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Monster Blood Tattoo is a novel trilogy written by D. M. Cornish and published by G.P. Putnam's Sons, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group.
Overview
The Monster Blood Tattoo (MBT) trilogy is centered on a young lad, Rossamünd, a boy with an unusual name, of indeterminate age (roughly 11 or so) who was raised as a foundling at Madam Opera's Estimable Marine Society for Foundling Boys and Girls. This marine society raises its charges to primarily serve in the navy. Passed over by navy selectors of various states Rossamünd finds himself employed by a weird-eyed agent as a lamplighter sent out to light and douse the lamps of His Most Serene Highness Imperial Highroads. What follows is the story of his journey to his new job and who he meets on the way (Book 1: Foundling); how he adapts to life as a prentice lamplighter, the events that surround him and their consequences (Book 2: Lamplighter); and will go on to explore how Rossamünd and his compatriots face the trials sent their way and the angst of identity and existence (Book 3: title not yet finalized).
Setting
MBT is set the land of the Half-continent, particularly in the south central regions of the Haacobin Empire. The Half-continent, or Sundergird, is one of many lands of the Altgird—the whole world—and shares with its neighbors an ever-present struggle with all manner of monstrous, non-human creatures. These monsters are generally called bogles (for the smaller ones) and nickers (for the larger) and üntermen collectively. Within these loose groups are a great variety of shapes and types and sizes, and no matter which kind of monster it is, all are regarded by the majority of mankind as universally evil and to be destroyed whenever and wherever possible. To slay a monster is to be a hero and receive a cruorpunxis (a monster-blood tattoo) on your person as a sign of your mighty deed; a tattoo made with the slain monster's very blood. The most competent and therefore the most decorated are the teratologists—the monster-hunters. These include the skolds who use chemicals to slay the monstrous foe; leers who track the bogles and nickers with their crazy-colored eyes, spying things others cannot see and sniffing out the faintest smell with their olfactologues and sthenicons; and the lahzars, the most powerful of the teratologists, there being two kinds—wits and fulgars—each gaining their own distinct ability through the surgical insertion of various foreign organs harvested and grown especially. The wits are able to sense sources of electricity around them and bend and loop minds in the process (based on a real-world theory that sharks, who are super-sensitive to electrical charges of even the smallest amount, actually stun smaller fish prey with an electrical field). Fulgars are able to generate actual bolts and sparks of electricity to use directly against a foe (much like electric eels do). The downside to this great power is the requirement for them to continuously imbibe a whole menu of potives (potions) to keep the organs from revolting inside them and their bodies rejecting these interloping meats.
Those few who might claim that not all monsters are bad, some even going so far as to say that there are monsters who seek to help mankind are branded "sedorners"—monster-lovers infected with the soul-sickness of the "outramour"—the dark-love. The fate for such as these is at best banishment to the outskirts of civilization but more commonly one accused a sedorner will find themselves swinging upon the wrong end of a gibbet or languishing stretched out upon a catharine wheel.
There is a whole lot more to the Half-continent than these few points, more than even can be explored in one series. That is why the author has dedicated the last 100 pages or so of each tome to the Explicarium, a somewhat involved glossary of the unusual terms and ideas you might find in the stories. (Therefore, a mild word of warning to the unwary: when you're getting about three-quarters of the way into the books and thinking you've got lots of the story left, you have not. Just thought you ought to know.) There is a hope for other works about other characters in other parts of the Half-continent after MBT is complete, but that remains to be seen. . . .
Characters
There are many many souls obviously inhabiting the Half-Continent and we get to meet a handful or two in each Book. Some of the more significant include:
- Rossamünd—the boy with the girl's name, Rossamünd meaning literally "rose-mouth", a burden he has had to bear his whole short life.
- Dormitory Master Fransitart—old vinegaroon (read "sailor") who is employed at Madam Opera's to help care for the small crowd of foundlings and is a watchful protector of Rossamünd.
- Sebastipole—Lamplighter's Agent and leer, or more especially a falseman, the kind of leer that can tell lies from truth and see into all kinds of secrets.
- Poundinch—a river-master of dubious intent and worse odor.
