The Ponca City News, June 10, 2004
Brand New Paperback from Two P.C. Natives-
"Two Too Deep Fools & more, supposedly..." is the name of a brand new paperback book written and drawn by Brett Horton and including artwork from Aaron Frisby, both Ponca City natives.
The book is unique. There is no other book like this. Mysterious, serious, comical and alluring all at once, it is a short story that umbrellas poems, shorter stories, drawings, paintings and photographs into a singular body of work. The story that glues it all together is based on Ka-nell, a youngster who prefers to daydream his life away, meditating in front of an electric fan while he concocts strange, whimsical fantasies in the form of writings and pictures, full of vivid, memorable characters. Madame Ingle Beezle is the vainglorious, yet loveable keeper of the house who gets cheap kicks from her constant, absurd nagging of the easy-going but somewhat paranoid boy. Salaway is the cat of the house who is simply content with his majestic aura. There are enigmatic paintings hanging in Ka-nell's room. He enjoys pondering and getting lost in them. This book is kind of like an amusing riddle: short, sweet and almost to the point. As it picks up, Ka-nell wonders if someone or something is spying on him. Madame Ingle Beezle loses her practicality. And Salaway seems to know something nobody else knows...
The book is full of poems with titles like "The Tall Tale Of Sir William Butterfield," "Stoner & Garlyle," "Morty Was Bound To Be Written Down," "A Portrait Of Portnoy," and "The Ballot Of Veronica Beaumont" to name some.
Horton gives credit to T.S. Eliot's "Old Possum's Book Of Practical Cats" as being a major influence of "Two Too Deep Fools..." T.S. Eliot's classic features the enigmatic drawings of Edward Gorey.
"This book is made up of many things over many times in many places," explains Brett, "but the actual 'putting together' of the book didn't seem to take that long. On the one hand, you have Frisby, who has these large portrait paintings of imaginary people that he did on his own time, which little did he know were destined to end up in a book. And then you have me."
The original story that makes up the book was entitled "2 Deep Fools." It was a creative writing assignment when he attended Ponca City High School. The poem, "Stoner & Garlyle," was also a creative writing assignment, originally titled "2 Stupid Ducks," and it received a "D" due to the word "pooping."
Now this has all come together in a published book available for order from bookstores worldwide.
Also, there is more to the story outside of the book. There are three characters posing as the main characters of the book. First, there is Billy Pruett as Ka-nell, who is a Stillwater citizen. He mysteriously disappeared for a month whenever he was originally scheduled to take the photos, and when he turned up later he claimed to have been sucked into a cult in Oklahoma City. Luckily for him, he escaped.
Brooke Blessed is Madame Ingle Beezle. She is an actress and performance artist from Oklahoma City and spends much of her time traveling the country.
Matt Janey's cat, Arlo, is Salaway.
Brett Horton will be joining DJ Cranke on the "Alternative Show" Sunday night, June 13th, from 8pm-10pm, 93.7 KSPI. He will be discussing the book further and reading excerpts.
Two Too Deep Fools & more, supposedly... is available for order from bookstores worldwide and also from www.virtualbookworm.com and www.amazon.com as well. For more information, especially concerning music by the Gardes featuring Horton, Grover, Siemers and Lenhart, or for information concerning Willie Cry Records, please visit: www.thegardes.com