The Pleasures of Reading, Viewing, and Listening in 2016, pt. 14: Jeffrey Ford

The Pleasures of 2016

by Jeffrey Ford

Reading 2016

Fiction –

Some of the fiction I read and liked this year. I think most of these are from 2016. They’re not in any order of preference. 

The Fisherman by John Langan, Word Horde

The Assimilated Cuban’s Guide to Quantum Santeria by Carlos Hernandez, Rosarium Press

Disappearance at Devil’s Rock by Paul Tremblay, William Morrow

Everfair by Nisi Shawl, Tor Books

A Collapse of Horses by Brian Everson, Coffee House Press

Swift to Chase by Laird Barron, Journal Stone

The Story of Hong Gildong by Heo Gyun, translated by Minsoo Kang, Penguin

Not Much Said the Cat by Michael Swanwick, Tachyon Publications

The Doll Master by Joyce Carol Oates, Mysterious Press

Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones, William Morrow

Furnace by Livia Lewellyn, Word Horde

The Wilds by Julia Elliott, Tin House Books

The Grief Hole by Kaaron Warren, Ifwg Publishing

Non-fiction –

The Curve of Binding Energy by John McPhee, Noonday

Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World by Simon Garfield, WW Norton & Company

Hamlet In Purgatory by Steven Greenblat, Princeton Classics

The Voice Within by Charles Fernyhough, Basic Books

The Penguin Book of the Undead by Scott G. Bruce, Penguin

Akira Kurasowa: Something Like an Autobiography by Akira Kurasowa, Vintage

The All-Pervading Melodious Drumbeat: The Life of Ra Lotsawa by Ra Yeshe Senge, Penguin

Movie--

The Witch

  

Books I’m Looking Forward to in 2017—

Borne by Jeff VanderMeer, MCD

Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly, TorBooks

The Art of Starving by Sam Miller, Harper Collins

 

Jeffrey Ford,is the author of the novels, Vanitas, The Physiognomy, Memoranda, The Beyond, The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque, The Girl in the Glass, The Cosmology of the Wider World, and The Shadow Year. His story collections are The Fantasy Writer's Assistant, The Empire of Ice Cream, The Drowned Life, Crackpot Palace, and  A Natural History of Hell .He is the recipient of the World Fantasy Award, Nebula, Shirley Jackson Award, Edgar Allan Poe Award, Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire  and the Hayakawa Award.

The Pleasures of Reading, Viewing, and Listening, pt.5: Jeffrey Ford

Favorite Reads of 2014
by Jeffrey Ford

Elysium by Jennifer Marie Brissett – Best first novel I read this year. Complex without being complicated apocalyptic science fiction/love story. Economical, yet poetic writing.  (fiction)

The Penguin Book of Witches edited by Katherine Howe – Howe’s premise is that the culture of witchcraft played an integral role in the formation of America.  She makes her point by presenting transcripts from various witch trials 1500’s to 1700’s.  (non-fiction)

For All the Tea in China by Sarah Rose – 19^th century industrial espionage of a sort. Brit Robert Fortune infiltrates China in disguise to steal closely guarded secrets of cultivating and growing tea, the consumption of which was experiencing a phenomenal boom in the UK.  (non-fiction)  

They Came Before Columbus by Ivan Van Sertima – A compelling (and to me, convincing) case made for a pre-Columbian African presence in the New World. A book to excite the imagination. (non-fiction)

The Ten Thousand Things by Maria Dermout – A hauntingly beautiful story of a Dutch woman,

raising her son on an old estate on Ambon Island in the Molucca island chain (Spice Islands) off the coast of Indonesia.  Largely quiet and contemplative, great descriptions of the natural world, but also with ghosts, murder, family tragedy, and an ill-fated expedition.  (fiction)

The Jatakas: Birth Stories of the Bodhisatta translated by Sarah Shaw – Folktales of the various incarnations of Buddha on the way to his final life.  One of the coolest things about these stories is that you are presented with a cast of characters in each (sometimes human, sometimes animal), and only after the story has played out is it revealed which of the characters was the Buddha.  Lots of surprises that play games with your perceptions and expectations.  (folk tales)

The Black Spider by Jermias Gotthelf – Had read this years ago, but the new translation for NYRB by Susan Bernofsky is a beauty.  Religio/Horror/Weirdo/Sometimes Funny/Creepshow. A Must read for writers and lovers of dark fantasy and horror. 

