The Fantasy Writer's Assistant: And Other Stories [Paperback]

Jeffrey Ford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2009

At times literary, at other times surreal, this collection offers a diverse range of stories that deal with real-life conflicts, human values, and coming-of-age experiences, all placed within fantastical settings. An author’s search for an elusive Kafka story leads to a potentially cursed book in “Bright Morning,” while in the award-winning “Exo-Skeleton Town,” humans dress in protective exoskins conveying the personas of bygone Hollywood movie stars in order to barter old Earth movies for an alien aphrodisiac. A young boy comes to term with “Creation” when he molds a man out of the detritus of a nearby forest, and in the title story, a great fantasy writer loses touch with the world he has created and pleads with his young assistant to help him visualize the story’s end and enable him to complete his greatest novel ever. An eclectic offering, these witty and modern fables blend mundane surroundings with eerie situations.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In World Fantasy Award-winner Ford's enchanting first story collection, proof abounds that a fresh perspective or inventive approach can give the most familiar themes fresh life and startling clarity. "Exo-Skeleton Town," set on a planet where human beings dress like classic movie stars to trade old films for the aphrodisiacal excrement of the planet's cinephile beetle population, is a surprisingly poignant tale of lonely dreamers isolated by their inescapable illusions. In "At Reparata," a king's melancholy over the death of his queen achieves independent life in the form of a ravenous moth that threatens to consume the entire kingdom. Ford (The Physiognomy) laces the 16 selections with subtle allusions to Poe, Verne and other literary forebears that give the deceptively simple plots resonance and depth. His most effective tool, however, is gentle humor that softens the philosophical edges and magically transforms the zombie operatives, organic computer salesmen and extraterrestrial colonists into sympathetic characters with recognizable sensitivities and longings. A lion's share of the stories explore the theme of artistic creation from invigoratingly original angles. "Creation" reconfigures aspects of biblical Genesis and the legend of Frankenstein into a moving tale of love between a father and son. "Bright Morning" is a masterful sleight-of-hand in which the author's autobiographical reminiscence of his fascination with Kafka plunges him into a private Kafkaesque fiction. Sure to be one of the keynote collections of the year, this book will be welcomed by fans of literate, witty modern fantasy.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

These 16 stories are credits to Ford, far too good to be left languishing in moldering obscurity in magazines and chapbooks, and on fugitive Web sites. So thanks, Golden Gryphon, for chasing them down and corralling them between book covers. They include "Creation," a nonstrident variation on the theme of Catholic childhood; "Out of the Canyon," set in the West and involving a curse; and the title story, which says a great deal about writing and fantasy (library trivia lovers will rejoice in the nonhuman assistant's name: Ashmolean). Then there is "The Honeyed Knot," which draws on Ford's many years teaching writing and the specific experience of having had a rapist-murderer among his pupils. The other 12 tales show off Ford's thematic reach, and one can't help noticing his command of language and skill at slowing the pace almost to stasis without becoming boring. Good stuff and good examples for short-story writers. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 247 pages
• Publisher: Golden Gryphon Press (April 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930846576
• ISBN-13: 978-1930846579
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,541,335 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Superb Collection, December 4, 2002

By 

Fosky Bob "human" (Vacaville, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fantasy Writer's Assistant and Other Stories (Hardcover)

Those who have been following Jeffrey Ford's career have been awaiting this collection eagerly. Ford's reputation has grown with each story published. Each of his novels has established his place as one of the premier genre authors of his time. Finally, the magnificent Golden Gryphon press brings us a collection of Ford's short stories, a collection packed with grade A fiction.

Ford's fiction runs the gamut from the delicately beautifully to the wonderfully bizarre. The masterpiece 'Creation' explores a boy's relationship with his father against the backdrop of a man made out of logs he believes he's created in the forest. 'Creation' is a hauntingly beautiful story that is sure to be included on 2003 award ballets. 'Exo-Skeleton Town' takes place on an alien planet. The alien inhabitants are crazy about vintage movies, and trade balls of dung, which has aphrodisiac qualities, for copies of the movies. The few humans on the planet wear exo-suits (shaped to look like former film stars) to deal with the planet's atmospheric pressure. 'Exo-Skeleton Town' may be my favorite Ford story. Filled with lively and believable characters, magnificently odd plot twists and a touching conclusion.

'The Fantasy Writer's Assistant' tells the story of a best-selling fantasy writer who is losing his gift to 'see' into his created universe and turns it over to his assistant. The assistant learns that the characters in the universe are being exploited by the writer and tries to undo his damage. "Floating in Lindrethool" is a marvelous noirish story about a door-to-door salesman who tries to sell floating brains in a jar but inadvertently falls in love with one of them.

You get the idea. Jeffrey Ford is a consumate storyteller, a master of the written word. This collection doesn't even display the full range of Ford's talent. He has written exquisite stories not included herein, currently available in _The Green Man_ and _Leviathan 3_, that I strongly urge you to read. Whether you've read Ford's stories previously or he's a complete unknown to you, this collection is one that you must read. It's not only one of the best genre collections of 2002, it's one of the best I've ever seen. Highly recommended.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars READING JEFFREY FORD, June 23, 2002

By 

Richard Bowes (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fantasy Writer's Assistant and Other Stories (Hardcover)

Reading Jeffrey Ford's stories in THE FANTASY WRITER'S ASSISTANT, brought back the excitement of the 1960's when we scanned the magazines for the latest Zelazny and Le Guinn, Disch and Wolfe and speculative fiction seemed to get remade every month.

Ford is that fresh, that good. His range is big. In the hilarious title story, he devestates the extended fantasy series. BRIGHT MORNING dances with Kafka and the writer's life. FLOATING IN LINDRETHOOL, takes the tired 1940's noir film, slaps its cliches around and turns it back into something full of danger and heart. CREATION mixes The Catholic BALTIMORE CATECHISM and Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN with a bit of what I suspect is autobiography and produces an amazing father/son story.

The technique is masterful. The uncanny arises effortlessly out of the ordinary in the New Jersey college compostion class of THE HONEYED KNOT. Of all the actors in the Hollywood pantheon, the narrator of EXO-SKELETON TOWN becomes Joseph Cotton! And it makes perfect, painful sense. THE WOMAN WHO COUNTS HER BREATH, begins with the narrator casually describing his minor monster of a mother-in-law and ends with chilling mortal combat.

I don't know if Speculative Fiction is large enough to contain Jeffrey Ford for very long. But while it does, we have this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant., September 23, 2003

By 

z "zeejay67" (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fantasy Writer's Assistant and Other Stories (Hardcover)

Again, Ford defies any and all conventions or genres and just does his thing - tell incredible stories that just leave you slack-jawed. Some are horror tales, some pure fantasy, and a couple sci-fi (more "fi" than "sci") for good measure, if they were to be categorized.

Throughout, the tales are dreamlike. but instead of drifting apart in strange directions, they have their own unique logic and cohesion, amplified by Ford's mastery of language, cadence, and pure style. This is one hell of a gifted writer who's following his own muse. I'd throw out a couple comparisons to other writers, but there are none that are even in the same "zip code" as Ford. Excellent book.