The Jayne Mansfield Nuclear Project (Jayne Mansfield)

My short story collection, Candescent Blooms,  was published by Salt Publishing recently. I've previously posted here with regards to the background to the collection, and the fact that twelve Hollywood actors whose lives ended prematurely are the main characters in each of the twelve stories. As stated in that post, the intention in the run-up to publication is to focus on each actor with some snippets of information (both about them and the writing of their stories). These posts will follow the same format for each. Our eleventh character is Jayne Mansfield.

1: the reason for the title of the story

This was the second story I wrote after my Marilyn Monroe story. Before this, I hadn't realised I was working on a collection. One day I was listening to the song, "Confessions of a Psycho Cat", by The Cramps which contains the lines:

I'm the feathered serpent of the Aztecs

I've weathered the invasion of the insects

I invented the Jayne Mansfield Nuclear project

The Pope genuflects to gain my respect

Oh these are the confessions of a psycho cat...

Naturally, the Jayne Mansfield lyric stood out. I decided to write a Jayne Mansfield story. There could therefore only be one title.

2: why I chose that actor

As per the above. It was only after I wrote this story that I decided to write more of the same ilk, so until this was written I didn't know I had a potential collection on my hands.

3: one 'gift' that enhanced the story

Generally Mansfield's over-the-top persona fuelled this story: her wardrobe malfunctions, her pink palace, her zest for life. I'm glad it was only her wig that was in the footwell (she was not decapitated in that car crash as some reports suggested).

4: one thing I never knew about them

Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan, named Jayne the High Priestess of San Francisco’s Church of Satan

5: an extract from the story

She shielded her eyes to the glare. An orange glow bled through her closed eyelids. Sometimes she wanted to be invisible but she had read that being invisible included your eyelids and you’d have no protection from the light. Yet, somedays she knew she was the most famous invisible woman and there weren’t nothing to shield her from flashbulbs and publicity and piercing public stares. Sometimes even clothed was to be naked.

6: what music I listened to whilst I wrote it.

You might think I wrote this story to that Cramps song on repeat, but actually I choose the moody b-movie music of The Raveonettes, in this instance their mini-album Whip It On. Still, I can't help but post Confessions of A Psycho Cat below:

Buy Candescent Blooms here.