Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone

by David Perlmutter

Cicero Clayton and his gal pal, Suzy Mack, have had plenty of adventures in their fictional version of Halifax. After all, life as a cartoon character should be nothing but fun and excitement, right?

All things may be possible in the world of Cicero and Suzy, but the real adventure won't begin until their show is cancelled - and that's exactly what's about to happen.

Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone is David Perlmutter's follow-up to his previous life-of-cartoons short story release, Tooned Out.

20 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 13, 2013

About the author

David Perlmutter is a freelance writer based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He is the author of America Toons In: A History of Television Animation (McFarland and Co.), The Singular Adventures Of Jefferson Ball (Chupa Cabra House), The Pups (Booklocker.com), Certain Private Conversations and Other Stories (Aurora Publishing), Honey and Salt (Scarlet Leaf Publishing), The Encyclopedia of American Animated Cartoon Series (Rowman and Littlefield, forthcoming) and Orthicon; or, the History of a Bad Idea (Linkville Press, forthcoming) He can be reached on Facebook at David Perlmutter-Writer, Twitter at @DKPLJW1, and Tumblr at The Musings of David Perlmutter (yesdavidperlmutterfan).

Reviews

[Alfaniel Aldavan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The perspective of cartoon characters, when their television show gets canceled.

Some might find this short story humorous. I don't, though not because it doesn't have its share of humor. It's a parody, if you will, of the world of entertainment networks, one that feels sad all the way, shadowing its funny twists.

There is money, narrow mind and ego, corporate power negotiations, threats and ruthlessness. There is no place for quality of a show, for feedback from the audience, for a kid's fun, in the decision making. Cartoon characters, the last ones out, fight their way and out of their way, for a few minutes on the air.


Note: I have received a copy for free from the publisher, with the purpose of an honest review.

[Rik Ty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, this book certainly surprised me. I bought it a long time ago, and I don’t think I ever read the description.
“Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone” is a short story published singly, and it reads like a bonkers entry into the Twilight Zone.
I don’t mean that as an insult. The story’s premise is outrageous: a band of cartoon characters have their show cancelled out from underneath them, and immediately find themselves in some kind of government termination agency. It’s Kafka meets Tex Avery.
One of the interesting things Perlmutter utilizes to pull off this farce is a body of very formal sentences. Each is very solidly built, creating a flow that is very impressive and sly, and each contains a little nugget of lunacy. The result is funny in itself.
One of the main cartoon characters in the story is a cartoon loud-mouth, and I can’t say I enjoyed her scenes very much, but I loved the audacity of the work (and was very impressed with the writing).
I wanted to see if a second Perlmutter story would also be about cartoon characters, and the answer turned out to be no – but not by much. “Motor City Wolf “ is about a small troop of girl scouts who have to take on a werewolf, so it’s a close match in tone to cartoons facing oblivion.
Both stories are short and fun. Either could have been an actual animated featurette, and it implies that Perlmutter may be some kind of a one-man animation studio working in prose. Take a look whenever you are in the mood for something off the beaten path!