Album Zutique #1 is a tiny collection of “surreal and decadent” short stories, edited by Jeff Vandermeer. (A little while ago, I read City of Saints and Madmen:The Book of Ambergris by Vandermeer, a fantastic book of short stories that I meant to write about, but I don’t believe that I ever did… More’s the pity. It was one of the best things that I read last year…)
Vandermeer seems to be a high mucky-muck for the Ministry of Whimsy, a press which seems to specialize in bizarrely (mostly) non-whimsical fiction. The whimsy being more of a chin-wagging, eye-winking ironic something or other.
So, and but, the Album Zutique stories which made me go, wowza! (if’n you ever get a change to read it):
“The Toes of the Sun”–reminded me of innumerable love-a-lee Italian folkstories as compiled by ye olde Calvino;
“Dr. Black in Rome”–adventures in adultery and post-structuralism: hey, when Dr. Black dives for the garbagetruck, I’m laughing my head off;
“The Catgirl Manifesto: An Introduction”–I’m very very fond of fiction which disguises itself as non-fiction: introductions, footnotes, errata, pamphlets, manuals or travel guides.
Basically, I have not been disappointed by anything that Vandermeer or his Ministry O Whimsy have put out. It’s good stuff!
An interview with Jeff Vandermeer. Or is it VanderMeer?