Read and Appreciated in 2001
An Admittedly Myopic “Writer’s Dozen” of the Eccentric, Sublime, & Time-Worn
The Book of Leviathan, Peter Blegvad
This collection of musician/artist Blegvad’s Leviathan cartoons follows the adventures of Levi and Cat-Levi being a faceless baby and Cat being a…cat. Originally published in The Independent, these cartoons come from a deeply surrealistic point of view. Impeccably drawn, in a variety of styles, the non-chronological, illogical logic of the characters makes this collection an avant garde Alice in Wonderland.
Ila, Richard Winters
(Impatiens Press, P.O. Box 11897, Philadelphia, PA 19128, USA)
Every few years, Winters puts out a self-published 5×8 hardcover of his fiction. Made to last, these books usually feature high quality cloth binding and a plain off-white or blue dust jacket bare of anything but the title and the author’s name. Winters’ work, set in his native Pennsylvania, is about ordinary men with extraordinary dreams who, even when they fail to achieve their dreams, attain a state of grace. These are not stories of drifters and sociopaths, but of farmers and the poor. There’s little dialogue in Winters’ stories. They use a kind of cleansing silence and depend heavily on atmosphere and close observations of mannerisms and reactions. Now Winters has a new book out called Ila. It tells the story of a man named Gall. It too is simple and beautiful and unique.
Dossier, Stepan Chapman
(Creative Arts Book Company)
Although not a definitive collection, Dossier does collect some of my favorite Chapman tales, including “Minutes of the Last Meeting,” “The Prison of Sod,” and “The Stairways of Causation.” Chapman’s has a manic imagination and an amazing eye for bizarre specific detail.
Toxicology, Steve Aylett
(UK: Gollancz, US: 4walls8windows)
Aylett’s collection offers a series of short, sharp shocks. From the faux “Metamorphosis” story “The Met Are All For You” to the hilarious “Bestiary,” the author subverts reader expectations to a liberating degree. Few writers working the field today are willing to eschew conventional three-dimensional characterization in pursuit of a dizzying array of compensatory pleasures.
