His Soul’s Still Dancing: A Nicolas Cage Inspired Fiction Anthology
Ex-Parrot Press
If you had to make a list of Hollywood actors who could have inspired the creation of an anthology of weird, bizarre, often mind-bending and always deeply unsettling stories: who else could truly come at the top of such a list than Nic Cage? Would there even be any other entries on such a strangely specific list? Which other actor or actress in the modern history of the silver screen could even come close to matching the unique energy, mannerisms and acting choices that have come to define Cage’s filmography and his entire career as an actor? Because I would argue that Nicolas Kim Coppola – Nicolas Cage to the wider world – has carved a path straight through Hollywood Boulevard and into the hearts, minds and souls of cinema-goers in a manner that no-one else ever has; and likely never will again in quite the same way.
Even to think about Cage is to summon an almost-memetic image of him. I mean, take a moment to look away from your screen and this review and think about him right now. It doesn’t matter what you’ve seen him in over the years, or how long ago you last saw one of his films, you’ll still see the same image in your head: the cocky, confident pose and that little smirk that curls his lips to one side of his face. I don’t think there’s ever been another actor who you can imagine in quite the same manner.
What is it about Cage that lurks in the back of our minds and has captivated society for decades? That makes almost every one of his roles some sort of eternal meme that haunts the internet? You’re thinking of a Cage-inspired meme now without even realizing it. Is it THE BEES as he flails on grass as if every one of his limbs is being electrocuted separately and with varying levels of current? Is it a weary Cage exchanging looks with a frenetic Pedro Pascal, or a frantic Cage’s face that perfectly illustrates the concept of sarcasm? Or perhaps it’s a pensive-looking Cage who’s deciding how, exactly, he’s going to steal the Declaration of Independence. It matters not – there are dozens of them, and will surely be a dozen more before he ends his career.
But of course, it isn’t just the meme-inspiring performances that make Cage so memorable to society. It’s also his performances – the man has an Oscar after all, and a host of well-earned acting awards, and it can’t be denied that he seems to put his heart and soul into even the lowest-budget film role he’s been cast in through the years. Because make no mistake – the man can act like his life depends on it. Examples like Leaving Las Vegas and Adaptation are obvious, but I dare anyone reading this to watch Bringing out the Dead or the more recent Longlegs and deny his acting ability. It may not be an always-popular opinion, but I’d rank Cage equal with Tom Hanks and Daniel-Day Lewis at his best.
So – the memes, the acting, the hunt for a real-life Holy Grail and baffling choice to purchase – and then lose – a medieval castle. It all creates something larger than life, a man who strides through cinema and our hearts and souls with equal measure – and so of course it was perhaps inevitable that an anthology of weird fiction would be composed around Nicolas Cage. When I first saw the announcement on social media that publisher Ex-Parrot Press would be releasing His Soul’s Still Dancing: A Nicolas Cage Inspired Fiction Anthology my reaction was impulsive and instinctive, like one of the great man’s performances: I knew that I had to have that anthology. And so it was that the publisher kindly sent me a review copy – and I was able to hurl myself into the chaos, madness and sublimity of seventeen stories based in some way around Nicolas Cage.
To review all seventeen stories in the anthology would be a long and daunting process, and risk spoiling the amazing stories and writing to be found within it; so instead, like a cinephile selecting his favourite Cage performances, I will highlight the stories I thought were the best. As the Music Plays Groovy by Michael Bettendorf sets the mood nicely with a short but delightfully bizarre vignette involving Cage, a voice-controlled device and something akin to a technological haunting; and it’s followed by Saint Nic of the Yard from Die Booth, who deftly delivers a strange and unsettling story about a junk yard, a mysterious pyramid, and an obsessive Nicolas Cage fan base that neatly complements the energy and styling of Bettendorf’s tale. FACE/TREASURE, from the mind of weird horror stalwart Duncan P Bradshaw, feels like the written equivalent of being injected with a drug composed of all of Cage’s memetic film roles – difficult to describe accurately on the written page, it’s a rollercoaster of an adventure that feels like it could only have sprung from the pen of a man who has watched a lot of Cage films.
Worth the price of the entire anthology alone, and to me the jewel of the entire anthology, Cage Horizon by David Charlesworth is a tale I’ve read half a dozen times now – more than the anthology itself. Somehow managing to combine Cage’s bizarre personality with elements of Gulliver’s Travels, this tale of a memetic Cage virus is absolutely amazing – and marks out a weird fiction author to watch very closely for his future works. The Story of the Shaman from Pedro Faria is a nicely-done piece of post-apocalyptic fiction blended with bizarro horror that I greatly enjoyed, and again marks out a future author I’ll follow with interest. And bringing a dash of black humour into the collection, as per many of Cage’s performances, Justin Hunter’s Grand Master Nick: Dates of Fury nicely punctures the mythology around Cage and reimagines him as perhaps what reality should have made him be in every other reality other than our own.
Warriors of the Wild Sky from Madison McSweeny was a surprising but delightful shock to the system – re-imagining Cage (or a version of him) as a mythological persona roaming the back roads of the USA, lending a helpful hand to those in need – in this case, someone fleeing from a horrific situation. Haunting and yet strangely hopeful as well, it’s another stand-out story in the collection. And it seems fitting that the final stand-out story for me in the collection was Danger Slater’s FACE/OFF 2: FACE/ON: 2 CON 2 AIR: DAWN OF JUSTICE in which Slater manages to create perhaps the ultimate Nicolas Cage sequel script, while also demonstrating how reality can unravel itself when one stares too deeply into the terrifying abyss that is Nicolas Cage.
Much like Nicolas Cage himself, His Soul’s Still Dancing: A Nicolas Cage Inspired Fiction Anthology is a wild, enervating and deeply chaotic experience that perfectly encapsulates the man, the actor and the mythology that has grown around him. For almost every other actor or actress in Hollywood, the notion of creation an entire collection of weird fiction stories based around them and the characters they have played would be nonsensical; even for someone as universally beloved as Tom Hanks, such a theoretical anthology would at best be awkward and unappealing. This is because Hanks does not possess that unique energy, charisma and ‘Element X’ that Nicolas Cage possesses; or perhaps more accurately, is possessed by. Aided by a superbly-designed piece of monochrome cover art that perfectly illustrates the impossible task of diving into Cage’s chaotic mindset, and a skillful level of editing that is rarely seen in independently-published titles, I can confidently state that His Soul’s Still Dancing is by far the best Weird Fiction anthology that I’ve read and reviewed in my entire time surveying the genre, and a superb debut by Ex-Parrot Press. I’m greatly looking forward to seeing what they come up with in the future – and whatever it is, I’ll be in first in line to read and review it.
The Sci-Fi and Fantasy Reviewer 