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The Emperor of Gondwanaland and Other Stories
Paul Di Filippo's fiction spans genres—from cyberpunk to alternative history to extravagantly funny tales involving talking beavers. As whimsical as they are intelligent, the eighteen stories gathered here, each introduced by the author, find strange characters in even stranger circumstances. An all-access pass to Di Filippo's whirlwind imagination, The Emperor of Gondwanaland makes clear why its author is one of the most respected science fiction writers around. The man who coined the word ribofunk (to describe science fiction with a biogenetic twist), Di Filippo sees into the heart of our times with a vision and creativity that simply won't quit. The Emperor of Gondwanaland is more like a fluid Dalí dreamscape, painted with the deft brushstrokes; a wildly fantastic escape to alternate universes from one of the most imaginative writers around.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
4 people are currently reading
89 people want to read
About the author
Paul Di Filippo
521 books186 followersPaul Di Filippo is the author of hundreds of short stories, some of which have been collected in these widely-praised collections: The Steampunk Trilogy, Ribofunk, Fractal Paisleys, Lost Pages, Little Doors, Strange Trades, Babylon Sisters, and his multiple-award-nominated novella, A Year in the Linear City. Another earlier collection, Destroy All Brains, was published by Pirate Writings, but is quite rare because of the extremely short print run (if you see one, buy it!).
The popularity of Di Filippo’s short stories sometimes distracts from the impact of his mindbending, utterly unclassifiable novels: Ciphers, Joe’s Liver, Fuzzy Dice, A Mouthful of Tongues, and Spondulix. Paul’s offbeat sensibility, soulful characterizations, exquisite-yet-compact prose, and laugh-out-loud dialogue give his work a charmingly unique voice that is both compelling and addictive. He has been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, BSFA, Philip K. Dick, Wired Magazine, and World Fantasy awards.
Despite his dilatory ways, Paul affirms that the sequel to A Year in the Linear City, to be titled A Princess of the Linear Jungle, will get written in 2008. He has two books forthcoming from PS Publications: the collection entitled Harsh Oases and the novel titled Roadside Bodhisattva. His 2008 novel Cosmocopia is graced by Jim Woodring illustrations.
Paul lives in Providence, Rhode Island.
The popularity of Di Filippo’s short stories sometimes distracts from the impact of his mindbending, utterly unclassifiable novels: Ciphers, Joe’s Liver, Fuzzy Dice, A Mouthful of Tongues, and Spondulix. Paul’s offbeat sensibility, soulful characterizations, exquisite-yet-compact prose, and laugh-out-loud dialogue give his work a charmingly unique voice that is both compelling and addictive. He has been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, BSFA, Philip K. Dick, Wired Magazine, and World Fantasy awards.
Despite his dilatory ways, Paul affirms that the sequel to A Year in the Linear City, to be titled A Princess of the Linear Jungle, will get written in 2008. He has two books forthcoming from PS Publications: the collection entitled Harsh Oases and the novel titled Roadside Bodhisattva. His 2008 novel Cosmocopia is graced by Jim Woodring illustrations.
Paul lives in Providence, Rhode Island.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 27, 2008
Paul Di Filippo's "The Emperor of Gondwanaland" is an extremely eclectic collection of short fiction. Unlike his other collections (which revolve around clear themes), this anthology takes the opposite route, and gives a home to a troupe of stories that normally would never share the same space.
There can be no question that, among authors, Di Filippo is a mad scientist. While firmly in the camp of "speculative fiction," he consistently defies any further categorization, to the point that he routinely produces "genre fiction" in genres that don't exist yet. The Emperor of Gondwanaland is thick with this intense creativity: "Observable Things" is described as "horsepowerpunk," the American colonial era equivalent of steampunk (a genre that Di Filippo has also contributed extensively to); "Bare Market" more closely conforms to "romantic economic futurism" than anything else; "Clouds and Cold Fire" might be described as "post-apocalyptic furry fiction." Even the titular "The Emperor of Gondwanaland" is not speculative fiction so much as it is conventional fiction about the role of speculative fiction in daily life. In each short piece, Di Filippo is conceiving of entire societies that could just as easily have been the topics of novellas or novels.
Needless to say, however, this incredible diversity comes with the cost of varying quality. The subtleties of "Sysiphus and the Stranger" as a biographical sketch run contrary to the ham-handedness of the lugubrious "Your Gold Teeth, Pt. 2." The impish, light-hearted mischief of "My Adventures with the SPCA" must compete with the childish Saturday-morning-cartoon absurdity of "The Curious Inventions of Mr. H". With the envelope being pushed this far, it's only natural that it slip of the table from time to time.
