Twelve Collections and the Teashop [signed jhc] [Hardcover]

Zoran Zivkovic (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 4, 2007

What lies behind the human urge to collect things? What is the true psychology of the kleptomaniac? These questions bear on all of us; within every person there lurks a fanatical philatelist or a monomaniacal lepidopterist, just waiting to burst forth. In his new story cycle, Twelve Collections, Zoran Zivkovic, the master of mind-bending surreal fantasy, applies his fertile mind to this problem. Some of Zivkovic s characters are lonely eccentrics, driven to gather unusual objects by quirks of temperament or fate; others are the victims of metaphysical collectors from Beyond, entities eager to snap up memories, emotions, and other loose fragments of the soul. In these pages are explained the profound karmic consequences of photographic narcissism, insane record-keeping, the archiving of one s nail clippings, and the infinite savouring of words; here also are exemplary warnings against surrendering hope, living without creativity, accepting too blithe a Heaven, and answering the phone in the middle of a dream-haunted night. Of course, even with such sage counsel, life remains uncertain and perilous; but even if ultimate answers can never be found, a Zivkovic collection is always eminently collectable... Also in this volume: The Teashop, a superb new novelet

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Serbian fantasist Zivkovic's new suite of stories is lighter in tone than any of the five collected in Impossible Stories (2006). It amuses more than it disturbs, though that amusement is tinged with sad, worldly wisdom. The even-numbered stories in it are told in first person, the odd-numbered in third person. Each story is entitled with the object of its collector protagonist's acquisitive desire, which can be intangible ("Days," "Dreams," "Hopes"), material ("Fingernails," "Photographs," "Clippings"), or conceptual ("Words," "Emails," "Stories"). Inevitably, the last story is that of a collector of collections: to wit, the 11 explained in the previous stories. In every story, either the collector or the person who adds to a collection comes to or is foretold an ending of sorts, usually of his or her life—on Earth, at any rate. The common main theme may be mortality. By contrast, the stand-alone story "The Teashop," in which a woman orders tea made of stories, seems to be about immortality. The crystalline prose of suite and stand-alone alike makes the stories exquisite to read. Olson, Ray

Product Details

• Hardcover: 107 pages
• Publisher: PS Publishing (April 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1904619886
• ISBN-13: 978-1904619888
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,442,167 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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