Credits
“Dradin, In Love” first appeared as a trade paperback from Buzzcity Press, 1996.
“The Hoegbotton Guide to the Early History of Ambergris” first appeared as a chapbook from Necropolitan Press, 1999 (including portions of the Ambergris Glossary).
“The Transformation of Martin Lake” first appeared in the anthology Palace Corbie 8, 1999.
“The Strange Case of X” first appeared in the anthology White of the Moon, 1999.
“The Exchange” first appeared as a booklet from Hoegbotton & Sons. The text commenting on the Exchange is original to this edition.
“Learning to Leave the Flesh” first appeared in the U.K. magazine Dreams from the Strangers’ Café. It also appeared as a performance art piece from Russia’s Projekt Trotsky (Moscow) in 1999.
The versions set out in this collection constitute definitive revisions.
Notes
“The Hoegbotton Guide to the Early History of Ambergris”: Some text has been adapted from material written by such ancient chroniclers and leaders as the Byzantines Michael Psellus and Theodore of the Studium; Ruskin; the Romans Eusebius and Lactantius; the Papal diplomat Liuprand; and the Venetian Doge Andrea Gritti. My thanks to David Griffin for allowing me to steal an idea from an unpublished short story for Tonsure’s final journal entry. I am also indebted to John Julius Norwich, a magnificent historian, for his style, which I have perhaps appropriated, lovingly, for this novella.
“The Transformation of Martin Lake”: Quotes attributed to “Leonard Venturi” were adapted from commentary by Lioneli Venturi in his book Chagall.
“King Squid”: The opening lines of the novella were adapted from the beginning of the Austrian writer Fritz von Herzmanovsky-Orlando’s 1920s novel Masque of the Spirits.
“The Ambergris Glossary”: Much of the “Calabrian Calendar” entry was conceptualized by Richard Peterson. Peterson also wrote the “Richard Peterson” and “Holy Little Red Flower” entries. Scott Stratton provided invaluable support materials for the “Strattonism” entry.
For more information on the author and his books, please visit www.jeffvandermeer.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeff VanderMeer (1968 - ?) spent his childhood in Pennsylvania, the Fiji Islands, France, and Mongolia. His father Robert, an insect taxidermist, and his mother Penelope, a graveyard performance artist, traveled constantly for a variety of reasons, some nefarious. A 1986 graduate of Ulan Bator University’s School of Writing, where he studied under the great fiction mystic Jugderdemidiyn Gurragchaa, VanderMeer drifted through several professions—instigator, landrician, maniacist, English instructor, opera singer’s assistant, and dog care professional—before settling down to publish his first fiction, The Book of Frog (1991). Due to its international success, he was able to take up writing full-time.
After appearances in a number of notable periodicals and a famous “call to arms” aimed at complacent writers of fantastical fiction (rudely received), VanderMeer published his second book, Lyric of the Highway Mariner (1992). Although popular, Lyric failed to capture the public imagination. Little is known of VanderMeer’s movements during the next four years, a few random sightings doing nothing to dispel the mystery. A French tourist claimed he saw VanderMeer in Samarkand in July of 1993. On the 10th of August 1994, the American Embassy in Uzbekhistan received a garbled cell phone call from a man claiming to be VanderMeer, asking for what sounded like an “emergency shipment of paper.” A traveling priest saw VanderMeer in Timbuktu in October of 1994 and asked him to autograph his worn copy of The Book of Frog, but the man the priest approached angrily denied being VanderMeer. Further VanderSightings in Cairo, and Sydney appear to be erroneous.
In 1996, VanderMeer resurfaced in Tallahassee, Florida, recently married, sporting dual degrees in fungi and cephalopod studies from Florida State University. When questioned by an interviewer from Modern Fantasy Studies, VanderMeer refused to explain his absence, but indicated that new fictions would be forthcoming. Indeed, Dradin, In Love and a story collection, The Book of Lost Places, appeared in that very year.
Throughout 1997-98, VanderMeer abandoned writing for a career in the field of cephalopod studies. His controversial findings on the Florida Freshwater Squid were published in the journal Mollusca in 1998 and, coupled with a paper entitled “The Empirical Evidence for the Squid-Fungi Connection,” firmly entrenched him on the “exciting lunatic fringe” of both disciplines, as reported in an article published by Scientific American.
However, bored by science and thwarted in an attempt to join the professional racquetball circuit by an injury suffered while swerving to avoid squashing a bullfrog, VanderMeer returned to writing for good. According to his wife, Ann, VanderMeer wrote for 18 or 19 hours a day from January 1999 until July 2001. The results of this intense flurry of writing activity are, of course, now widely known: six novels, publication to be staggered every three months as part of an extended PR campaign by Wildside’s new U.S. imprint Hoegbotton & Sons, the first novel published in May 2002 to acclaim and respectable sales. A trip to New York City to meet with his agent Howard Morhaim culminated in a very public breakfast at Martha’s Vineyard with Paul Auster, John Irving, and a vacationing Martin Amis. A series of readings in major cities also attracted favorable media attention, a photograph of VanderMeer and his wife appearing in Entertainment Weekly.
