About the Book
Cunningly crafted stories full of wonder and intelligence. VanderMeer proves again why he is so essential and why everybody should be reading him.
Junot Diaz, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Featuring The Situation, a story set in the universe of VanderMeer s bestseller, Borne.
Compared by critics to Borges, Nabokov, and Kafka, contemporary fantasist Jeff VanderMeer (The Southern Reach Trilogy) continues to amaze with this surreal, innovative, and absurdist gathering of award-winning short fiction. Exotic beasts and improbable travelers roam restlessly through these darkly diverting and finely honed tales.
In 'The Situation,' a beleaguered office worker creates a child-swallowing manta-ray to be used for educational purposes (once described as Dilbert meets Gormenghast). In 'Three Days in a Border Town,' a sharpshooter seeks the truth about her husband in an elusive floating city beyond a far-future horizon; 'Errata' follows an oddly familiar writer who has marshaled a penguin, a shaman, and two pearl-handled pistols with which to plot the end of the world. Also included are two stories original to this collection, including 'The Quickening,' in which a lonely child is torn between familial obligation and loyalty to a maligned talking rabbit.
Chimerical and hypnotic, VanderMeer leads readers into a new literature of the imagination.
Table of Contents:
The Third Bear The Goat Variations Finding Sonoria The Quickening The Situation Three Days in a Border Town Predecessor Shark God Versus Octopus God Errata The Secret Life of Shane Hamill Fixing Hanover The Surgeons Tale Appoggiatura
About the Author :
Jeff VanderMeer’s most recent fiction is the NYT-bestselling Southern Reach trilogy (Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance), all released in 2014 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The series has been acquired by publishers in 23 other countries. Paramount Pictures/Scott Rudin Productions have acquired the movie rights. His nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, the Washington Post, the Atlantic.com, and the Los Angeles Times. A three-time World Fantasy Award winner and 14-time nominee, VanderMeer has edited or coedited many iconic fiction anthologies, taught at the Yale Writers’ Conference, the Miami International Book Fair, lectured at MIT and the Library of Congress, and serves as the co-director of Shared Worlds, a unique teen SF/fantasy writing camp located at Wofford College. He lives in Tallahassee, Florida, with his wife, the noted editor Ann VanderMeer. Website:
Review :
A fine introduction to one of our very best contemporary practitioners of the fantastic." Publishers Weekly "These 15 elegantly crafted stories ably demonstrate VanderMeer's skill ... calls to mind the works of Borges, Kafka, and Lem." Library Journal, Starred Review"Fascinating ... the harmonics between the stories cross all sorts of boundaries." Locus Magazine"VanderMeer proves again why he is so essential and why everybody should be reading him." Junot Diaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao "Jeff Vandermeer is not to be trusted. He hypnotizes with shiny objects, bizarrely beautiful shapes and phrases, then (more often than not) gently drifts you into very dark places. You won't know where you're going till you get there and then, of course, it's too late." Mike Mignola, creator, Hellboy "In the hands of a brilliant writer like Jeff VanderMeer, writing fantasy can be a means of serious artistic expression... It is also playful, poignant, and utterly, wildly imaginative." Peter Straub, author, The Talisman "VanderMeer proves again why he is so essential and why everybody should be reading him." Junot Diaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao "Jeff VanderMeer is an extraordinary writer ... passionate, beautiful, complex, terrifying." Tamar Yellin, author, The Genizah at the House of Shepher "VanderMeer may be creating the dominant literature of the 21st century." Guardian One of the things that sets VanderMeer apart is his embrace of technology and media. His online presence is considerable and includes a number of web sites, frequent blogging, a short film adaptation of his novel Shriek (including collaboration with pop rock band The Church), his Alien Baby photo project and even a project involving animation via Sony Playstation. Wired.com "One of the most literary fantasy writers or fantastic literary writers we've got working these days, take your pick. Ron Hogan, Mediabistros GalleyCat "Reminiscent of Japanese surrealist author Haruki Murakami ... VanderMeer's stories are provocative marvels. Sacramento Book Review
