CITY OF WEIRD, Stories to Evoke & Entertain

“I’ve been having this dream lately.
In this dream, I’m traipsing through the aisles of that big bookstore in Portland, Oregon.”
~ from “Aromageddon” by Jason Squamata in City of Weird

cover image for City of WeirdI have never been to Portland. But City of Weird, with its “30 Otherwordly Portland Tales,” offers a view of the Oregon metropolis (and its famous bookstore)–in slant. A collection of imaginative, surreal, and (at times) sardonic stories, Forest Avenue Press’ newest release makes for a perfect Halloween read, especially for the faint of heart like me.

When I was seven years old, I went against all reason–and my parents’ stern command–and watched Salem’s Lot when I was supposed to be in bed. I watched it only in bits and pieces, first because I was afraid I would get caught then later because I was afraid.

cartoon tv

I would tiptoe up to the small TV in the playroom, turn the knob just past the hard click to power up the screen, stare wide-eyed and wild-eyed at the current scene for two minutes, then promptly turn the knob to OFF (!), run back to my bedroom and hide under cover. A few intermittent peeks like this as the movie played out were enough to sear my mind with vivid, terrifying images of vampires. All of them bald, with gray faces, and teeth in need of immediate dental care.

So I appreciate a book like City of Weird, with stories packed inside that let me dip my toe into “fanciful, sometimes preposterous archetypes of weird fiction” (as editor Gigi Little says in her introduction), stories that touch on such things as my permanent bias toward vampires and flip them on end. I mean–sure, bloodsuckers are scary, but Justin Hocking turns them into sympathetic characters in his story, simply titled, “Vampire:”

The vampire has figured out that he can take a photo of himself with his cell phone, stare at his image for a long time, in a way he never could with mirrors. He looks for hours at his widow’s peak, premature baldness scratching its talons further and further up his scalp. He wonders, since he’s 382, if ‘premature’ is the right word.

This fragile fiend could easily be that frump, middle-aged man you pass on the street who, like you, worries about the effect so many years can have on a body, even if he is immortal. Poor guy. It must be tough. Bless his heart (at a distance).

Image of two orcas, mother & baby, swimming in ocean

Then, there’s Leigh Anne Kranz’s “Orca Culture,” the story about killer whales, which aren’t really killers when it comes to you and me. Except Kranz again leans on common knowledge just enough to push the question, “what if.” In her story, the “Seattle pod” has developed a keen taste for a certain species–misbehaving men–and swallows them whole:

She felt it was the natural order of things. The world was changing. If humans were to survive, men like him must go extinct.

You’ll have to read the story to find out why such men might need to be snatched from the shoreline. In any case, it’s an interesting perspective, predator eating predator (oops, did I just give something away?).

One of my favorite stories is Mark Russell’s “Letters to the Oregonian from the Year 30,0000 BC,” which sets up Portland in ancient times as a mirror to Portland today, a teasing reminder that humans haven’t really changed all that much.

We read of one letter to the editor written by a caveman millennial of sorts, who downplays the newest invention (and current trend) of fire, until using it for cooking proves advantageous:

In fact, we found cooking with fire so rewarding that we opened a mommoth-fusion food cart just west of the burned forest. We’ve taken to calling this area West Burnside.

We read the opinion of the Paleolithic conspiracist:

Personally, when someone says “fire,” I hear “gentrification.”

And last, but not least, a plea from the Peacemaker:

I like charred lizard as much as anybody. And carrying torches around at night, well, it just makes me feel important. But I’m afraid of what fire will mean for life here in Yak Village.

In the Village, as in Portland (& probably the metropolis closest to where you live), strange characters abound. And as Grub the peacemaker from Yak Village says, the “strange” are “treasures,” lost when we try too hard to conform to normal.

There’s more. A hefty book of sci-fi and speculative fun, City of Weird is chock-full and available for purchase in all markets, independent and other. If you live near Portland, stop in at one of the upcoming book events, like Pop-Up: City of Weird (with Stevan Allred, Jonathan Hill, and Karen Munro), November 5th.

* On images above, cartoon TV photo credit: Candyland Comics via VisualHunt / CC BY-NC; orca photo credit: Mike Charest via VisualHunt.com / CC BY

Remington Roundup: Readers, This is for YOU

Most often, the Remington Roundup includes links for writers, but this month, it’s entirely devoted to readers.

1960's photo of woman at Remington typewriterOver the next two months, I’ll be posting on four-freshly pressed books–as author Q&A’s or as a general review–all four from different genres and guaranteed to pique your interest. Today, I’m offering a sneak peek at these books with notes to mark your calendars: there are also giveaways in the near future (after all, good reading is good sharing)!


