Clockwork Phoenix: Tales of Beauty and Strangeness
About this ebook
The first volume in the ground-breaking, genre-bending, boundary-pushing Clockwork Phoenix anthology series, newly available in digital format.
Includes critically-acclaimed and award-nominated stories by Catherynne M. Valente, David Sandner, John Grant, Cat Rambo, Leah Bobet, Michael J. DeLuca, Laird Barron, Ekaterina Sedia, Cat Sparks, Tanith Lee, Marie Brennan, Jennifer Crow, Vandana Singh, John C. Wright, C.S. MacCath, Joanna Galbraith, Deborah Biancotti and Erin Hoffman.
With a whimsical introduction and new afterword by Nebula Award-nominated editor Mike Allen.
CONTENTS
The City of Blind Delight • Catherynne M. Valente
Old Foss Is the Name of His Cat • David Sandner
All the Little Gods We Are • John Grant
The Dew Drop Coffee Lounge • Cat Rambo
Bell, Book and Candle • Leah Bobet
The Tarrying Messenger • Michael J. DeLuca
The Occultation • Laird Barron
There Is a Monster Under Helen's Bed • Ekaterina Sedia
Palisade • Cat Sparks
The Woman • Tanith Lee
A Mask of Flesh • Marie Brennan
Seven Scenes from Harrai's 'Sacred Mountain' • Jennifer Crow
Oblivion: A Journey • Vandana Singh
Choosers of the Slain • John C. Wright
Akhila, Divided • C. S. MacCath
The Moon-Keeper's Friend • Joanna Galbraith
The Tailor of Time • Deborah Biancotti
Root and Vein • Erin Hoffman
Selected for the Locus Magazine 2008 Recommended Reading List
Author and editor Allen (Mythic) has compiled a neatly packaged set of short stories that flow cleverly and seamlessly from one inspiration to another. In “The City of Blind Delight” by Catherynne M. Valente, a man inadvertently ends up on a train that takes him to an inescapable city of extraordinary wonders. In “All the Little Gods We Are,” Hugo winner John Grant takes a mind trip to possible parallel universes. Modern topics make an appearance among the whimsy and strangeness: Ekaterina Sedia delves into the misunderstandings that occur between cultures and languages in “There Is a Monster Under Helen’s Bed,” while Tanith Lee gleefully skewers gender politics with “The Woman,” giving the reader a glimpse of what might happen if there was only one fertile woman left in a world of men. Lush descriptions and exotic imagery startle, engross, chill and electrify the reader, and all 19 stories have a strong and delicious taste of weird.
— Publishers Weekly, May 12, 2008
A very strong first volume … Established writers and new names all are in good form here … A series of great promise. Prospects on the anthology front look ever better.
— Locus, July 2008
I would have bought this book for its mysteriously gorgeous cover art alone, but the stellar lineup of contributing writers sold me completely … CLOCKWORK PHOENIX editor Mike Allen describes the anthology as “a home for stories that sidestep expectations in beautiful and unsettling ways, that surprise with their settings and startle with the ways they cross genre boundaries, that aren’t afraid to experiment with storytelling techniques.” His choices here don’t disappoint.
— PhillyBurbs.com
Even if you’re not into the genre, this is a welcome read that’ll hopefully strike an emotional chord in you.
— Bibliophile Stalker
Another “new weird” collection, perhaps? A slipstream opus? Whatever — set somewhere between fantasy, SF, and something else, the stories selected by editor Mike Allen have an unique property: they are never tedious … I highly recommend the book to anyone looking for top-notch fiction irrespective of genre labels.
— The Harrow
Ratings and reviews
About the author
Mike Allen edits the critically-acclaimed anthology series Clockwork Phoenix and the long-running magazine Mythic Delirium. His books include post-apocalyptic dark fantasy novel The Black Fire Concerto and career-spanning poetry collection Hungry Constellations. To learn about upcoming book releases and projects, sign up for his newsletter at http://tinyurl.com/abattoir-
Publishers Weekly and Library Journal gave starred reviews to his first collection of short fiction, Unseaming. Laird Barron wrote in the book's introduction that the stories in Unseaming "rival anything committed to paper by the likes of contemporary masters such as Clive Barker, Ramsey Campbell, or Caitlín Kiernan." Helen Marshall called Mike's second collection, The Spider Tapestries, "a must-read for fans of weird fiction and dark fantasy."
More of Mike's stories have popped up in places like Weird Tales, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and the anthologies Cthulhu's Reign, Solaris Rising 2, A Darke Phantastique and Tomorrow's Cthulhu. His poetry has won the Rhysling Award three times, and his fiction has been nominated for the Nebula Award and the Shirley Jackson Award.
By day he works as the arts and culture columnist for the daily newspaper in Roanoke, Va., where he lives with his wife Anita, a goofy dog, and two cats with varying degrees of psychosis. You can follow Mike's exploits as a writer at descentintolight.com, as an editor at mythicdelirium.com, and all at once on Twitter at @mythicdelirium.
