I’ve been looking for an excuse to post something about Percy Gloom since I read it, and Publisher’s Weekly gives me an excuse, as Chris Barsanti interviews Percy Gloom creator Cathy Malkasian:
PWCW: Was there a moment of inspiration for the book and character or was it the sort of project that came together piece by piece?
CM: It grew more out of exasperation than inspiration. I got fed up with the problem of fanaticism in this world. On every social level, I watched people getting addicted to being right at the cost of their honesty and humility. A fanatic’s ideas don’t have to be true or beneficial; they simply have to be presented with boisterous, uncritical and often intimidating zeal. Combine this with the technology of destruction and mass communication… and you get these mindless forces of separation, sucking the life out of people.
Malkasian, a former director of the Rugrats TV show, has created a delightfully nightmarish allegory that throws a lovable underdog type — the title character, Percy Gloom — into the middle of an odd village that needs saving. Actually I’m not sure exactly how to describe it, but it’s good, it has a message and it stays with you long after you finish it. Definitely worth checking out.
For those that have read it, you can find an MP3 of the goat song over on the Percy Gloom website.
