Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology [Paperback]

James Patrick Kelly (Editor), John Kessel (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 2006

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.

Editorial Reviews

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)
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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

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Tachyon Publications (July 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 189239135X
• ISBN-13: 978-1892391353
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #428,978 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended anthology, with involving cross-genre stories from all sources, March 14, 2007

By 

Richard R. Horton (Webster Groves, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology (Paperback)

Feeling Very Strange was one of the most celebrated anthologies of last year. It took me a while to get around to reading it, partly because I had read most of the stories already. But I finally did read it. I reread the stories I had already read, and was darned happy to do so. It really is an outstanding book.

It includes some surprising and very effective pieces from outside the core SF/Fantasy genre -- notably Michael Chabon's "The God of Dark Laughter" and George Saunders's "Sea Oak". It includes some stories from within the genre that I had liked a lot (and praised highly in public) but that I didn't really see as slipstream -- though I see the editors' point in including them now I think -- stuff like Benjamin Rosenbaum's "Biographical Notes to 'A Discourse on the Nature of Causality, with Airplanes', by Benjamin Rosenbaum", and Theodora Goss's "The Rose in Twelve Petals", and Ted Chiang's "Hell is the Absence of God". It includes Kelly Link's magnificent "The Specialist's Hat", easily one of the spookiest stories I have ever read. It includes Howard Waldrop's Alternate History of an ascendant Africa, "The Lions are Asleep This Night" -- another story I wouldn't have at first blush called slipstream (and it does seem that the editors consider certain types of AH slipstream (the Rosenbaum story being another example), but that works that way, and reads a bit differently in that context.) There is also a fine new story by M. Rickert, "You Have Never Been Here", and good stories by Carol Emshwiller, Jonathan Lethem, Aimee Bender, Bruce Sterling, Jeff VanderMeer, Karen Joy Fowler, and Jeffrey Ford. Highly recommended.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not sure what I was expecting, but this wasn't it, June 19, 2010

By 

Steve Stuart (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology (Paperback)

After reading this anthology, I'm still not sure what qualifies as "slipstream". This puts me in good company, I suppose. The book features some interstitial discussion among authors in the genre, who can't seem agree on what is or isn't slipstream, or whether they want themselves or others to be included. This discussion didn't help me warm to the genre, unfortunately. I'd rather just enjoy the stories, without having the curtain pulled back to expose insiders reveling in their obscurity and pontificating on the importance of "SFnal tropes".

I found the stories themselves to be of mixed quality. Rather, they're all high quality writing, but most of them just didn't do much for me as stories. A few of them are very enjoyable. Some because they're wittily written and vividly painted (Sea Oak, Light and the Sufferer) and others because they stay just far enough out of reach to force you to stop reading and let the story sink in before moving on (Lieserl, You Have Never Been Here Before). But many of them seemed to me like well-executed creative writing exercises. The author has come up with a twist on reality and explored some interesting consequences, but that's as far as it goes. It's mildly entertaining, but without much point. (The Healer, The Lions Are Asleep This Night). And some of them are self-consciously postmodern, caught somewhere between fiction, autobiography and intellectual self-gratification. (Bright Morning, Biographical Notes...) If that's your thing, then you'll find them worthwhile. But like with some modern art, I just can't get over the feeling that the artist/author is laughing at me, along with the rest of the world.

9 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A collection which helps define and identify the genre of fiction known as 'slipstream', August 17, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology (Paperback)

Advanced review galleys are not typically featured - we usually only review from finished books - but FEELING VERY STRANGE: THE SLIPSTREAM ANTHOLOGY is something unusual to watch for: a collection which helps define and identify the genre of fiction known as 'slipstream'. This category has long defied easy definition: blend literary avant garde elements with science and you begin to realize its boundaries. It embraces cognitive dissonance, ambiguity, and visionary oddities and the short stories by Aimee Bender, Kelly Link, Bruce Sterling and others provide diverse satisfying examples of how this is accomplished.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch