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It seemed like a great idea by an editor whose other anthologies I've enjoyed and with stories by authors whose other works I've enjoyed, but it's no coincidence that it took me so long to read. Perhaps the format was too constrained, for almost every story began to take on a mindnumbing sameness, regardless of how different in detail.
A collection of wonderful beasts for the modern fears.
What a peculiar little book.It is a series of 28 descriptions of various imaginary beasts, ranging from the silly to the chilling to the just plain out-there.Yes, 28. One for each letter of the alphabet, plus one for "&" and one for " ". Plus, bonus! brief beasts after each main beast, most of which are riffs on the name of the writer of the main beast.As one would expect, a few specific not-exactly-stories stand out for me. "Bartleby's Typewriter", by Corey Redekop, is a parable on the negativ
I'd like to preface this review by saying that if you're thinking of getting the book, spring for the hardcover/physical edition; the ebook doesn't include the pictures. Plus, as I type this, it's massively discounted on Amazon.I was only interested in this book for the Valente short story, but ultimately I'm glad I picked it up. Not every story was a winner, very few were actually memorable to me, but I had enough fun to justify the read. I had no quarrel with the entries that just detailed the...
The quality of these stories varies, but the best are amazing -- I loved the ones by Dexter Palmer and Karin Tidbeck, for example. This book is also a beautiful artifact.
Conceptually brilliant, Ann VanderMeer has curated a top-notch collection of some of the strangest creatures you've never heard of, described and codified by some of the best of the best in this weird world. Some entries are more successful than others - the ones that veer too far into the structurally-weird lose the playfulness of the prompt and are ultimately forgettable, while the ones that hew closest to the expected form tend to be the most memorable - but the whole thing is a delight for l...
Wildly varying quality but the vast majority of entries are well worth the time. Dexter Palmer's Daydreamer By Proxy is now one of my all time favorite pieces of fiction.
A bestiary is a collection of descriptions of animals, usually fantastical ones. Bestiaries trace their origins to Ancient Greece, but rose to popularity in the Middle Ages. VanderMeer has drawn together quite a collection of authors to create entries for this little volume. The beasts are indeed fantastical, some hilariously so, and the illustrations are beautifully drawn. A wonderful way to fill a couple of hours of your time.
Not every story in this is flawless, of course, but there are really only one or two stumbles, and them only minor ones. Even then, the whole conceit of the collection is something I find so fascinating--how much of my childhood was spent making my own bestiaries?--that I couldn't help but devour this with utter delight.Really wish I had the hardcopy edition, as it's apparently got illustrations--by China Miéville!--but it's unfortunately too rich for my blood.
Fascinating concept for a collection, and a fun read for any fan of exercises with stretching bizarre ideas as far as the imagination might allow. With the episodic nature of the entries, coupled with the fantastic illustrations, I was reminded of the classic (original edition of) "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" trilogy. Dexter Palmer's entry for "D" is worth the price of admission alone, but I found myself smiling often throughout.
Contents:007 - Introduction by Jeff VanderMeer013 - "&: Ampersand" by Karin Lowachee024 - "A: The Auricle" by Gio Clairval033 - "B: Bartleby’s Typewriter" by Corey Redekop043 - "C: The Counsellor Crow" by Karen Lord053 - "D: Daydreamer by Proxy" by Dexter Palmer065 - "E: Enkantong-bato" by Dean Francis Alfar071 - "F: The Figmon" by Michael Cisco081 - "G: The Guest" by Brian Conn089 - "H: Hadrian’s Sparrikan" by Stephen Graham Jones099 - "I: Ible" by Brian Evenson107 - "J: Jason Bug" by Joseph Ni...
It has that rare "one more potato chip" quality that I long for in anthologies.
Stealing Karl's contents list so I can comment on the stories:007 - Introduction by Jeff VanderMeer013 - "&: Ampersand" by Karin Lowachee024 - "A: The Auricle" by Gio Clairval033 - "B: Bartleby’s Typewriter" by Corey Redekop043 - "C: The Counsellor Crow" by Karen Lord053 - "D: Daydreamer by Proxy" by Dexter Palmer065 - "E: Enkantong-bato" by Dean Francis Alfar071 - "F: The Figmon" by Michael Cisco081 - "G: The Guest" by Brian Conn089 - "H: Hadrian’s Sparrikan" by Stephen Graham Jones099 - "I: Ib...
This was a slow read. It took me a yaer of off and on reading to get through this, but it was worth it for the most part. IT had nearly 30 short stories about fantastical creatures. Some of the pieces didn't work, but the ones that did were wonderful. The Library Bear story written by Valente was amazing. And there were a few others, like the one about the carrion birds that can force people to go to war so there can be more dead bodies to feast upon, was almost as good. IT was a nice book to sl...
It was alright not the best I’ve seen. The binding and book production is amazing.
once upon a time i spent a lot of money on this book. i should probably read it.&: Ampersand - Karin LowacheeA: The Auricle - Gio ClairvalB: Bartleby’s Typewriter - Corey RedekopC: The Counsellor Crow - Karen LordD: Daydreamer by Proxy - Dexter PalmerE: Enkantong-bato - Dean Francis AlfarF: The Figmon - Michael CiscoG: The Guest - Brian ConnH: Hadrian’s Sparrikan - Stephen Graham JonesI: Ible - Brian EvensonJ: Jason Bug - Joseph NiggK: The Karmantid - Karen HeulerL: The Liwat’ang Yawa and the Li...
I read this book primarily because Karin Lowachee contributed to it and her Warchild series are my favorite books in the world. Also, as a ecology major and all around nerd, I thought the idea of a fantasy bestiary sounded awesome. Unfortunately, I feel like it failed to live up to my expectations. The whole book had a strange tone to it-dark for the sole purpose of being dark (excluding Lowachee's story, which read more like an actual naturalist observation-well written, but not all that exciti...