Attack of the Jazz Giants: and Other Stories [Hardcover]

Each of Nebula, Hugo, Tiptree, International Horror Guild, and World Fantasy Award finalist Gregory Frost's outstanding tales of fantasy is enhanced by the illustrations of Jason Van Hollander in Attack Of The Jazz Giants And Other Stories, a compendium of imaginative and entertaining short stories. Readers are treated to stories of an apocalyptic being that hides in a Ukrainian village; a horror that dwells in Jack the Ripper's pocket watch; a crossroads in which the Castle of Otranto connects with the Depression Era South, and more. Featuring a foreword by bestselling author Karen Joy Fowler and an afterword to each individual tale by award-winning author John Kessel, Attack Of The Jazz Giants And Other Stories is a dazzling compilation that takes the reader on a dizzying journey through fractured time and space.

Frost has a gift for hooking you by the collar and dragging you into quirky worlds made believable, then turning you to gaze from there back into the accepted world as through a wavery two-way mirror. Thus you find yourself looking with tilted head at the homeless, or the use of religion to exploit workers, or the over-worked, ever-dissolving family, and perhaps, finally, seeing them in ways that resonate in the day-to-day. His stories are odd, quirky, angry and amusing. And they echo. Well worth the read.

As a regular reader of speculative fiction, particularly of the progressive and surreal variety, somehow I have remained ignorant of Gregory Frost's unique work. Well, better late than never. Frost examines the dark side of the human condition with a sly surrealism that is so subtle that it becomes creepy and disarming. Even in his occasional comedy tales - like this volume's sly opener "The Girlfriends of Dorian Gray." This collection is a multi-genre powerhouse of Frost's best work, but keep in mind that genre exercises such as supernatural creatures, science fiction gadgets, and fantasy settings are just window dressing for Frost's main phenomena of interest. Great examples are "A Day in the Life of Justin Argento Morrel" in a which a stereotypical sci-fi spaceship is the setting for an incisive tale of madness and betrayal, "Collecting Dust" which looks at the disintegration of the American family via a family that is literally disintegrating, and "The Bus" which uses a rather cheeky evil vehicle to examine how society feeds off the unfortunate. Frost also deserves props for his unique takes on historical fiction, like "In the Sunken Museum" in which Edgar Allan Poe is driven to real madness in a museum based on own his tales of madness, and "From Hell Again" which is an offbeat look at the old mystery of Jack the Ripper. And finally, the apotheosis of Frost's mastery is the stupendous "Madonna of the Maquiladora" - a devastating critique of human suffering and exploitation - which combines science fiction, religion, and social commentary more effectively than any short story I've ever seen. [~doomsdayer520~]