- Europe—a fulgarine lahzar of great reputation who does not mark herself with monster-blood tattoos in the usual way.
- Licurius—Europe's not so pleasant factotum, or assistant, and leer who keeps watch for any sneaking approaches; he is a leer of the other kind—laggards—who can see into shadows and the dark.
- Fouracres—a jovial postman and nobody's servant.
- . . . to name but a few, as to say more might give away the story.
Origin
Being a freelance illustrator by trade, D.M.Cornish never really thought he would become a writer—in the published sense. Beginning the first ideas that made the start of the Half-continent in his university days back in the early 90's, Cornish went on to fill many small A6 sized notebooks with scrawly notes, mostly comprising what his original publisher, Dyan (rhymes with "Ian," but with a D at the front) Blacklock, calls "factoids"—bits and parts of information about just how the Half-continent and the world it is in works. Whether in Adelaide, where he was born and raised or Sydney, where he resided for near on a decade, D.M. continued to make notes, inspired by books, history, misspelled words, misread words, other languages, the Bible, conversations with his friends, the weird notions of a producer while he worked on the game-show "Catchphrase."
In 2003 after a brief world tour, he crash-landed back in his home town without a job but fortunately possessing a folio of illustrations. This folio got him work with Omnibus Books, an imprint of Scholastic Australia, as the illustrator for Tony Wilson's first picture book, Grannysaurus Rex, then on Lyn Lee's book Emily & the Dragon. It was while working on these that Cornish would frequently sit in Dyan Blacklock's office and shoot the breeze. One day, whilst reaching in his ubiquitous backpack for a stick of gum, Cornish somehow dislodged notebook 23 and it fell onto the floor, landing number up before the ever-curious Dyan who is said to have thought to herself "Twenty-three? Where are the other 22?" as she scooped the diminutive tome up. Never stopping to wonder if it was full of private and damning revelations, she flicked through it eagerly and shrewdly quizzed D.M. about its contents.
In awkward tones he mumbled out a reply—"It's a pretend world I've been inventing for the last decade or so . . ."
"Are there any stories about this pretend world?" Dyan pressed.
"Ah… not really— some starts, a couple short stories . . ." Cornish fumbled.
"Who are some of the people in this world?" the conversation continued.
"Um… well there's Rossamünd—he's a boy with a girl's name . . ."
… and so D.M. was set to starting a story about this poorly named child: Who is he? Where is he? What is he doing?—the result of which, after much consultation, help and guidance, is the very series we speak of now.
It has been commonly thought that Charles Dickens and Patrick O'Brian are major influences on Cornish's work but this is in fact incorrect: What people cite as a Dickensian touch is actually via Mervyn Peake, and the hints of O'Brian are truly Oliver Warner and Brian Lavery (to name but a few). If asked, Cornish will readily claim many others among his influences: J. R. R. Tolkien, E. R. Eddison, H. P. Lovecraft, John Gardner, Homer, and so many more than can be mentioned—all having a role in directing the course of the creation of the Half-Continent.
Themes
MBT revolves constantly about the tension between men and monsters. Rossamünd is frequently wrestling with the notion of there actually being good monsters not deserving of a violent end. He is troubled with the idea that the way he has been taught is not necessarily how things are, that whilst people accuse monsters of great evil (of which some are indeed guilty) these same people are themselves capable of their own wickedness and perversion. He also discovers that not everyone is as dead-set against monsters as he once assumed. As in real life, there are other underlying themes of role and self-identity, of family and friendship and loyalty—yet none of these are presented intentionally as "issues" but just part of the author's intent to try and make the MBT experience as fulsome as possible.
MBT and the World
Foundling (Monster Blood Tattoo, book one) garnered three starred reviews, from Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, and Booklist; was voted American Library Association (ALA) Best Books for Young Adults 2007; New York Public Library (NYPL) Books for the Teen Age; Booksense Children's Pick, Autumn 2006; is the winner of the Aurealis Award 2006 in the YA category; and a Children's Book Council of Australia Best Book of the Year, Honour Book, 2007.
There are plans for a film version in the capable hands of The Jim Henson Company.
Book Titles
Click ISBNs to find sources to order these books.
External Links
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