Jeff VanderMeer's Blog, page 129

Derek Raymond's The Hidden Files, An Introduction

(Taken from this interesting webpage about Raymond, with many book covers.)

Having read or re-read all of Derek Raymond's novels, save one, I am turning my attention to his autobiography, The Hidden Files–a somewhat difficult out-of-print book to get a copy of, and not particularly cheap, either.

The descriptions on the dust jacket of The Hidden Files includes this insight, rather more sensationalistic than his actual fiction:

A memoir on [Raymond's:] writing techques and inspiration, peppered wit

Congrats to Howard Waldrop: First American to Win the Jack Trevor Story Memorial Cup

(Photo by Ellen Datlow; this was during Waldrop's cloning/"similarity of atoms" phase, which also involved dry ice, a magician's wand, a taxidermed poodle, and two Tylenol.)

Below find the details about the Jack Trevor Story Memorial Cup, won by Howard Waldrop. This is the second time I've served on the selection committee, and it's a real honor. You'll recall that I wasn't blogging or on Facebook for about 72 hours a couple weeks back. That was so the cup administrators could bundle me onto a p

The Steampunk Bible and Steampunk Slideshow

(Check out this Steampunk slideshow with text I put together, commissioned by Film In Focus to coincide with their updates on the animated film 9, featuring two great pieces by John Coulthart among other goodies. And then check out their other slideshows–some really great stuff.)

I believe I've mentioned this project briefly before, but it's official-official, so…I've sold The Steampunk Bible to Abrams Image in New York City. It's meant to be the quintessential pictorial and textual look at Stea

Rebel Samizdat and Heretic Editions: Excerpt and Limited Details for Jeff VanderMeer's Novel Finch

(The full cover of the trade paperback edition of Finch, by John Coulthart. The same art will be used by Murder by Death for their CD soundtrack to Finch.)

First off, Underland Press has posted a lengthy excerpt of Finch on their site–specifically, the first 58 pages. Click on "READ FREE EXCERPT".

Underland Press has also announced the two limited editions of my novel Finch, shipping in November. They are:

The Rebel Samizdat Limited

The Heretic Limited

Each edition comes with the Murder by Death sou

Flushing Out Shriek: An Afterword–Notes, Fragments, Research, Alternate Scenes

(Limited edition cover, art by Ben Templesmith and design by John Coulthart, and still available from Wyrm Publishing)

In cleaning up my computer and getting ready for all kinds of efforts for Finch, the last novel in the Ambergris Cycle, I came across my document of notes and research for Shriek: An Afterword, the previous Ambergris novel. I wrote these notes initially on scraps of paper and created the document to house each note in the appropriate section, as a bulletpoint item, so I wouldn't

Terror, the Uncanny, Hugo Party, Podcast, and More

(Ann at the Hugo party, holding up a copy of the next day's newspaper thoughtfully brought by Randy Fingeroot. Article and video here. Randy also brought Ann copies of the actual plates that the page was printed from…)

I've been sitting on some links, so here they are…

A few photos from the Hugo party here in Tallahassee, which due to a flickr burp you'll just have to scroll down in the main feed to see.

Jon Armstrong did a podcast interview with me that turned out great, in that I wasn't talking

Compiling My Nonfiction Collection Monstrous Creatures

(The cover of my nonfiction collection from Guide Dog Books, an imprint of Raw Dog Screaming Press, art by Eric Orchard; the new subtitle, not reflected above, is "Explorations of the Fantastical, the Surreal, and the Weird", but that too is subject to change.)

This weekend I started putting together my nonfiction collection Monstrous Creatures. I'd been capturing material in one document in the following categories:

Introductions & Afterwords
Features (Articles, etc.)
Reviews
Essays
Columns
Interview

Things That Haven't Happened Yet 'Cause I'm Flat-Out Exhausted

But they will, they will, once I get mah second wind. Or a spare moment. Or a couple of assistants. Sigh. Not to mention the House of Cabinets antho that should've been done a long time ago, and Love Drunk Book Heads. Double sigh. (If not for Ann, Last Drink would be in the weeds, too.)

UPDATE: Urk, Hannu Blommila made me think of a new antho idea–CAPYGOTTI: A Bestiary of Fantastical Writers. "In the Capygotti's tiny, reflectionless black eyes you can see the existential dread of legions." Now I'

Man, Falling

Flash fiction inspired by Eric Schaller's art (above), which appeared in Secret Life Redux: The Select Fire Remix (yep, that's right–the remixed, just like a music remix, trade paper edition of my Secret Life story collection, not to be confused with Secret Lives). I have a few copies lying around if you're curious. $12 including postage for the US, $18 for international. Paypal to vanderworld at hotmail.com. This was a phase of collaboration with Eric that led to the Last Drink Bird Head anthol

Jeff Johnson's Tattoo Machine–One of the Best Books of the Year

This nonfiction book about tattoo art, the culture, and the clients, is just wonderful. Great anecdotes–funny, disturbing, fascinating. I just interviewed the author for Amazon.