Dear Subscriber,
Now that I’m living in a demented society again, here’s a comedy satire from Doctor Demento’s sounds broadcast in the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies, when we were all completely off our rockers! Starring Stan Freberg, Weird Al, and the entire cast of the Dr. Demento Radio Show.
In my writing career of over thirty years, I’ve written a lot of satire. No, not the usual type of comedic satire that one can see by the binge loads online, with The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live, and South Park, along with all the other types of what I would call “pastiche satire” and not authentic, Jonathan Swift or Alexander Pope kind of satire. Or even the ancient Greeks and their comedic satire, like Aristophanes and his Lysistrata.
For example, I wrote two satirical stories that were published in different anthologies–one was a collection of political satire about the Trump Administration, back when he wasn’t running for President (again), but actually was the President. The anthology was called It’s All Trumped Up: A Collection of Short Stories from Around the World. As part of my story per month or story per week special subscription deal, you can read stories like The President’s Parasite, which was published in that anthology. Consider that a free sample of what I like to call “old school satire.”
The other story was Freedum a science fiction satire in an anthology called Terror Politico: A Screaming World in Chaos.
What About Absurd Satire?
In addition, I like to write absurdist satirical stories, in the tradition of Albert Camus, Franz Kafka, Bertolt Brecht, and filmmaker Louis Bunuel. As a result of viewing Mr. Bunuel’s fascinating absurdist film The Exterminating Angel, I crafted my own version of a political satire called The Castaways of Mar-a-Lago, which you can purchase for the absurdly low price of .99 cents. This novelette has become very popular lately, especially now that “The Donald” has chosen to run for President again.
In addition, one of my favorite historical absurdist satires, is Freak Story: 1967-1969. Meticulously researched, but written with an absurdist’s love of existential humor Mad Magazine flair, this book best exemplifies my experiences in the so-called Hippie and Yippie Era.
Finally, I often mix rather Kafkaesque satire with traditional genres such as Science Fiction and Horror. This has resulted in my popular series called The Auschwitz Dancer. If you enjoy the free sample, then you can catch-up with all the serials through April in my special bundle.
So, as you move into the spring fever of our wonderful outdoors, browse through my titles and perhaps take some with you to read at your leisure, where you can ponder the imponderable and enjoy historical mysteries cut from actual researched facts, as opposed to completely satirical fantasies.
Have a pleasant week!
James Musgrave
San Diego, CA
