Table of Contents The Blameless Word Doll The Angel Seems Mount Chary Galore A Natural History of Autumn The Fairy Enterprise The Thyme Fiend The Last Triangle Hibbler's Minions Rocket Ship to Hell The Prelate's Commission A Terror Blood Drive
Coop Available. Review copies available through Edelweiss. Giveaways on LibraryThing and Goodreads and at Midwinter ALA. Features and reviews targeted: NPR, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Locus, Sci Fi Magazine. Advertising in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Rain Taxi, Conjunctions, F&SF, Sci Fi Magazine. Published to coincide with Readercon (book-heavy sci-fi convention in Boston) Promotion on the author's website: well-builtcity.com
Jeffrey Ford: Jeffrey Ford was born on Long Island in New York State in 1955 and grew up in the town of West Islip. He studied fiction writing with John Gardner at S.U.N.Y Binghamton. He's been a college English teacher of writing and literature for 30 years. He is the author of eight novels including The Girl in the Glass and four short story collections. He has received the World Fantasy, Nebula, Edgar, and Shirley Jackson awards. He lives with his wife Lynn in a century old farm house in a land of slow clouds and endless fields.
"'The Blameless' is . . . a perfect example of Ford's eerie
subversion of mundane life. In it, suburban parents have begun
throwing their children exorcisms as rites of passage, and the
premise delivers plenty of black humor and bone-dry social satire."
- Jason Heller, NPR "A series of hits that linger long after you've
finished reading. The mundane seems fantastical when penned by
Ford, and the fantastical dreadfully human. Stories range from
surreal daily life, to epic fantasy, to Gothic Americana and far,
far beyond. It's hard to pick a favorite, so I recommend you read
them all." - RT Book Reviews **** "In this collection of 13
stories, Ford showcases his award-winning talent for crafting
creepy tales that bend the world as we know it in unexpected ways.
Although the stories are not linked, they do share a common theme:
wickedness lurking just beneath the surface of everyday life. And
while each uses different degrees of the supernatural to get there,
all employ a dark and uneasy atmosphere, quirky characters, and
thought-provoking endings, with delightfully unsettling results. .
. . This collection is a good choice for fans of short stories by
Neil Gaiman, China Mieville, or Kevin Brockmeier." - Booklist
(starred review) "Celebrated short-form fantasist Ford blends
subtle psychological horror with a mix of literary history,
folklore, and SF in this collection of 13 short stories, all
focused on the struggles, sorrows, and terrors of daily life. Each
tale gently twists perceptions, diving down into the ordinary and
coming back out with a thoughtful nugget of the extraordinary.
Readers will be alarmed by how easily they relate to the
well-meaning but inevitably destructive characters." - Publishers
Weekly Best Books of Summer "13 tales that revel in the dark and
strange, exhibiting ardent and pliable storytelling that ranges
from suburban exorcisms to ghosts in bucolic 1915 Ohio. Each story
in this collection displays Ford's vigorous invention and witty
idiosyncrasy in explorations of the wicked and violent corners of
the imagination, but the variety of subject, setting, and tone
ensures that the book never slips into an authorial haze. . . . The
entire collection has a zeal for imagination and an unabashed
pleasure in both entertainment and graceful writing that is
reminiscent of Ray Bradbury's short fiction. Ford has a knack for
choosing the precise words that evoke an image and leave enough
room for it to bloom. "Later, the rain started in again. The sound
and smell of spring came through the screen of their bedroom window
while he dreamt in the language the angels dream in, and she, of
the land without worry." - Kirkus Reviews "An excellent collection
of stories." - Weird Fiction Review "A truly outstanding writer." -
Locus Praise for Jeffrey Ford's award-winning books: "Surreal,
unsettling, and more than a little weird. Ford has a rare gift for
evoking mood with just a few well-chosen words and for creating
living, breathing characters with only a few lines of dialogue."
--Booklist "Children are the original magic realists. The effects
that novelists of a postmodern bent must strive for come naturally
to the young, a truth given inventive realization in this wonderful
quasi-mystery tale by Jeffrey Ford."--Boston Globe on THE SHADOW
YEAR "Jeffrey Ford s latest triumph, THE SHADOW YEAR, is as
haunting as it is humorous readers will recognize real talent in
Ford s vivid, unerring voice." --Louisville Courier Journal on THE
SHADOW YEAR "Superb, heartbreaking, and masterfully written . . .
It s proof of Jeffrey Ford s narrative power that, ultimately, the
distinction [between real and invented] doesn t much matter. His
made-up world trumps ours." --Magazine of Fantasy and Science
Fiction "The Shadow Year captures the totality of a lived period,
its actualities and its dreams, its mundane essentials and its odd
subjective imperatives; it is a work of episodic beauty and
mercurial significance."--Nick Gevers, Locus "Jeffrey Ford is one
of the few writers who uses wonder instead of ink in his
pen."--Jonathan Carroll, author of The Wooden Sea "Unusual and
provocative...sometimes shocking, sometimes mesmerizing, sometimes
humorous, this collection will please fans of Raymond Carver and
Flannery O'Connor. Recommended." (School Library Journal on THE
DROWNED LIFE) "Spooky and hypnotic...Recommended for all public
libraries." (Library Journal) "Ford travels deep into the wild
country that is childhood in this novel ...the observations and
adventures of these sharp, wayward children provide more than
enough depth to be satisfying." (New York Times on THE SHADOW YEAR)
"A collection of surreal, melancholy stories dealing with
everything from worlds of the drifting dead to drunken tree
parties. Ford is the author of the superlative, creepy Well-Built
City trilogy and his writing is both powerful and disturbing in the
best possible way." (Gawker on THE DROWNED LIFE) "[Ford's] writing
is both powerful and disturbing in the best possible way." (io9 on
Jeffrey Ford) "The 16 stories in this collection are a perfect
introduction to Ford's work and illustrate the vast range of his
imagination...If you haven't discovered Ford, it's time you did.
