I had a nice email from Jeff Vandermeer the other day – his utterly excellent collection City of Saints and Madmen is one of my book picks in our new FPI catalogue and I have to apologise for putting in the wrong page count; the book actually weighs in at a hefty 700 pages, not the slim 240 I had entered. Apologies to everyone – I blame faulty catalogue information supplied to me, sunspots, and actions by literary fundamentalists and mutant kangaroos.
As Jeff also points out (hello, Jeff!) there are far more delights to be found within the pages of this collection than the four main novellas. No less a luminary than Michael Moorcock (we’re not worthy, we’re not worthy) offers us his insights into ‘The Real VanderMeer’ – this is to distinguish from the Virtual VanderMeer on his blog (always an interesting site to visit) or the Jeff VanderMeer simulacra currently being developed in a secret lab buried under Tennessee.
There is also an extensive Appendix with more ‘extras’ than a Pete Jackson extended DVD (making it an ideal introduction to immerse yourself into this world), including a very useful Ambergris glossary. Although sadly I must report that the full score of Jeff’s Ambergris Arias and the outline for his operatic adaptation of Dradin, In Love were not included. Perhaps he is saving those for an interactive medium, or perhaps I merely dreamed them. You do have strange dreams when you read Jeff’s works – just another reason to delve into this wonderfully unusual and unique writer.
Leave a Reply