Album Zutique: No. 1 - Softcover

Jeff Vandermeer; Steve Rasnic Tem; Rhys Hughes; Elizabeth Hand; K. J. Bishop; Jeffrey Ford; Stepan Chapman; D. F. Lewis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1892389606 ISBN 13: 9781892389602

Publisher: Nightshade Book, 2003

Synopsis

The first of a planned series of pocket books (5 x 6.7 and under 200 pages) mainly focused on surreal and decadent literature. Jeff VanderMeer will serve as series editor and the editor of the first number. Thereafter, VanderMeer will enlist guest editors to edit subsequent numbers of this series. The emphasis will be on nonfiction as well as fiction. For purposes of continuity, each volume will have the same basic layout, with the typography used as the "cover art" and a different color scheme for each book.

History/Background: "Zutique" was a writers' group extant during the Decadent period in France (late 1800s). It included Verlaine and Rimbaud. Accounts indicate that "Album Zutique" was an open journal or blank book in which members of the writers' group would scribble down stories and poems. The book was kept at a café where those who frequented the café could read it.

Contents:

"A Guide to the Zoo," Stepan Chapman
"The Beautiful Gelreesh," Jeffrey Ford
"The Toes of the Sun," Rhys Hughes
"My Stark Lady," D.F. Lewis
"Python," Ursula Pflug
"Free Time," James Sallis
"The Scream," Michael Cisco
"Dr. Black in Rome," Brendan Connell
"Lights," D.F. Lewis
"Mortal Love," Elizabeth Hand
"A Dream of the Dead," Steve Rasnic Tem
"A Hero for the Dark Towns," Jay Lake
"The Catgirl Manifesto," Christina Flook
"Eternal Horizon," Rhys Hughes
"Maldoror Abroad," K. J. Bishop

About this title

From Booklist:

The publisher-coeditor of the hefty Leviathan anthologies (see Leviathan 3 [BKL Jl 02]) launches a new series "devoted to the surreal & decadent." Its name refers to the blank book that the Zutistes, a writers' coven that included Verlaine and Rimbaud, left open for any member to write in. Its first edition is an anthology of stories, mostly. The very first piece is a parodic guide to a zoo full of creatures named after famous fantasists and humorists, and it wears out its welcome, as do a faux manifesto and one of the longest actual stories. Shorter pieces, however, especially those by Jeffrey Ford, Jay Lake, Elizabeth Hand, and Rhys Hughes, are as engrossing as they are baffling. Plot and character count for little in these writings, a dreamlike atmosphere is far more important, and the narrative logic of some pieces is linguistic, not physical: the impossible occurs regularly. This is dark fantasy in a playful mood, full of sex and morbidity, amusingly sinister. Looking for a modern-day Poe? Look no longer. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From Publishers Weekly:

Album Zutique #1, edited by Jeff VanderMeer, launches a new anthology series devoted to fantasy in the Decadent, surreal and magic realist traditions. Contributors to this genre-crossing volume include both established names (Elizabeth Hand, Jeffrey Ford) and newer talents (K.J. Bishop, Rhys Hughes).
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Nightshade Book
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1892389606
• ISBN 13: 9781892389602
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 199