However, in late October 2003, on the eve of the publication of this very edition, VanderMeer disappeared from his house. He left no note. He did not confide in his wife. The only clue: the galleys of the four main novellas included in this collection, found on his work desk, cut into sentence-sized sections and profoundly rearranged—pieces of “Transformation” stuck together with “Strange Case,” pages from “Dradin” inserted into “The Early History.” The purpose of these juxtapositions remains a mystery, although his wife believes that VanderMeer was attempting to communicate in some new and arcane manner. Regardless, VanderMeer remained missing. The only evidence of any kind as to his whereabouts is the photo accompanying this bio note, taken by the owner of a bookstore in Prague. Although the owner claims the photograph is of VanderMeer, experts who have examined it cannot conclusively identify the silhouette as the author in question. Wildside Press would appreciate receiving any information about VanderMeer’s whereabouts, although no cash reward is being offered.
If you enjoyed
CITY OF SAINTS AND MADMEN
please see overleaf to discover other
fabulous Jeff VanderMeer tales.
VENISS UNDERGROUND
Jeff VanderMeer
Dreams and nightmares entwine as three fellow
ravellers strive to achieve their deepest desires.
Nicholas seeks to escape his demons in the dark city of Veniss’ shadowy underground. But in doing so, he makes a deal with the devil himself. Then in her fevered search for him, his twin sister, Nicola, spins her own unusual and hypnotic tale as she discovers the hidden secrets of the city.
Finally, haunted by Nicola’s sudden, mysterious disappearance and gripped by despair, Shadrach, Nicola’s lover, embarks on a mythic journey. He must steel himself to visit the nightmarish levels deep beneath the surface of the city, to bring his love back to light. For these depths hold perils that are both complex and chilling. There, he will find wonders beyond imagining . . . and horrors greater than the heart can bear.
Literary alchemist Jeff VanderMeer has produced a
triumph of the imagination, revealing the mysterious city
of Veniss through three intertwined voices.
‘The denouement is as powerful as any I have read’
Guardian
‘An outstanding first novel brimming with startling ideas’
Scotsman
‘Masterful . . . Not for the faint of heart, the story packs a strong emotional wallop’
Publishers Weekly
SHRIEK: AN AFTERWORD
Jeff VanderMeer
 
; The scandalous, heart-breaking and horrifying
secret history of two squabbling siblings – and their
confidantes, protectors and enemies.
Janice Shriek, ex-society figure, narrates this tale with flamboyant intensity and under increasingly urgent conditions. We follow the adventures of her brother Duncan, a historian obsessed with a doomed love affair. And we learn of a secret that may kill or transform him.
We witness a war between rival publishing houses that will change Ambergris forever. And we’re introduced to the grey caps, a marginalized people armed with advanced fungal technologies, who’ve been waiting underground for their chance to mould the future of the city.
An epic yet personal look at life, love and death
in the vividly imagined city of Ambergris.
‘Unsettling, erudite, dark, shot through with unexpected humour’
China Miéville
‘Challenging, intelligent and downright fun’
Guardian
‘There are touches of Borges and Nabokov as well as H. P. Lovecraft in this tale of changing fortunes and shifting relationships . . . atmospheric’
The Times
‘Five stars . . . from an author who should be turning heads in the “serious” literary world’
BBC Focus Magazine
Praise for
CITY OF SAINTS AND MADMEN
‘Somewhere at the intersection of pulp and Surrealism, drawing on the very best of both traditions, is Jeff VanderMeer’s Ambergris’
China Miéville
‘Make the most of the tapestry of tales and visions before you. It is a rare treasure, to be tasted with both relish and respect. It is the work of an original. It’s what you’ve been looking for’
Michael Moorcock
‘This is fiction to stand alongside that of Calvino and Borges’
Guardian
‘Beautifully written, virtually hallucinatory work. Connoisseurs of the finest in postmodern fantasy will find it enormously rewarding’
Publishers Weekly
‘City of Saints packs so much literary and emotional matter into the confines of one city . . . VanderMeer keeps going deeper, and finding new forms of gold’
Locus
Jeff VanderMeer novels
Ambergris
City of Saints and Madmen
Shriek: An Afterword
Finch
Dradin, In Love
Veniss Underground
The Situation
Southern Reach
Annihilation
Authority
Acceptance
First published 2002 by Prime Books, USA
First published in the UK 2004 by Tor
This electronic edition published 2014 by Tor
an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Basingstoke and Oxford
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-4472-6525-2
Copyright © Jeff VanderMeer 2002
Introduction © Michael Moorcock 2001
The right of Jeff VanderMeer to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The Macmillan Group has no responsibility for the information provided by any author websites whose address you obtain from this book (‘author websites’). The inclusion of author website addresses in this book does not constitute an endorsement by or association with us of such sites or the content, products, advertising or other materials presented on such sites.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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Jeff VanderMeer, City of Saints and Madmen
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