Jeffrey Ford, who has the won the Nebula Award, the World Fantasy Award (several times), and a few other awards as well, is the author of The Well Built City trilogy and numerous other novels, as well as several collections of short fiction. His most recent book is Crackpot Palace. He lives in Ohio.

The Pleasures of Reading, Viewing, and Listening in 2012, pt.15: Jeffrey Ford

Reading and Viewing in 2012
by Jeffrey Ford

Reading:

Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks -- The book presents a lot of interesting cases of people with unusual medical conditions that cause them to see all manner of wild visions from little people to monsters. It also describes the hallucinations born of drugs. Ironically, the most interesting story in the book is the portrait you get of Sacks, himself, who was no lightweight when it came to the morphine, etc. The book is a wunderkammer of odd instances and weird afflictions and Sacks, who comes off as a little crazy, is an affable curator.

Lives Like Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson and Her Family's Feuds by Lyndall Gordon -- Being a big Emily Dickinson fan I found this a great read, but even if the "Nun of Amherst," which was what the locals called her after her father died, isn't your cup of tea, the book is also fantastic for showing what exactly people did before electronic media. What they did was throw themselves head first into the intrigue of their lives. A heady brew of friendships, not so secret affairs, suppressed passions, etc. There was a lot of high drama and gnashing of teeth, but nobody ever seemed bored without access to The Wheel of Fortune and Jersey Shore.

A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar -- Samatar is a new writer for me. I was struck by the originality of her voice and story, which from the first page immediately drew me in. A picaresque through a strange world slowly made familiar. Reading it was like going on an adventure, one of the basic joys of reading fantasy, and one I rarely find this effectively elicited.

The Dragon Griaule by Lucius Shepard -- This volume collects all of Shepard's Dragon Griaule stories "The Man Who Painted the Dragon Griaule," "The Scale Hunter's Beautiful Daughter," "The Father of Stones," "Liar's House," "Taborin Scale." These previous stories all in one volume would be worth the price of admission, but the real treat here is a new novella, "The Skull," which I can only describe as "visionary."

Leopoldina's Dream by Silvina Ocampo -- I saw this book mentioned by the writer Livia Llewellyn in a fairly recent interview. I realized I'd only read maybe one or two stories by Ocampo, so I sent for a used copy off the internet. Ocampo has an odd and alluring style -- very understated in the face of weirdness. Stories that don't adhere to traditional structures. Hard to describe but a great collection all around.

The Weird, edited by Jeff and Ann VanderMeer -- Full disclosure: I have a couple of stories in this anthology, but don't hold that against it. The Weird was the most remarkable book of the year for me. A chronological compendium of surreal and unsettling stories from the early 20th century to today. Some absolute gems here -- The Other Side of the Mountain by Michel Bernanos, "The Hell Screen" by Akutagawa, and a truckload more. Not to be missed.

Viewing:

Lake Mungo -- This is an independent film from Australia. Shades of Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Last Wave. Low key and smart with some truly chilling creeps in it and a plot that dishes up surprises at surprising junctures.

The Hunter -- Willem Dafoe plays a mercenary, working for a secret biotech company. He's been hired to track down and kill the last Tylacine (Tasmanian Tiger) still at large in the wilderness, even though it has been believed to be extinct since the 1930's. A quiet, brooding flick with great scenery. The scariest thing in the movie isn't the tiger, but Dafoe's face which resembles a mask of petrified wood.

The Cats of Mirikatani -- A documentary about an old Japanese man, living on the streets of New York, creating and selling his own art work. When winter comes, a woman takes him in and makes a film about his life -- how he came to America, the internment camp he and his family were put in, his art. I was surprised at how engaging I found it. A nice change of pace from the usual fare.

The Tree of Life -- I don't think I got a chance to see this until early in 2012, although it came out in 2011. This movie, directed by Terrence Malick was an immersive experience with great cinematography and a story structure that was like water flowing. A tale of simple lives connected to the cosmos. I know a lot of people don't get Mallick, but his recent films The Thin Red Line and The New World have been a couple of my favorites in recent years.

Jeffrey Ford, who has the won the Nebula Award, the World Fantasy Award (several times), and a few other awards as well, is the author of The Well Built City trilogy and numerous other novels, as well as several collections of short fiction. His most recent book is Crackpot Palace. He has recently moved to Ohio.

