The circus, with its built-in otherworldliness, is an ideal setting for fantasy, horror and science-fiction novels. Authors have been capitalizing on it for years. Stephen King terrified a whole generation with Pennywise the clown in 1986’s “It,” then tackled a carnival setting 27 years later in “Joyland.” In 2011, Erin Morgenstern charmed readers and scored a big hit with “The Night Circus.” So what other great fiction hides under the big top?
Silvia: There are plenty of short stories that take places in circuses and carnivals. “Spurs” by Tod Robbins served as the inspiration for Tod Browning’s “Freaks” (1932). Although Robert Bloch is best known for penning “Psycho” (1959), he was a prolific short story writer, too. “The Double Whammy,” first published in the collection “Cold Chills,” stars a carnival employee who is terrified of the “geek” — the performer who kills chickens for a sideshow. Robert Aickman’s young protagonist becomes fascinated by a woman who is pierced by blades in a magician’s show in “The Swords,” from the collection “Cold Hand in Mine.” E. Catherine Tobler, a criminally underrated fantasy writer, has a whole collection of circus stories titled “The Grand Tour,” spanning the gamut from disturbing to bittersweet. There’s also “Circus: Fantasy Under the Big Top” (2012), an anthology by Ekaterina Sedia with stories by Jeff VanderMeer, Genevieve Valentine, Holly Black and Tobler, among others.
I had not heard of “Circus World” (1981), by Barry B. Longyear until we were putting together this column and was delighted to discover it. It’s not really a novel but a series of interconnected stories with one of the most bizarre premises I’ve bumped into: a planet populated by people who descend from a spaceship carrying circus performers. Yes, a circus civilization. It has not been reprinted recently, which is a shame.
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Lavie: I’m so glad you liked “Circus World.” It’s truly a lost classic, and needs republishing. Like some of the best science fiction novels, it was initially published as short magazine stories. I may be biased — my fascination with clowns led to my own “The Escapement” coming out this year. If you’re ever in London, you might just find yourself — as I did one day — stumbling onto the gravesite of Joseph Grimaldi, the father of clowns, who is buried somewhat incongruously behind a children’s playground not far from King’s Cross. A memorial service in his honor takes place annually in the nearby clown church of Holy Trinity in Hackney, attended by clowns from around the world. The church also holds the Clown Egg Register and, yes, that is a real thing.
But on to fiction! Genevieve Valentine is always an interesting writer, and her 2011 novel “Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti” is a wondrous mosaic of the strange denizens of the circus, including aerialists with hollow metal bones and a pair of mechanical wings up for grabs, the battle for which provides some of the plot. Traveling across a war-torn, apocalyptic landscape, the circus troupe is beset by troubles. Somewhat steampunk, somewhat New Weird. And this year, I was very taken with “Bacchanal” by debut author Veronica G. Henry. Set in the Depression-era South and featuring a mysterious traveling carnival, it’s a novel of Black history and magic that makes for a terrific read.
Silvia: Angela Carter’s prose is always magical, and “Nights at the Circus” (1984) is a playful, delicious book about a winged aerialist and the reporter trying to publish her life story. Sentences sing, the characters are varied and unique, the situations outlandish and fun. There’s something Tim Burtonesque about this book in the best of ways.
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Finally, one of my childhood favorites was Ray Bradbury and “Something Wicked This Way Comes” (1962), and it remains beloved. Two teenagers explore a mysterious carnival that has recently arrived in town. There’s something mournful about this tale, but Bradbury’s explosive imagination tempers the darkness. Bradbury also utilizes a carnival performer as the unifying mechanism in his science-fiction collection “The Illustrated Man” (1951), with the performer’s tattoos coming to life and telling each story.
Lavie: The mysterious carnival has been with us since at least Charles G. Finney’s 1935 classic “The Circus of Dr. Lao,” and shows no sign of pulling a vanishing act anytime soon. One recent great take is Robert Jackson Bennett’s “The Troupe,” a 2012 cosmic thriller set in early 20th century America. In “The Troupe,” young George runs away to join the Silenus troupe of vaudeville performers to find the man he thinks is his father. Slowly, George learns the group’s secret: They must recreate the world on song, while evading the attentions of murderous “wolves” who want to destroy creation. Then there’s Australian Will Elliott’s “The Pilo Family Circus” (2006), a horror-tinged novel where a young man, Jamie, is plunged into the life of a supernatural circus when he hits a clown with his car. When Jamie joins the circus he becomes a clown himself — but the clown he becomes wants Jamie dead. It’s another (darkly) fun book.
Silvia Moreno-Garciais the author of “Mexican Gothic,” “Gods of Jade and Shadow” and the upcoming “Velvet Was the Night.” Lavie Tidhar is the author of several novels, including “The Violent Century,” “A Man Lies Dreaming,” “Central Station” and, most recently, “By Force Alone.”
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