Science Fiction & Fantasy: City of Weird, edited by Gigi Little

Published by Forest Avenue Press, this book hit the Bestsellers list at Powell’s City of Books one day after it launched. From Forest Avenue Press’ website:

cover image for City of Weird…death, darkness, ghosts. Hungry sea monsters and alien slime molds. Blood drinkers and game show hosts. Set in Portland, Oregon, these thirty original stories blend imagination, literary writing, and pop culture into a cohesive weirdness that honors the city’s personality, its bookstores and bridges and solo volcano….

Kirkus includes City of Weird in its list, “A Savory selection of Science Fiction and Fantasy Books to Read,” and yeah, savory is a perfect description. I’m relishing each story I read, going all wide-eyed as I get lost in the pages, even though I know there’s no such thing as a tattoo of an octopus that comes alive, hungry for more than just mollusks. Or is there?….

Look for my review at the end of October.


Romance: Opposite of Frozen, by Jan O’Hara

A romantic comedy about protagonists Oliver Pike and Page Maddux and “fifty-one seniors on a multinational bus tour, including a ninety-five-year-old with a lethal cane.” From The Thurston Hotel Books website:

cover image for Opposite of FrozenIn the hold of the bus, amid the walkers and luggage, lies a half-frozen stowaway. Page Maddux is commitment-averse and obviously lacking in common sense. Once revived, she’s also the person Oliver must depend upon to help him keep the “oldsters,” as she calls them, out of harm’s way.

Once a month, I meet with a group of senior citizens for a writing class, and what I’ve learned in my time with them is that age serves to energize. They don’t mess around; they mean business–in life as much as in love, I imagine. Especially when it comes to bringing people together.

Even more intriguing, Opposite of Frozen is the second book in a series of 12 novels, each written by a different author but set in the same fictional Canadian town–a literary cooperative that gives readers the taste of several authors’ work in one collection.

Watch for the Q&A (& giveaway) in early November.


Poetry: Floodgate Poetry Series, Vol. 3, published by Upper Rubber Boot Books

If you’re a poetry lover, this one’s for you, with three chapbooks between the covers of one publication. From Upper Rubber Boot Books’ website:

cover image for Floodgate Poetry Series Vol. 3…brothers Anders and Kai Carlson-Wee’s Northern Corn invites us on a trip across an America of dust, trains, poverty, dignity, and dreams; Begotten, co-written by Cave Canem fellows F. Douglas Brown and Geffrey Davis, bravely and tenderly explores fatherhood in the era of Black Lives Matter; and Enid Shomer’s Driving through the Animal lovingly moves between unflinching witness of destruction and hope for the future.

To get a taste of the authors’ work, check out the website of Kai Carlson-Wee; listen to F. Douglas Brown read two of his poems from his collection, Zero to Three; read Enid Shomer’s poem, “Bald,” on 32 Poems.

Watch for the Q&A (& giveaway) with authors Brown and Davis in late November/early December.


Graphic Memoir: Flying Couch, by Amy Kurzweil

A cartoonist, writer, and teacher, Amy Kurzweil’s work has appeared in The New Yorker, Huffington Post, and more. Her new graphic memoir is a story about three generations of women. From Amy Kurzweil’s website:

cover image for Flying CouchAt thirteen years old, [my grandmother] Bubbe (as I call her) escaped the Warsaw Ghetto alone, by disguising herself as a gentile. My mother taught me: our memories and our families shape who we become. What does it means to be part of a family, but how does each generation bear the imprint of the past, its traumas and its gifts? Flying Couch is my answer to these questions, the documentation of my quest for identity and understanding.

Watch the book trailer (one of the best I’ve seen).

And, look for the Q&A (& giveaway) in mid December.


So…if you haven’t subscribed to the blog yet, this is a good time to do so (for the giveaways alone–free books, people!). It’s easy: CLICK HERE.

 

Guest Posting at Great New Books: Leaving Lucy Pear

Great New Books logoGreat New Books (GNB) is a website dedicated to spreading the word about favorite books and must-reads. With a team of 10 bloggers, GNB posts a book recommendation once a week on fiction or nonfiction, memoir, young adult, and more–a diverse range of reading guaranteed to grow your t0-be-read pile.

Cover image: Leaving Lucy PearThis week, I’m honored to be one of their guest bloggers, where I spotlight one of my recent faves: Anna Solomon’s newest novel, Leaving Lucy Pear:

Several years ago I fell in love with Anna Solomon’s first novel, The Little Bride, so it took hardly any press on the news of her second, Leaving Lucy Pear, to convince me to run out and grab it. In both books, Solomon weaves vivid imagery with a deep study of characters, so that the events of one person’s story are molded by the decisions of another.

Click HERE to read the rest of my GNB review of Leaving Lucy Pear, a book that speaks on the Jewish American experience, on cultural expectations and gender roles, and on women who go against the grain.

And many thanks to Jennifer Lyn King and the rest of the GNB team for the invitation to post!