The Pleasures of Reading, Viewing, and Listening in 2011, part 15: Jeffrey Ford

Books, Movies, and Music Enjoyed in 2011
by Jeffrey Ford

Read

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander (The New Press) -- Alexander offers a supremely well-researched and ultimately convincing argument that the out of control incarceration of young Black males constitutes a new kind of Jim Crow law and resultant caste system. Interesting discussion of how this phenomenon is aimed at blocking and/or disenfranchising people from their vote.

Doctor Sleep by Madison Smartt Bell (Grove Press). An Americn ex-heroin addict, self-styled hypnotherapist, who works with a secret government agency at times and lives in London, suffers from insomnia. A trippy book in which the reader is never quite sure what's happening. Errant and subtle. Terrific writing.

The Natural History of the Unicorn by Chris Lavers (Harper Perrenial). Across continents and centuries, Lavers traces the history of a myth. Interesting stories from antiquity to the 19th century concerning this symbolic creature.

Wave of Mutilation by Doug Lain (Eraserhead Press/Fantastic Planet). The universe has a hole in it and reality is leaking out. Who knew it would be this much fun? Doug Lain's Wave of Mutilation is the story of Christian and Samantha; a story that generates itself as it devours itself. Its characters and surreal scenes are rendered with an engaging style and seem to have truths to tell us about relationships, politics, sex, the history of furniture. At the same time, they convince us they are insubstantial, errant, nothing but the illusion of the world. Terrific writing, good laughs, and the flawless execution of a fictional tightrope walk between "reality" and nothing. Wonderfully original!

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, The Broken Kingdom, The Kingdom of Gods by N. K. Jemisin (trilogy from Orbit Books) -- A fascinating and original take on the genre of epic fantasy by a writer who can do it all. This is a lot of epic fantasy for me (not so much an epic fantasy reader). I was constantly engaged, delighted, and surprised by these works. Looking forward to see what Jemisin does next.

Matilda Told Such Dreadful Lies: The Essential Lucy Sussex by Lucy Sussex (Ticonderoga Press) -- A retrospective collection from one of my favorite contemporary short story writers. Eclectic themes (SF, F, H, Mystery)) and styles -- creepy dolls, genetics of the snake woman, volcanoes. Sussex is an underappreciated story writer. It's great to see this new compilation of some of her best work.

R/Evolution by Tenea Johnson (Counterpoise) -- A mosaic novel. Fast paced science fiction full of ideas from a time and place where bio-technology and racial justice/injustice coincide. Nice blend of the fictional page turner and important political ideas. Also check out Johnson's new Smoketown novel from Blind Side Press.

Starve Better by Nick Mamatas (Apex Publications) -- Advice on the writing life is usually for shit, but Mamatas manages a clear headed, realistic, and humorous view of what to expect and offers credible tips on making the most of your fiction in the world of professional writing. There are few books like this that I'll recommend to my fiction students, but this is definitely one of them.

The Camel by Robert Irwin (Reaktion Books) -- Everything you might want to know about the mythology, history, and biology of the camel by an interesting author.

This year I've been lucky enough to read some books that won't be out till 2012. You might want to consider these in the new year.

The New American Crime Film by Matthew Sorrento (McFarland Publishers) -- Forward by director, Stuart Gordon. Sorrento covers the crime films of Lynch, Cronenberg, Mamet, Herzog, etc. A little pricey, but a scholarly work that is more than just gossip and glitz.

Moscow But Dreaming by Ekaterina Sedia (Prime Books) -- this new collection of stories by Sedia contains weird and twisted tales from old Russia, the Soviet system and America. Sedia's writing is alive with metaphor that renders both the beautiful and the bizarre. Her yellow Lenin is the height of creepiness. I can't recommend this one enough. Sure to be one of the stand out collections of 2012.

Technicolor and other Revelations by John Langan -- Langan, one of the best short story writers in the Horror genre, takes the archetypal themes of horror and filters them through his unique imagination and style, making them entirely fresh. Contains the classic "How the Day Runs Down" from the JJ Adams anthology, The Living Dead, plus seven other pieces, one a new story. Great book of short fiction.

Viewed

Kiss Me Deadly directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Ralph Meeker as Mike Hammer, written by A. I. Bezzirides and Mickey Spillane (1955) -- Sort of an SF/Noir with espionage intrigue, a box of glowing bad stuff, and a loopy plot. Cloris Leachman debuts. Criterion Collection.

