Fantastic Metropolis

Intro · Likes · Rituals · Necessity
Examples · Memories · Bios

Theodora Goss

Kalpa Imperial, published by Small Beer Press. A beautifully designed cover, and the perfect size to read on a subway car. (Not to mention the gorgeous stories.)

M. John Harrison

Among editions of my own books, the Night Shade Things That Never Happen stands out.

Barry Hughart

A Trip to the Stars by Nicholas Christopher, Dial Press, and Ghostwritten by David Mitchell, Random House.

Rhys Hughes

I admire the productions of Tartarus, Sarob, and Savoy. One of the nicest books I have ever seen is Savoy’s recent reprint of the obscure Monsieur Zenith The Albino by Anthony Skene. I like novels with strange designs or pictures included among the text. Milorad Pavić’s The Inner Side Of The Wind consists of two separate sections printed back to back. There are some intriguing charts and symbols and patterns in The Dumas Club by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. I have a particular fondness for the old Collins Classics, which I started collecting before I could even read them properly. The gold lettering on the spines always impressed me. Once I became so agitated by the excellent glitter that I took a pen and recolored one title red. The book in question was The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, which I have still never read, and I was about ten years old. If books are too nicely produced, I generally feel reluctant to spoil them by reading them. This is possibly linked to the fact that I have never slept with a virgin. Possibly so, but probably not.

Shelley Jackson

I., by Stephen Dixon (McSweeney’s Books), which has a giant “I.” die-cut through the cloth-covered front board, through which you can see part of the Dan Clowes line drawing (blue ink on white) on the endpapers.

Harvey Jacobs

The books published by Pushcart Press are particularly attractive.

Stephen Jones

Quite simply, the best books currently being produced in the genre are the Robert E. Howard titles being published by Wandering Star. Every element of the production and design is immaculate—acid-free paper, beautiful sewn binding with bookmarks, copious illustrations (color and b&w), attractive type and layout, extras such as slipcases, chapbooks, or CDs. These are amongst some of the finest books ever produced in our field.

Henry Kaiser

The Vance Integral Editions. Truly amazing. All I can compare the experience for reading and holding them with is when my college pal Owen got to be the lover of his favorite porn star, Annette Haven, after he went backstage to meet her at a Mitchell Bros. live show in San Francisco (except I get to keep the books—and Annette broke up with Owen after a few months—but she put him in charge of her fan club and he got to help answer her mail). (And then, later on, he got called in to be a “stand-in cock” in one of her movies and then appeared in several more, but that’s all another story.)

James Patrick Kelly

It’s self-serving to say this, but I think that all the Golden Gryphon books are well-made and most of them are quite lovely. And I was amazed at the size of Hartwell and Cramer’s The Hard SF Renaissance, which is the largest book of science fiction I own. A feat of engineering Heinlein would have been proud of!

Rick Klaw

City of Saints and Madmen, Carter Beats The Devil, Abarat, Stories from a Lost Anthology.

John Klima

Wow, there are so many. I recently wrote an article about typography which delved a little into design. I think your average book has a pretty shitty design, as if the production department goes through the motions, but every once in a while something great comes out. The hardcover of City Of Saints and Madmen is a great example of an exceptionally designed book. You can tell great care was given to the choice of typefaces, illustrative introduction pages, footnotes, etc. The most amazing thing about the book is that it’s print-on-demand, so it has to set up in a way to make this great design without needing plates. Mark Z. Danielewski’s House Of Leaves did some very difficult things with layout, leading me to say that it was well-designed, but that the design didn’t help the story. The Cheese Monkeys by Chip Kidd had phenomenal design. The writer subtly changes typefaces about half-way through the book to indicate a major life change for the main character. Interesting design for cover and even printing along the edge of the pages.