Album Zutique [Paperback]

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

Book Description

Series: Album Zutique | Publication Date: March 1, 2003

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

Editorial Reviews

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.

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

Product Details

• Paperback: 199 pages
• Publisher: Ministry of Whimsy Press (March 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892389606
• ISBN-13: 978-1892389602
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,683,994 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

DF Lewis - the publisher of Nemonymous - was born in 1948 only a few miles from where he lives now on the Tendring Peninsula coast, has been married for 41 years & has a son and daughter. He attained a BA degree from Lancaster University (1966-69) and has been an office worker for most of his life. He loves reading fiction, writing fiction creatively beyond his own experience, constructively provoking people and listening to 'classical' music.

He has had approximately one thousand five hundred short fictions published in print from 1986 to 2000, some in hard-to-find outlets plus others in literary journals (eg: Stand, Iron, Orbis, Panurge etc.) and professional book anthologies. The latter include three volumes of 'Best New Horror' edited by Stephen Jones and five consecutive volumes of 'Year's Best Horror Stories' edited by Karl Edward Wagner. Other titles include 'Shadows Over Innsmouth' (Fedogan & Bremer), 'Horror Of The Next Millenium' (Darkside Press), 'Signals: London Magazine' (Constable), 'Cthulhu's Heirs' (Chaosium), 'Touch Wood' (Little, Brown), 'The Ex Files' (Quartet), 'The Ultimate Zombie' (Dell), 'Horror: Another 100 Best Books' (Carroll & Graf).

He received the British Fantasy Society Karl Edward Wagner Award in 1998.

Now sixty three years old in 2011, his literary aspirations have threaded his family life and professional business career: fiction experiments in depersonalisation and seeking a unified morality from among the Synchronised Shards of Random Truth & Fiction: 'difficult' extrapolative empathy in the art of fiction writing: and creating/distributing the acclaimed, ground-breaking series of multi-authored anthologies entitled Nemonymous (2001 - 2010). Recently, he has embarked upon a series of internet 'real-time reviews' of other writers' fiction.

Having published Nemonymous for ten years, his newest ambition has been to publish 'The Horror Anthology of Horror Anthologies' and it was indeed launched at the beginning of July 2011.

A previous book collection of DF Lewis short fiction was published as Weirdmonger - The Nemonicon (Prime Books 2003). Now out of print.

Weirdtongue - a novella by DF Lewis - was published by The InkerMen Press in 2010.

Nemonymous Night is a DF Lewis novel - a June 2011 publication by Chômu Press.

A definitive DF Lewis collection entitled 'The Last Balcony' has now happily found its future independent publisher.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not every anthology should be a Leviathan, May 3, 2003

By 

Nathan (Wilmington, DE United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Album Zutique (Paperback)

From the Ministry of Whimsy Press, publishers of the fantastic LEVIATHAN anthology series, comes this first in a new series: ALBUM ZUTIQUE. "A series," the back cover notes, "devoted to the surreal & decadent." Yes, yes, and so it is. But is it good? You bet. The fifteen stories contained herein are all beautifully written, truly a feast for the eyes and the mind. There were a couple stories that I'm not quite sure I got, and a couple more that I'm quite sure I didn't get, but even the few that went right over my head in terms of content were so beautifully written that I almost didn't mind. Standouts are the pair of stories by the always fantastic Rhys Hughes, and the hauntingly beautiful entry by K.J. Bishop. But there wasn't a dud in the bunch; not a one I didn't enjoy reading. So why only four stars? Two reasons. First, as I noted, there were a couple stories that I didn't get. Second, and more importantly, while this is a beautiful, beautifully produced volume, the cover price is a little steep considering the 200-page, 50k word size of the volume. Even so, ALBUM ZUTIQUE #1 is a welcome and more-than-worthy addition to my bookshelf.

Next up: ALBUM ZUTIQUE #2, which will be Rhys Hughes' A NEW HISTORY OF INFAMY. I, for one, can't wait!

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