House of Numbers directed by Russell Rouse, starring Jack Palance and Barbara Lang, based on a novel by Jack Finney and a script by Don Mankiewicz (1957). Palance plays twins in this prison break caper. The scheme that Arnie and Bill Judlow put into play is preposterous, but somehow the story works. Shot at San Quentin, using real guards and prisoners as actors. The Chief, from Get Smart, plays the warden of the joint.

Two Lane Blacktop directed by Monte Hellman, starring James Taylor, Laurie Bird, Dennis Wilson (of the Beach Boys) and the great, Warren Oates, screenplay by Rudy Wurlitzer and Will Cory (1971). Ran into this late one night on, I believe, TCM. Apparently the film had been out of circulation for a long time. About a race from somewhere in the Southwest to Washington D.C. The prize is that the winner gets the loser's car. No frills movie making -- errant and at times beautifully slow. Wurlitzer plays a race car driver and a young Harry Dean Stanton plays a hitch hiker.

Listened

The Goat Rodeo Sessions by Yoyo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, and Chris Thile.

"Just You, Just Me" by Pianica Maeda

Rough Guide to African Guitar Legends anthology

Ska Down Her Way anthology

For Your Love" by Ed Townsend

Jeffrey Ford, who has the won the Nebula Award, the World Fantasy Award (several times), and a few other awards as well, is the author of The Well Built City trilogy and numerous other novels, as well as several collections of short fiction. He lives in New Jersey.

The Pleasures of Reading, Viewing, and Listening in 2010, pt. 26: Jeffrey Ford

Some Pleasures of 2010
by Jeffrey Ford

2010 was a busy year for me, but not in the arenas of reading, viewing, and listening to music. Still, there were some pleasures along these lines. I saw a bunch of stuff I'd have liked to check out, but maybe now in the coming months I can get to it. Here are some of the things that took my fancy.

Novels 

Cyclonopedia by Rega Negrastani -- I found this one on Jeff VanderMeer's blog. It's crazy. Petrol-politics, mythology and legend, and perhaps the defining monster of the 21st century, oil itself, a sentient entity that feeds off War. Swatches of theoretical static against a Hitchcock type plot. This book has the uniqueness of novels like The House of Leaves or People of Paper. At times frustrating but all in all the most exciting book I read in 2010.

The Narrator by Michael Cisco -- I've seen Cisco's work in this book likened to that of Celine, Ligotti, Robbe-Grillet, etc., but I felt a connection with the great Jonathan Swift by way of the cloud city of Laputa. The tale of a war and its narrators. Also the revelation that humanity doesn't care much what it's doing as long as it's doing it. Cisco's a visionary writer, and the prose often has a wonderfully hallucinatory effect. One thing he won't get credit for here, although he should, is that this book is a marvelous example of world-building -- no info-dumps, just steadily insinuated from the first lines onward.

The Skating Rink by Roberto Bolano -- I've still yet to tackle Bolano's longer books -- Savage Detectives and 2666, but I've read all of the shorter works. The Skating Rink is my favorite of these. A cooly meandering, noir, love triangle of a noval. Bolano, at least in the shorter books, lets the story go where it wants to often exhilarating affect.

Short Stories 

I got a chance to read Ekaterina Sedia's upcoming, as of yet untitled, collection from Prime -- world mythology, ghosts of the Soviet Union, Russian history, sentient realities, fairy tales, and a creepy zombie Lenin. Beautiful writing and great versatility. If you're a short story lover, this is one you're not going to want to miss.

I was taken by the stories of Alexandra Duncan, a new writer to me, who appeared at least three times in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in 2010 -- "Amor Fugit" "The Door in the Earth" "Swamp City Lament." Fabulous writing. Do yourself a favor and check these out if you get a chance. I have a feeling Ms. Duncan will be coming out with more great work in the years to come.

A Life on Paper by Georges-Olivier Chateaureynaud (translated by Edward Gauvin) -- This collection from Small Beer is a treat. You will often see Chateaureynaud likened to Kafka, but I find him to have a very unique voice. Fabulation with intrusions from the everyday and the utterly surreal. From what I've read, Gauvin does an excellent job with the translations here.

Non-Fiction 

The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan -- By all accounts, Egan has written the definitive book about the experience of The Dust Bowl. I was reading this during the Gulf oil spill and the ecological/greed factors of both eco-tragedies are a testament to what extent humanity has the ability to fuck up Nature. The Dust Bowl, if you know nothing about it is like something from the imagination of a twisted Fantasy writer.

Prospero's America: John Winthrop, Jr., Alchemy, and the Creation of New England Culture 1606-1676 by Walter W. Woodward -- Gwenda Bond tipped me off to this one. As a professor of Early American Lit. this book really opened my eyes to aspects of Puritan culture and the beginnings of America I had no idea about. Readers interested in the history of Science might like this as well.

Movies

I only saw one movie that came out this year that I really liked thoroughly -- Winter's Bone. A meth cooking murder mystery and a story about the bonds of family from the Missouri outback. Some first-rate performances.

As for older movies, I caught two great performances by Richard Widmark this year -- Night and the City and No Way Out. I also enjoyed The Friends of Eddie Coyle for Robert Mitchum's performance and its dedication to reality.

Music

"Dub Side of the Moon" by The Easy Star All-Stars -- I have to admit that I was skeptical as to whether Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" could be improved upon by the power of Reggae. What I found was that "Dub Side" was its own creature, not detracting from the original, but using it to create something else quite grand. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKzTLT3h3Xs)

Be Thankful For What You Got by One Blood -- I went looking for the circa 1970 AM version of this old song on youtube one night and found this by the band, One Blood. I'd never heard of them before. I don't know what it is about this version of the song that keeps me listening to it every now then. (http://snurl.com/1qscm7)

"Don't They Know It's the End of the World" by Skeeter Davis -- Likewise, a song I vaguely remembered from the distant past. Went looking and found it on youtube. Who knows why, but it stayed with me for a long time. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qgcy-V6YIuI)  Laird Barron mentioned on my blog that this is the quintessential song for a post-apocalyptic movie. So far, I don't think it's been used in that capacity.

Graphic Novel

The Search For Smilin' Ed by Kim Deitch -- For my money, the best story teller in comics and his graphic work is mind-blowing. A meta-fictional romp that starts with Deitch's own life and eventually descends down the rabbit hole into a plot impossible to relate. You just have to experience it.

Jeffrey Ford, who has the won the Nebula Award, the World Fantasy Award (several times), and a few other awards as well, is the author of The Well Built City trilogy and numerous other novels, as well as several collections of short fiction. He lives in New Jersey.

The Pleasures of Reading, Viewing, and Listening in 2009, Pt. 2: Jeffrey Ford

Reading, Viewing and Listening in 2009

by Jeff Ford

For the past couple of years, my friend L. has asked me to participate in the Aqueduct Best Reads (etc.) of the Year feature. Aqueduct is such a wonderful and essential press, it's always a pleasure to participate. Unfortunately, this year, I can't take as much time as I usually like explaining my choices, so I'm falling back on the lame-ass simplicity of listing. My apologies. The works listed are ones that I either discovered this year or rediscovered and spent some more time with. Very few of them are from 2009. Hope you find something here that interests you.

Fiction:

The Jade Cabinet by Rikki Ducornet

Wild Nights by Joyce Carol Oates

Blood Sport: A Journey Up the Hassayampa by Robert F. Jones

The Devil's Elixer by E. T. A. Hoffmann

Death With Interruptions by Jose Saramago

Lud-In-the-Mist by Hope Mirlees

The Man Who Watched Trains Go By by Georges Simenon

The Tale of Four Dervishes by Mir Amman

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

Non-Fiction:

Alladin's Lamp: How Greek Science Came to Europe Through the Islamic World by John Freely

The Infinity of Lists: An Illustrated Essay by Umberto Eco and Alastair McEwen

On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears by Stephen T. Asma

Rag and Bone: A Journey Among the World's Holy Dead by Peter Manseau

The Book of Contemplation: Islam and the Crusades by Usama ibn Munqidh

Uncentering the Earth: Copernicus and the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres by William T. Vollmann

Music:

Ben Webster For Lovers by Ben Webster, CD

Santana by Santana CD

Lost Blossoms by Harold Budd CD

California Love by 2Pac and Dr. Dre, Single Version

The Hills of Home: 25 Years of Folk Music by Rounder Records

Club Ska 67 by Mango Records

Tell Him by Patti Drew, Single Version

Movies:

Let the Right One In directed by Thomas Alfredson

Little Women directed by Gillian Armstrong

The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond directed by Budd Boetticher

Websites:

A Journey Round My Skull

Graham Hancock News Desk

Pink Tentacle

Jeffrey Ford, who has the won the Nebula Award, the World Fantasy Award (four times), and a couple of other awards as well, is the author of The Well Built City trilogy and four other novels, as well as three collections of short fiction. He lives in New Jersey.