Despite this, this anthology hits a whole lot more often than it misses, and is all the more enjoyable because of its unpredictability. Each story is a genuine surprise, and the author's honest (sometimes apologetic) forwards help to ease the abrupt shifts. Overall, very entertaining.
There can be no question that, among authors, Di Filippo is a mad scientist. While firmly in the camp of "speculative fiction," he consistently defies any further categorization, to the point that he routinely produces "genre fiction" in genres that don't exist yet. The Emperor of Gondwanaland is thick with this intense creativity: "Observable Things" is described as "horsepowerpunk," the American colonial era equivalent of steampunk (a genre that Di Filippo has also contributed extensively to); "Bare Market" more closely conforms to "romantic economic futurism" than anything else; "Clouds and Cold Fire" might be described as "post-apocalyptic furry fiction." Even the titular "The Emperor of Gondwanaland" is not speculative fiction so much as it is conventional fiction about the role of speculative fiction in daily life. In each short piece, Di Filippo is conceiving of entire societies that could just as easily have been the topics of novellas or novels.
Needless to say, however, this incredible diversity comes with the cost of varying quality. The subtleties of "Sysiphus and the Stranger" as a biographical sketch run contrary to the ham-handedness of the lugubrious "Your Gold Teeth, Pt. 2." The impish, light-hearted mischief of "My Adventures with the SPCA" must compete with the childish Saturday-morning-cartoon absurdity of "The Curious Inventions of Mr. H". With the envelope being pushed this far, it's only natural that it slip of the table from time to time.
Despite this, this anthology hits a whole lot more often than it misses, and is all the more enjoyable because of its unpredictability. Each story is a genuine surprise, and the author's honest (sometimes apologetic) forwards help to ease the abrupt shifts. Overall, very entertaining.
May 18, 2023
Paul di Filippo has some of the most gonzo ideas in science fiction and fantasy. Often riffing from historical situations and characters, he develops the most outrageous concepts. Unfortunately, his writing style and retrograde social notions sometimes get in the way.
His writing can remind one of the old school of science fiction writers, those who interjected “As you know, Bob” data dumps into the middle of a story to explain the necessary background to the reader. In his defense, the backgrounds of some of di Filippo's stories are so bizarre that there's almost no other way than a plot-stopping infodump to bring the reader up to speed.
The social notions are also somewhat antiquated. These stories, written in the late 1990s and early 2000s, suffer from the sophomoric male attitude towards women. Too many stories feature a nerdy, socially inept male who is bedazzled by a stunningly beautiful woman who is first considered beyond his reach, until at one point she gloriously (in his opinion) succumbs to his charms. This feels like the kinds of stories that were published in a SF magazines in the 1940s or 50s, when the reading audience was considered to be exclusively teenage boys.
His writing can remind one of the old school of science fiction writers, those who interjected “As you know, Bob” data dumps into the middle of a story to explain the necessary background to the reader. In his defense, the backgrounds of some of di Filippo's stories are so bizarre that there's almost no other way than a plot-stopping infodump to bring the reader up to speed.
The social notions are also somewhat antiquated. These stories, written in the late 1990s and early 2000s, suffer from the sophomoric male attitude towards women. Too many stories feature a nerdy, socially inept male who is bedazzled by a stunningly beautiful woman who is first considered beyond his reach, until at one point she gloriously (in his opinion) succumbs to his charms. This feels like the kinds of stories that were published in a SF magazines in the 1940s or 50s, when the reading audience was considered to be exclusively teenage boys.
November 3, 2007
When I love di Filippo, I really, really love him. And when he writes like this, I want to gouge my own eyes out. He seems to write a lot of poorly crafted short fiction. Then again, there are the stories in Ribofunk, Lost Pages and the Steampunk Trilogy. Stunning stuff. Ultimately forgivable considering that body of work.
May 11, 2022
OJ Simpson abducted in a UFO, Cotton Mather teamed up with Solomon Kane, an Alternate Robert Frost who writes for Weird Tales and and an Alternate Albert Camu living in an N-Ray powered French Empire are just a few of the far out stories Di Filippo has collected here.
February 28, 2017
Imagination.
August 3, 2013
Per gli amanti della fantascienza a trecentosessanta gradi e dei racconti, questa raccolta di Paul Di Filippo non può che essere un gioiello da custodire gelosamente. Di Filippo, "inventore" dello steampunk, con questi racconti mostra la vasta varietà di un genere estremamente poliedrico come la fantascienza. Il tutto è rigorosamente dominato da quello spirito metaletterario, con omaggi e rimandi vari, che ha caratterizzato la trilogia-manifesto Steampunk.
