds a quirky twist to genres ranging from sci fi and adventure to detective noir.

For more on what you can expect in 3+ hours of audiobook fun, here’s an excerpt from my very long and glowing review:

In “The Death of Mustango Salvaje,” Jessica Anthony deftly takes on the persona of a female bullfighting sensation. The beleaguered matadora must decide which are more hazardous to her health: angry 800-kilo bulls, or the exploitative people around her. Claire Light’s “Pigs in Space” is your typical girl-meets-evil-swine story, set on a spaceship in an alternate universe. Light’s narration imbues her piece with an undeniably creepy tone, whereas Jack Pendarvis’s mellow drawl belies the hijinks to come in his story, “The Big Dud.” Dud is an Alabaman widow whose misguided intellectual aspirations are on par with Ignatius Reilly’s, the bumbling hero of A Confederacy of Dunces. Dud’s self-described fatal flaw is that he has too many brilliant ideas; his decision to accompany an aspiring P.I. on a stakeout is definitely not one of them.

Interspersed throughout the collection are segments of Keith Pille’s hilarious journal of an eager young COBRA recruit who is in training to fight GI Joes. His numbing daily routines in service of Destro are absurd, and also bizarrely touching: while he prepares for battle, an internal war rages between endless enthusiasm and disheartening ennui. He also shouts “COBRAAAAAA!” a lot.

But the collection’s high point comes when Jonathan Ames narrates “Bored to Death,” his modern day, New York-spanning detective noir. In a performance as commanding as his prose, Ames explains how Craigslist turns out to be the perfect venue for a self-loathing, Raymond Chandler-obsessed recovering addict to offer his amateur investigative services. The tropes familiar to all Hammett fans are well played, and Ames’ voice — guttural, beleaguered and resigned — brings an alarming authenticity worthy of 1,000 Bogarts. And you can’t get much more dangerous than that.