Awards
2007 World Fantasy Award winner for Best Novella
Synopses & Reviews
Mixing the mundane with the metaphysical, the pairings of the everyday and the extraordinary in this collection of short fiction yield supernatural results a young musician perceives another world while drinking coffee, a fairy chronicles his busy life in a sandcastle during the changing tide, a demonic 16th-century chess set shows up in a New Jersey bar, and Charon, the boatman of hell, takes a few days vacation. Storylines both conventional and outlandish reveal humdrum routines as menacing, or imaginary worlds as perfectly familiar. Allusions to authors such as Edgar Allan Poe and Jules Verne reinforce the fantasy tradition in these tales, while understated humor and moments of sadness add a quirky unpredictability. Also included is the previously unpublished novella, "Botch Town," a coming-of-age story about a boy on Long Island whose family and friends live ordinary lives under threats both real and imagined. Each story is followed by a brief afterword that details its genesis.
Review
"Giants and unidentifiable alien creatures, fairy tales, the intertwining of wonder and terror....Ford is nothing if not versatile, as this collection confirms to great effect." Booklist
About the Author
Jeffrey Ford is the author of The Beyond, The Girl in the Glass, Memoranda, The Physiognomy, Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque, and The Well-Built City trilogy. His award-winning short fiction has appeared in many science fiction and fantasy magazines and has been widely anthologized. He lives in Medford Lakes, New Jersey.