Le sei sezioni in cui si suddivide la raccolta riflettono bene il ventaglio della varietà tematica e stilistica offerta al lettore.
Introduce la raccolta un racconto giovanile, scelto dall'autore a rappresentanza dei suoi primi lavori, densi di umile omaggio letterario.
La seconda sezione è probabilmente una delle più audaci: un trittico di racconti che sfida qualunque etichetta e tentativo di classificazione, restituendo un insieme di variopinte visioni fantascientifiche, dalla realtà virtuale a un fantasy-steampunk che usa il personaggio di Solomon Kane ai misteri più profondi che si celano nell'Universo.
La terza sezione, contenente il racconto raffigurato in copertina, ha un che di gibsoniano (almeno, mi ha ricordato un paio di racconti della raccolta La notte che bruciammo Chrome e, attraverso quest'ultimo, pure Lem e il suo Solaris. Così, geopolitica e sci-fi introspettiva si mescolano al tema del contatto con la vita aliena.
La sezione successiva è quella che mi è piaciuta di più: quattro racconti squisitamente surreali, con un omaggio a Ballard, Dick e tutta la corrente surrealista novecentesca. Lo stile surreale si accompagna a rielaborazioni originalissime dei più classici temi della fantascienza, ed è così che, per esempio, il tema del viaggio nel tempo viene usato per due brevissimi racconti graziosamente blasfemi e politicamente scorretti: uno contro la religione cristiana e l'altro contro il femminismo.
A chiudere la raccolta, due sezioni su due grossi temi della sci-fi: l'ucronia, le storie alternative e future, e l'hard sci-fi, che Di Filippo trasforma in iperboli scientifiche.
Una grande prova di genio e talento, dunque, per un autore che ha fatto della sua poliedricità e dell'omaggio metaletterario il suo marchio di fabbrica. Una raccolta da gustare poco a poco, da assaporare.
Le sei sezioni in cui si suddivide la raccolta riflettono bene il ventaglio della varietà tematica e stilistica offerta al lettore.
Introduce la raccolta un racconto giovanile, scelto dall'autore a rappresentanza dei suoi primi lavori, densi di umile omaggio letterario.
La seconda sezione è probabilmente una delle più audaci: un trittico di racconti che sfida qualunque etichetta e tentativo di classificazione, restituendo un insieme di variopinte visioni fantascientifiche, dalla realtà virtuale a un fantasy-steampunk che usa il personaggio di Solomon Kane ai misteri più profondi che si celano nell'Universo.
La terza sezione, contenente il racconto raffigurato in copertina, ha un che di gibsoniano (almeno, mi ha ricordato un paio di racconti della raccolta La notte che bruciammo Chrome e, attraverso quest'ultimo, pure Lem e il suo Solaris. Così, geopolitica e sci-fi introspettiva si mescolano al tema del contatto con la vita aliena.
La sezione successiva è quella che mi è piaciuta di più: quattro racconti squisitamente surreali, con un omaggio a Ballard, Dick e tutta la corrente surrealista novecentesca. Lo stile surreale si accompagna a rielaborazioni originalissime dei più classici temi della fantascienza, ed è così che, per esempio, il tema del viaggio nel tempo viene usato per due brevissimi racconti graziosamente blasfemi e politicamente scorretti: uno contro la religione cristiana e l'altro contro il femminismo.
A chiudere la raccolta, due sezioni su due grossi temi della sci-fi: l'ucronia, le storie alternative e future, e l'hard sci-fi, che Di Filippo trasforma in iperboli scientifiche.
Una grande prova di genio e talento, dunque, per un autore che ha fatto della sua poliedricità e dell'omaggio metaletterario il suo marchio di fabbrica. Una raccolta da gustare poco a poco, da assaporare.
May 7, 2012
My second collection of Di Filippo stories didn't rise to the heights I experienced with Ribofunk. Than again this is often the case with seconds and this time the more varied material also meant that the focus was a bit less interesting form the go than in the previous that was more suited academically to my interest.
Still, the collection offered a fine selection of stories all served with the same kinda humour tinged with futuristic speculations mostly of the highest order. Stories like "And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon" are at the same time inventive and terribly funny; they really entertain while making you think.
Still, the collection offered a fine selection of stories all served with the same kinda humour tinged with futuristic speculations mostly of the highest order. Stories like "And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon" are at the same time inventive and terribly funny; they really entertain while making you think.
February 17, 2009
Only a few really good stories, lots of throw away endings.
Want to read
October 8, 2009Bio-engineered talking beavers? Who wear sunglasses?
September 27, 2015
The Emporor is imaginative, solid writing that's entertaining, but suffers in execution. This is especially true in how Mutt gets from (shall we say) point A to point B.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews