Feature image via Instagram
Beloved internet weirdo Mallory Ortberg delved deep into life’s twisted corners to plumb something devastatingly human for a new short story collection, The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror. The collection incorporates an esoteric mix of source material including “Cinderella,” the Book of Genesis, Frog and Toad Are Friends and a few centuries-old theological texts for spice.
The Merry Spinster is The Toast co-founder’s second book. Texts from Jane Eyre (2014) was a New York Times bestseller. The stories are a natural follow up to The Toast’s “Children’s Stories Made Horrific” series, and Ortberg’s curiosity about religion, gender and human relationships provides themes that run through the stories. Ortberg reimagines Jacob’s fight with the Angel in Genesis as if the Angel were simply taking care of procedural business in “Fear Not: The Incident Log” and turns the Velveteen Rabbit into a sinister monster in “The Rabbit.”
“The Six Boy Coffins,” a mashup retelling of “The Six Swans” and “The Twelve Brothers” by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, examines the ways gender roles and their varied sufferings and expectations infiltrate families and questions what happens if we reject those roles.
“I’ll always want to make Toast readers, weird librarians and kids who read the Marvel version of Pilgrims Progress happy, but I also want to catch people who may not be familiar with my work elsewhere,” Ortberg said in an interview with Autostraddle. “I want it to reach people who are interested in weird religious undertones, power imbalances and shifting gender identities.”
If the book seems almost fixated on gender, it’s because Ortberg began participating in gender therapy and exploring identity while writing it, and “It turns out I’m trans!”
“I’ve spent a lot of time thinking through this and going to support groups, and I started medical transition after an initial ‘trial period’ to see how I felt about it. I’ve been dealing with realizing that the feelings I had before were not the whole story. How do I create a vision for the future that doesn’t negate the past? It was wild to have all of this come up consciously for me in the middle of writing the book. None of this has felt super shocking to me as if I had never thought about these things before, but it was bewildering to be writing this book and think ‘I’m going to be experienced very differently by the time I go on tour,'” says Ortberg.
Within a few months, Ortberg plans to start using a male name and pronouns publicly. Managing public perception has been an added challenge amid transition, which is part of why Ortberg left — and then returned to — social media.
“It was very like ‘better get down in a cellar, ma, storm’s abrewing.’ I had a pretty significant change in the way that I dressed and mediated my appearance.” Eventually, Ortberg said, “I became fascinated and surprised by my own face and my appearance, I found myself looking at myself constantly and there was this desire on the one hand for no one to notice and on the other hand for someone to say ‘I know exactly what you’re doing and I’m doing it too.’ There’s something so surreal about going into my closet and finding an item of clothing I used to wear happily and enjoy how I looked in it and having none of that connection to it now. I’m wondering, how can I make decisions if I might feel that way again? I have a few items of clothing that I try on again every couple months and think ‘maybe I’ll like it again,’ like a language I used to speak. But it hasn’t happened yet.”
Overall, reaction among friends and strangers has been mostly positive, a contrast to Ortberg’s fears around transitioning publicly. It’s a journey that’s far from over and a storyline that emerges throughout The Merry Spinster.
“The story I think about most often is ‘The Incident Report,'” Ortberg said. The story it’s based on happens “in the middle of Jacob’s overall life story. It just says he’s traveling to meet his brother and is camped by a river and suddenly he’s wrestling a man and the man is an angel and there’s no reason ever explained. I feel that profoundly, like something has been sent to me and I don’t even know why and I may never know but I have to struggle with it.”
The Jacob Wrestles with an Angel by Antonio Viviani (1560–1620).
There are no easy answers for the book’s characters, many of whom make absolutely dreadful (and sometimes deadly) choices. Even as Ortberg injects mysticism and spiritual elements into these well-known stories, the stories also operate around distinctly pedestrian modes of interaction — jealousy, scarcity, gaslighting, and pride undo many of the protagonists. These elements bring the stories closer to reality, even though we know (and we do know, right?) that a toy rabbit could not really suck the life out of its owner.
Though Ortberg writes advice professionally as Slate’s Dear Prudence, the author has no advice for The Merry Spinster‘s characters: “I don’t think the kind of book where characters would take the kind of advice I give would be a book I would want to read. I want characters to sink or swim under their own strengths and do something great and entertaining that I would like to read. Which I guess is bad advice!”
Instead, Ortberg draws on other lived expertise, from starting the process of gender transition to growing up in a religious household (“I’ve always had Bible stories rattling around in my brain, and I’ve always loved Thomas Aquinas and St. John of the Cross and those dudes…I am uniquely qualified to retell bible stories in a way I really enjoy, and I was qualified for this when I was 7 years old”). The Merry Spinster feels like a book that only Ortberg could have written, and perhaps only in this exact moment of life: a time of in-betweens, self-doubt, and doing things because they are true, whether they make sense or not.
When not retelling fairy tales and Bible stories, Ortberg publishes The Shatner Chatner, posts a lot of pictures of short-sleeved button downs and Murphy the dog on Instagram, and occasionally blesses us with videos of a lip-ringed Joan Didion.
The Merry Spinster is now available for preorder and will be in stores on March 13.
I’M EXCITED FOR THIS BOOK and for all the good things ahead! And for that bicep, tbh. <3
Oh, wow. I’ve been watching Mal’s transformation in their Instagram for a few months now and wondering if this was coming. Awesome!!! They have been one of my favorite writers since The Toast days and now their voice is just getting that much richer and truer. Congratulations, Mal.
Trans jokes are about to get Ortberg’d I CANNOT WAIT
Whao! So happy for Mal that they are navigating this part of their life in a way that makes them happy, and so happy there is a new good book in the world!
ALSO, LORDE HAS READ THIS BOOK: https://www.instagram.com/p/BfQ4migHt4-/?taken-by=mallory_elis
I’ve loved Mal Ortberg’s writing (and art commentary ?) for a long time. This feature makes me look forward to “The Merry Spinster” all the more.
Most of all, I’m so incredibly happy for Mal!! My trans heart is soaring for you today ❤️
Very happy for you, Mal, and very much looking forward to your book! ?
Can’t wait to read this book, and so happy for Mal!
Ahh this is so exciting! I love Mal and the Shatner Chatner, so I anticipate only the best for them (and this book)
ahh, love you, mal!
yes hello here is my life, encapsulated
“There’s something so surreal about going into my closet and finding an item of clothing I used to wear happily and enjoy how I looked in it and having none of that connection to it now. I’m wondering, how can I make decisions if I might feel that way again? I have a few items of clothing that I try on again every couple months and think ‘maybe I’ll like it again,’ like a language I used to speak. But it hasn’t happened yet.”
Yes!!! I’ve kept my favourite dresses (i used to wear nothing but dresses and skirts) and sometimes i’ll put one on to see if i like it again and all i feel now is that i’m in costume :o
this book sounds amazing and i’m so so happy for all the revelations and the sleeveless shirts and the belt buckles and the heart and what comes next ??
I can’t wait to read this book! I’m also sending out much love and support to Mal- I’ve always been a huge fan of your writing, and can’t wait to see what journey you take us on from here!
HELL TO THE YES
also so much love and congratulations to someone who is arguably one of my favorite twitter follows and also an actual real person!!
also also also those cutoff sleeves is such a strong look
strong strong jughead
SO VERY JUGHEAD
I swooned hard for Mal when they made a niche joke about 1990’s Christian teen magazine advice columnist Susie Shellenberger, and honestly I have been swooning ever since. <3
Gosh, the description of “The Incident Report” really sold me on this book…I relate to this feeling so much: “…like something has been sent to me and I don’t even know why and I may never know but I have to struggle with it.”
Congratulations, Mal, on the book and on your self-discovery.
I love this. I love everything about this.
Mal Ortberg is a national treasure
I will pre-order this book this instant. Thank you so very much for sharing your story here in this place. <3
Yesssssssssss
Mal!!! You’re a good egg and a great guy and I’m so happy for you!!!
Mal, I am such a big fan of your writing and humor style and general person-ness. I am so happy for you that you are on this journey of self-discovery and I hope with all my heart that it continues to be a rich and rewarding experience for you. Best of luck with it all and I look forward to reading whatever you choose to write! <3
Congrats Mal!!!! <3 <3 <3
Preooooooooooooooordering! Also, congrats, Mal!
Yay, congrats Mal! I have Texts from Jane Eyre & I look forward to owning this too.
Pre-ordered this book last week and cannot wait for it to come out! It will be waiting for me when I return home from the trip I’m on and I’m so excited! Developed an internet crush on Mal when The Toast launched, and I’m still not over it.
I’m glad everyone here are celebrating Mal. But the article clearly states that he “plans to start using a male name and pronouns publicly,” and all of the comments so far with pronouns use they/them. Let’s be sure to honor his stated wishes, and take a second to examine the impulse to (even unconsciously) undermine them.
Is*
Though the article goes to great lengths to avoid using any pronouns at all (and props for that, beautifully done, it’s almost seamless!)
i love everything about this so much! mazel tov, mal! thank you for sharing with us and thank you for writing a new book that i can devour! <3
Pre-ordered!
Everything Mal says and does and writes down is a gift. So excited for this book.
Thanks: https://todayhsfootball.com/
Thank you very much dear teacher for this nice sharing.