Finch by Jeff VanderMeer – review
So you don’t read fantasy. You heart mystery and crime fiction but haven’t touched a fantasy book since that one summer when you devoured Lord of the Rings. Well, let me tell you that things have changed since then. The SF/F genre has a long history of crossing genre borders, and right here, right now, in 2009, people are starting to notice. Earlier in the year China Mieville wrote a cool police procedural fantasy (The City and The City), and Richard Kadrey wrote a hardboiled fantasy called Sandman Slim that would make even the most wild-eyed of the basement noir crazies stand up and take notice. Jeff VanderMeer closes out the year with a secondary world fantasy, filtered through noir sensibilities, that is, hands down, the best of the bunch.
Read the full review after the jump…
Inside Jeff VanderMeer’s Shriek
A couple of days ago Jeff VanderMeer posted some of his research for his Shriek: an Afterword (a novel I loved). I asked him if I could repost it here at BSC, mostly so that I can play out my hatred for not enough spacing. I love this type of stuff. and in our dialogue I told him this type of material falls into the same category as my love form material like Tolkien’s History of Middle-Earth, or other such notes, letters, or reference material. I know a lot of people find this boring at best, but I’m the guy who looks at each and ever Erikson novel’s dramatis personae for even the slightest of changes, or a single sentence describing a new locale and buys stupid gaming manuals related to novels or series I like just to see the word “Targaryen” more times.
It should be noted that if you haven’t read the novel, spoilers lurk below, but if you have, or (for some reason) aren’t going to anyway, I think it’s interesting to see part of the thought process that goes behind the endeavor or writing a (great) novel.
Get it after the jump…
Jan-Ken-Pon – Tomio’s Want List: VanderMeer’s Finch and Murakami’s 1Q84
Two more books for the Tomio Want List – Jeff VanderMeer’s return and exit from Ambergris, Finch, and Haruki Murakami’s G-14 classified 1Q84.
More after the jump . . .
News – Janice Shriek’s War Report
I really loved Jeff VanderMeer’s Shriek: an Afterword, and over at Ecstatic Days he has a piece that didn’t make the final draft, but is an interesting read on why it wasn’t included. Yes, I am an Ambergris completist! A publisher, publicist, author, or artist and have news or announcements you think should be noted [...]
Ambergris: Building a Fantastical City by Jeff VanderMeer
I remember when I first read this one! Continuing with our representing neo-classic essays, articles, or manifesto, we have a piece from Jeff VanderMeer today! Ambergris: Building a Fantastical City was published in Matrix Magazine, and we are pleased to bring it back for all to read. Hugo Award, Bram Stoker Award, IHG Award, Philip K. Dick Award finalist, and winner of a couple of World Fantasy Awards – overall one of most cool peeps you are going to find in the SF/F or any other community.
We’d like to thank Jeff, and now Ambergris: Building a Fantastical City . . .
News – Finch Unveiled by VanderMeer
Jeff VanderMeer has just posted the cover art to his next novel novel, Finch.
Finch is the third novel in VanderMeer’s Ambergris Cycle. . .
News – Finch Tease
Jeff VanderMeer has a teaser up at his blog from his forthcoming novel, Finch. Read/Post Comments A publisher, publicist, author, or artist and have news or announcements you think should be noted at BookSpot Central? Email us at admin@fantasybookspot.com and let us decide!
Book Review – City of Saints and Madmen
Author: Jeff VanderMeer Cover Artist: Scott Eagle Publisher: Prime Books Binding: Paperback Publication Date: 2002 “What can be said about Ambergris that has not already been said? Every minute section of the city, no matter how seemingly superfluous, has a complex, even devious part to play in the communal life. And no matter how often [...]
Book Review – Shriek: An Afterword
Author: Jeff VanderMeer Cover Artist: Jonathan Edwards Publisher: Tor Binding: Paperback Publication Date: 2006 There are books that are simply a joy to read; each chapter representing an ascending acrophobic’s journey –head always high and always looking forward – up the steps building with each turn of a page culminating in a capstone that takes [...]
