Jeff VanderMeer's Blog, page 139
June 21, 2009
Sunday Videos: Civilization and Buffy Kicks Twilight
Civilization by Marco Brambilla from CRUSH on Vimeo.
Via Hal Duncan who got it from SF Signal. Pretty darn wild.
Heh. I thought Twilight was a big ole heaping plate of gross and the unintentionally funny. A friend sent me the link to this remix of Buffy with Twilight that shows just how creepy Edward is…
June 20, 2009
Three Dreams and a Fabrication
(Derek Ford’s amazing piece for the interior of the Last Drink Bird Head anthology)
1.
I dreamt of a falling apart hotel in some tropical location. It was on the side of a mountain and it swayed on stilts like something alive trying to break free of its restraints. Ann and I were staying there on holiday. The help staff had all been former members of the government in that country, but deposed during a coup. They had established their own form of Marxism within the hotel, which meant that the gues
Housekeeping–Secret Lives, BAF2, etc.
Just a quick note to say that all Secret Lives copies and BAF2 copies promised are going out Monday. This would’ve been taken care of much earlier if not for the sudden onslaught of deadlines coupled with losing Ann’s car to the crash over Memorial Day weekend. Which basically meant being house-bound since Ann needs a car more than I do. My apologies for the delays, but you will all have your orders shortly. Thanks for your patience; these kinds of delays are not usual around here.
Also, next wee
June 19, 2009
The City & The Monkey
Jeff:
C-t-y-i. Ctyi. Cyti. Ciyt. Yict. Yict! YICT!
Evil Monkey:
Jeez Louise, Jeff, what the heck is wrong? Yer sitting in the dark mumbling crap to yourself. In a corner no less. Facing the wall.
Jeff:
Can’t get. Can’t get. The word right. It doesn’t mean anything anymore.
Evil Monkey:
What word? What word could be that important.
Jeff:
This word–see, on this piece of paper.
Evil Monkey:
City?
(bwaaaaahahahahahaahahahahahahahaha)
Jeff:
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Evil Monkey:
Er, that’s what it says, “
Nocturnal Conspiracies: Inspired Grotesquery
I just posted my Graphic Novel Friday feature on Omnivoracious, about David B.’s Nocturnal Conspiracies. I was originally going to review this in tandem with Koren Shadmi’s In the Flesh, but someone told me a Boston publication had already done that. Anyway, in case I don’t get around to In the Flesh, I highly recommend its surreal/dream-like stories of romantic encounters gone strange.
Excerpt:
For this type of art to work, it must be composed primarily of what I call “charged” images. On a basic
China Mieville’s “Leave an Idea, Take an Idea”: A Wiki of Potentiality
Yes, yes, I know, you weak bastards. Yer totally sick of China Mieville. “Why, I don’t know if I have it in me to pick up the book now, because his voice is in my head and I don’t like what it’s telling me to do…”
Anyhoo…do go and check out his latest guest blogging post at Omnivoracious, because it’s quite wonderful and full of great stuff. “But he’s pullin’ a Tom Sawyer, he is,” you say. “He’s gettin’ others to paint the fence.” No, no–that’s just China Ubiquity Fatigue (CUF) talking. This trul
June 18, 2009
Unabashed Ego Bo–Ken Bruen!
“FINCH just blew me to hell and gone. I would have sworn you can’t unite noir and fantasy, and oh how gloriously wrong Jeff VanderMeer proved me to be. Finch is a detective unlike any you’ve encountered and is utterly compelling. He is faced with a double murder that you shake your head, go….you’re done Finch. Not quite. I loved the meeting of the grime and the sublime and oh so beautifully crafted. Rarely has a novel got it all. Think Cormac McCarthy, via David Goodis, with an amazing nod to Lo
New From Dalkey Archive Press: The Other City by Michal Ajvaz
A short feature on Omnivoracious about Ajvaz’s The Other City. It achieves its effects in a minor key, but I found it satisfying.
With China Mieville guestblogging this week in connection with the release of The City & The City, I thought I might focus on a book that nicely co-exists with some of the fantastical concepts set out in Mieville’s novel, although very different in texture, intent, and execution. The Other City by Czech writer Michal Ajvaz repopulates the city of Kafka with ghosts, ecc
That Arrogant Bastard Is In Our House Again
(Okay, so the cats didn’t care about any of this…)
Actually, it’s not Arrogant Bastard, but it’s free samples from the same Stone Brewing Company that we know and love. Next week Ann and I will gather a series of recent books, open the beer, and sip from both books and beer to determine what books go best with their thirteenth anniversary ale and their stout, for a post on Amazon. Sometimes this is a terrible job.
Oh how the anticipation rose after we realized the box was not full of more books…
