Helena Pantsis discusses her vision, including her their original artwork and genre-defying writing, for their debut story anthology. Her artwork “Again Boy” was featured in issue 73.2.
Can you tell me the story of this book of stories: When did you start working on it? What were some of your preoccupations as you were writing it? When did you know you had a full collection on your hands?
These works came to fruition in the years from 2019 to 2021, largely as an endeavor to keep creative through covid. The stories were something I tried not to overthink, so I didn’t let myself get in my head about them. I also didn’t write them with the idea of compiling a collection, but so many repeated ideas emerged that flowing from one story to the next came almost naturally. I wasn’t sure there was anything there, but I figured I might as well put a manuscript together and send it out into the world instead of letting the stories sit stagnant. Luckily for me, the people at Grattan Street Press thought I had something.
How would you describe your style or the literary tradition(s) you’re working in? I’ve seen the book described as speculative, as horror. But also as comedy. And as boundary-pushing. What adjectives feel right to you? How do you position your work when you describe it, and what emotions do you hope most to invoke in readers?
I think I’d describe my stories as a little funky, a little weird—it’s wild to hear how other people have framed my work, that they laughed at things I thought were funny or shuddered at the more grotesque ideas I presented. I try to create without caring for the boundaries of literature, breaking grammatical rules to create a voice and writing a story for the narrative, rather than whatever box it might fit in. I often want my readers to feel a little uncomfortable, to sympathize with the unsympathetic, and to transport themselves into a world almost the same, but just slightly off. I think writing is most powerful when it makes the strange familiar and the familiar strange.
Is there a passage you feel is a good representative of the book as a whole, or do you have a current favorite story? Can you describe a favorite moment or quote us a couple of lines?
“At eleven my chest started to bud, then at twelve I got my first period, and by thirteen the goitre on my throat began to develop teeth. We hadn’t been expecting it, so when I’d walked downstairs one morning and my mother saw a tooth on my neck, she screamed. We tried to pull it off, but the agony that coursed through me was unbearable. The lump, too, seemed to groan in pain as we attempted to tear it apart. The doctors had never seen anything like it, and as the hair started to sprout on my legs, so too did the full set of teeth on my throat.” — From the titular story, “Glutt & Me.”
The book also contains your drawings, is that right? How did you make the decision to include those? Do you draw them specifically for the book? How is the way you express yourself through your drawings different than how you express yourself with words?
My publisher noticed that I had published comics and art in the past, so they posed it to me that some illustrations might be a nice addition to the collection. I was really excited to make some original artworks inspired by the stories I’d written, so I created a bunch of little doodles for the book. Drawings are a great method of expression because they can often be subtler than words, showing rather than telling, whilst also giving the reader a clearer understanding of the artist’s true vision, unlike words which offer a lot of ambiguity.
I’m curious about some logistics: How did you come up with the title? How did you find a publisher? What was your relationship with your editor like? What about the cover art (which I love!)?
A main theme of the book is gluttony, so naming the book after, arguably, the most gluttonous character in the collection felt very natural to the anthologizing of the whole works. In terms of a publisher, I had been attending university when I heard of the student publishing press that they run there—Grattan Street Press—and I felt it would be nice that both the students working on my book along with myself would be experiencing the publication journey for the first time together, so
I felt very lucky that they felt the same way. Everyone was lovely to work with, and while I didn’t have any major say over the cover, I was so thrilled to see that they very much fulfilled my vision; I wanted something bold, and they delivered to a tee.
What are you working on now or next?
Nothing huge in the works right now! I am mainly just taking creating one day at a time, and doing what brings me joy (no matter how strange or, perhaps, unappealing as it might seem to others).
Helen’s debut collection “GLUTT” can be found with this link