Facets of a Murder: One case, many tales

Facets of a Murder: One case, many tales
by Merrie Killer

Facet: (n.) One side of something many-sided; any one of several parts or aspects of something;
a particular aspect or feature of something; part of a whole;
a particular point of view; side, dimension, characteristic,
detail, point, strand, component, element, or factor.
Origin: early 17th Century, from the French “facette”
—a diminutive of face, “face-side”.
Source: American Oxford Dictionary/Thesaurus

Facets of Murder: One Case, Many Tales is a literary exploration of the account of the 2001 murder of one, James Harry Orban, age 69. Various aspects of his story, and those of his killers, are told herein through diverse writing styles and forms. This collection is inspired by Raymond Queneau’s 1947 book Exercises in Style, in which the author tells and retells a small, benign story 99 different ways.

Rather than repetition, with every new “facet” of this story the reader gets another layer of this convoluted story: a love triangle that begins with illicit sex and ends with murder and arson. The pieces in Facets of a Murder span from the minute (Details: “In the Kitchen with Mama”) and mundane (“Notation”), to speculation (“My Take on Misery Bay”), and raving (“Now that just pisses me off…”)

Other forms include:
• Recipe: “Recipe for Death/Devastation/Disaster”
• Story in Question, “Writing in Ignorance”
• “Murder by Definition”
• Report Cards
• “Faction: To Live Happily Ever After”
• Domino Effect: “What if?”
• Aside: “The Murder Book”
• Rumor
• Headlines
• Dispatch
• ABC’s “ABC’s of Love Gone Bad”
• Spoonerisms

Be prepared, this is no ordinary read. It’s part true crime, part short story, part experimental “long” writing. Facets of a Murder expands the notion of what “story” is and how readers get something new from each of the various ways it’s presented. The story is the subject of an episode of Discovery ID Channel’s program Wicked Attraction.

NOTE: The original manuscript of Facets has a number of visual aspects to its formatting, on some devices some of the definition and descriptions may be off. Please know efforts to remove those bugs are underway.