The Ant King and Other Stories"Rosenbaum's The Ant King and Other Stories contains invisible cities and playful deconstructions of the form. In "Biographical Notes to 'A Discourse on the Nature of Causality, With Air-Planes,' by Benjamin Rosenbaum"--yes, his name is part of the title--the author imagines a world whose technologies and philosophies differ wildly from ours. The result is a commentary on the state of the art that is itself the state of the art." * "Give him some prizes, like, perhaps, "best first collection" for this book." "Featuring outlandish and striking imagery throughout--a woman in love with an elephant, an orange that ruled the world--this collection is a surrealistic wonderland." "Rosenbaum proves he's capable of sustained fantasy with "Biographical Notes," a steampunkish alternate history of aerial piracy, and "A Siege of Cranes," a fantasy about a battle between a human insurgent and the White Witch that carries decidedly modern undercurrents.... Perhaps none of the tales is odder than "Orphans," in which girl-meets-elephant, girl-loses-elephant." "Urbane without being arch, sweet without being maudlin, mysterious without being cryptic."--Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing "Lively, bizarre, and funny as well as dark, sinister, and sensual." A dazzling, postmodern debut collection of pulp and surreal fictions: a writer of alternate histories defends his patron's zeppelin against assassins and pirates; a woman transforms into hundreds of gumballs; an emancipated children's collective goes house hunting. Benjamin Rosenbaum's stories have appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction and McSweeney's, been translated into fourteen languages, and listed in The Best American Short Stories 2006. Shortlisted for the Hugo and Nebula awards, Rosenbaum's work has been reprinted in Harper's and The Year's Best Science Fiction. He lives in Switzerland with his family. |
Contents
A California Fairy Tale | 1 |
The Valley of Giants | 27 |
The Orange | 33 |
Biographical Notes to A Discourse on the Nature of Causality with AirPlanes by Benjamin Rosenbaum | 35 |
Start the Clock | 61 |
The Blow | 81 |
EmbracingTheNew | 83 |
Falling | 95 |
Copyright Page | vi |
Table of Contents | vii |
A California Fairy Tale | 1 |
The Valley of Giants | 27 |
The Orange | 33 |
Biographical Notes to A Discourse on the Nature of Causality with AirPlanes by Benjamin Rosenbaum | 35 |
Start the Clock | 61 |
The Blow | 81 |
Orphans | 99 |
On the Cliff by the River | 105 |
Fig | 111 |
The Book of Jashar | 113 |
The House Beyond Your Sky | 125 |
Red Leather Tassels | 139 |
Other Cities | 145 |
Sense and Sensibility | 173 |
A Siege of Cranes | 197 |
About the Author | 230 |
Publication History | 231 |
Acknowledgments | 232 |
Back Cover | 233 |
Front Cover | 234 |
Title Page | v |
EmbracingTheNew | 83 |
Falling | 95 |
Orphans | 99 |
On the Cliff by the River | 105 |
Fig | 111 |
The Book of Jashar | 113 |
The House Beyond Your Sky | 125 |
Red Leather Tassels | 139 |
Other Cities | 145 |
Sense and Sensibility | 173 |
A Siege of Cranes | 197 |
About the Author | 230 |
Publication History | 231 |
Acknowledgments | 232 |
Back Cover | 233 |