From Publishers Weekly
This primarily reprint anthology attempts to define "Slipstream" as the "literature of cognitive dissonance and of strangeness triumphant," with examples showcasing the work of various mainstream and genre writers. Highlights include Bruce Sterling's "The Little Magic Shop," an allegorical fantasy story; Jonathan Lethem's "Light and the Sufferer," which uses the SF trope of superior aliens to comment on a story of character; Ted Chiang's "Hell Is the Absence of God," which presents a believably horrific picture of God's lack of compassion; Kelly Link's "The Specialist's Hat," which plays with the ghost story form; and Michael Chabon's "The God of Dark Laughter," a reinvention of Lovecraftian horror. Original to this volume is M. Rickert's "You Have Never Been Here Before," which the editors believe is an example of what slipstream does best by being "hauntingly familiar and very, very strange." While these intriguing stories (and accompanying essays) may not be enough to define the canon of a new subgenre, they provide plenty of good reading. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* In 1989 sf writer Bruce Sterling coined the term slipstream to denote a kind of story that was neither sf nor fantasy, exactly, but that was showing up in all the places that sf and fantasy did; a kind of story that used sf and fantasy elements within otherwise realistic, or at least consistent, settings to provoke a feeling of strangeness or, better, feeling at home, strangely. After every three stories or so in editors Kelly and Kessel's pick of representative slipstream stories, excerpts from several young writers' blog exchange 17 years after Sterling's essay carry on the analysis, and it's interesting--but, oh, these stories! The authors are mavericks old and new: such travelers from genre to mainstream and vice versa as Aimee Bender, George Saunders, Jonathan Lethem, Karen Jay Fowler, and Michael Chabon; longtime unclassifiables Carol Emshwiller and Howard Waldrop; new small-press stars Kelly Link and Jeff VanderMeer; two quietly grandiose weird imaginations who've broken onto the big publishers' lists, Jeffrey Ford and Ted Chiang; and virtual newcomers M. Rickert, Theodora Goss, and Benjamin Rosenbaum. Oh, and Bruce Sterling, whose "Little Magic Shop" is perhaps the tamest of a wild bunch. How wild? Try Rosenbaum's Arabian Nights-ish alternate-history tale with the long, academic-sounding name. Try Fowler's double-time-lined "Lieserl," about Albert Einstein's forsaken daughter. Try Bender's "Healer," and ask what world it's set in. Don't stop until all have been read. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"For fans of surreal David Lynch and Wim Wenders films. Highlight: Lethem's crack-smoking aliens." —Entertainment Weekly
"This book is a joy, and could easily become a staple of college syllabi in the not-so-distant future." —Time Out Chicago
"Whether you're interested in the boundaries of slipstream or not, Feeling Very Strange is a terrific collection of stories." —Intergalactic Medicine Show
"If you would like to understand this phenomenon called slipstream, then this is definitely the book for you." —SFRevu
"The genre-defining collection for the genre that deliberately defies definition.... Lots of great stories here." —The Agony Column
"Worth buying? Well if you want to be the hippest cat on the block, then yes." —SFCrowsnest.com
"A collection of the vanguard of the strange." —SF Site
"Unique, challenging, engaging, and excellent stories . . . a triumph." —Fantasy Magazine
Book Description
Intending to establish a canon for the controversial slipstream science-fiction subgenre, the editors of this anthology have brought together a group of convention-defying tales set in vivid and disorienting dreamscapes that offer no distinction between reality and hallucination. A cross between the literary surrealism of Franz Kafka and escapist-popular-fiction, this ambitious new species—sometimes also called interstitial fiction—is exemplified here in stories by Carol Emshwiller, Karen Joy Fowler, Jonathan Lethem, and George Saunders.
About the Author
James Patrick Kelly is the winner of two Hugo Awards and is the author of Burn, Think Like a Dinosaur, and Wildlife. He is a columnist for Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine and serves as chair of the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. He lives in Nottingham, New Hampshire. John Kessel is a Nebula, Sturgeon, Tiptree, and Locus award winner and the author of Corrupting Dr. Nice, Good News from Outer Space, and The Pure Product. He teaches science fiction, fantasy, and fiction writing at North Carolina State University and his criticism has appeared in Foundation, Los Angeles Times Book Review, The New York Review of Science Fiction, and Science Fiction Age. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.