His carefully crafted novels and short stories are all top-notch.
Grade: A." (Rocky Mountain News)
"'The Blameless' is . . . a perfect example of Ford's eerie
subversion of mundane life. In it, suburban parents have begun
throwing their children exorcisms as rites of passage, and the
premise delivers plenty of black humor and bone-dry social satire."
Jason Heller, NPR "A series of hits that linger long after you've
finished reading. The mundane seems fantastical when penned by
Ford, and the fantastical dreadfully human. Stories range from
surreal daily life, to epic fantasy, to Gothic Americana and far,
far beyond. It's hard to pick a favorite, so I recommend you read
them all." RT Book Reviews **** "In this collection of 13 stories,
Ford showcases his award-winning talent for crafting creepy tales
that bend the world as we know it in unexpected ways. Although the
stories are not linked, they do share a common theme: wickedness
lurking just beneath the surface of everyday life. And while each
uses different degrees of the supernatural to get there, all employ
a dark and uneasy atmosphere, quirky characters, and
thought-provoking endings, with delightfully unsettling results. .
. . This collection is a good choice for fans of short stories by
Neil Gaiman, China Mieville, or Kevin Brockmeier." Booklist
(starred review) "Celebrated short-form fantasist Ford blends
subtle psychological horror with a mix of literary history,
folklore, and SF in this collection of 13 short stories, all
focused on the struggles, sorrows, and terrors of daily life. Each
tale gently twists perceptions, diving down into the ordinary and
coming back out with a thoughtful nugget of the extraordinary.
Readers will be alarmed by how easily they relate to the
well-meaning but inevitably destructive characters." Publishers
Weekly Best Books of Summer "13 tales that revel in the dark and
strange, exhibiting ardent and pliable storytelling that ranges
from suburban exorcisms to ghosts in bucolic 1915 Ohio. Each story
in this collection displays Ford's vigorous invention and witty
idiosyncrasy in explorations of the wicked and violent corners of
the imagination, but the variety of subject, setting, and tone
ensures that the book never slips into an authorial haze. . . . The
entire collection has a zeal for imagination and an unabashed
pleasure in both entertainment and graceful writing that is
reminiscent of Ray Bradbury's short fiction. Ford has a knack for
choosing the precise words that evoke an image and leave enough
room for it to bloom. "Later, the rain started in again. The sound
and smell of spring came through the screen of their bedroom window
while he dreamt in the language the angels dream in, and she, of
the land without worry." Kirkus Reviews "An excellent collection of
stories." Weird Fiction Review "A truly outstanding writer." Locus
Praise for Jeffrey Ford's award-winning books: "Surreal,
unsettling, and more than a little weird. Ford has a rare gift for
evoking mood with just a few well-chosen words and for creating
living, breathing characters with only a few lines of dialogue."
--Booklist "Children are the original magic realists. The effects
that novelists of a postmodern bent must strive for come naturally
to the young, a truth given inventive realization in this wonderful
quasi-mystery tale by Jeffrey Ford."--Boston Globe on THE SHADOW
YEAR "Jeffrey Ford s latest triumph, THE SHADOW YEAR, is as
haunting as it is humorous readers will recognize real talent in
Ford s vivid, unerring voice." --Louisville Courier Journal on THE
SHADOW YEAR "Superb, heartbreaking, and masterfully written . . .
It s proof of Jeffrey Ford s narrative power that, ultimately, the
distinction [between real and invented] doesn t much matter. His
made-up world trumps ours." --Magazine of Fantasy and Science
Fiction "The Shadow Year captures the totality of a lived period,
its actualities and its dreams, its mundane essentials and its odd
subjective imperatives; it is a work of episodic beauty and
mercurial significance."--Nick Gevers, Locus "Jeffrey Ford is one
of the few writers who uses wonder instead of ink in his
pen."--Jonathan Carroll, author of The Wooden Sea "Unusual and
provocative sometimes shocking, sometimes mesmerizing, sometimes
humorous, this collection will please fans of Raymond Carver and
Flannery O'Connor. Recommended." (School Library Journal on THE
DROWNED LIFE) "Spooky and hypnotic...Recommended for all public
libraries." (Library Journal) "Ford travels deep into the wild
country that is childhood in this novel the observations and
adventures of these sharp, wayward children provide more than
enough depth to be satisfying." (New York Times on THE SHADOW YEAR)
"A collection of surreal, melancholy stories dealing with
everything from worlds of the drifting dead to drunken tree
parties. Ford is the author of the superlative, creepy Well-Built
City trilogy and his writing is both powerful and disturbing in the
best possible way." (Gawker on THE DROWNED LIFE) "[Ford's] writing
is both powerful and disturbing in the best possible way." (io9 on
Jeffrey Ford) "The 16 stories in this collection are a perfect
introduction to Ford's work and illustrate the vast range of his
imagination If you haven't discovered Ford, it's time you did. His
carefully crafted novels and short stories are all top-notch.
Grade: A." (Rocky Mountain News)
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