A press release from Jaym Gates:
There’s always at least one strange story in a slush pile that doesn’t fit the theme but is too good to turn down. A bizarre treasure or two found in an out-of-print collection or a rediscovered translation coming at readers from an off-kilter angle. That forgotten gem from a defunct magazine, the tale that no one noticed then, but that unearthed and republished suddenly gets its due.
Now, Ann and Jeff VanderMeer have started an anthology line to showcase these oddities of literature.
ODD?: A unique new fiction anthology that asks the question “Is it odd, or are you too normal?” A mix of originals, new translations, and reprints (many of them hard-to-find) that qualify as “strange fiction”, some of it surreal, some horrific, some fantastical, and all of it… odd. (Unless it’s just because you’re too normal.) Featuring, among others, Amos Tutuola, Nalo Hopkinson, Jeffrey Ford, Rikki Ducornet, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Hiromi Goto, Stacey Levine, and Jeffrey Thomas—with new translations by Gio Clairval, Larry Nolen, and Brian Evenson of such classic writers as Gustave Le Rouge, Leopoldo Lugones, and Karl Hans Strobl as well as a brand-new story by Finnish icon Leena Krohn!
Edited by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, the team that brought you The New Weird, the Best American Fantasy series, and The Weird, a 750,000-word, 100-year retrospective of weird short fiction. Profiled by national NPR and the New York times Papercuts blog, among others.
Ann & Jeff’s Cheeky Frawg epub company specializes in quality, self-aware e-books. We hand-craft every e-book on a letterpress using only the best, most perfectly formed 00000s and 111111s.
Special promotional efforts include “Myster Odd”, an animated short film by Gregory Bossert. This film features an original song by Danny Fontaine from Horns of Fury, lyrics by Jeff and Danny.
Subscription details are available on this page. The first three volumes as e-books are available for $21; as print books, for $45.
The table of contents for the debut of ODD? is:
Introduction by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer
“The Dead Babies” by Amos Tutuola
“The War of the Vampires” by Gustave Le Rouge (translation by Brian Evenson and David Beus)
“Weiroot” by Jeffrey Ford
“The Bloat Toad” by Leopoldo Lugones (translation by Larry Nolen)
“Apt 205” by Mark Samuels
“Modern Cities Exist Only to Be Destroyed” by Michael Cisco
“Slow Cold Chick” by Nalo Hopkinson
“A Hard Truth About Waste Management” by Sumanth Prabhaker
“Stinky Girl” by Hiromi Goto
“Logues” by Eric Basso
“Lotophagi” by Edward Morris
“The Aunts” by Karin Tidbeck
“The Fork” by Jeffrey Thomas
“The Volatilized Ceiling of Baron Munodi” by Rikki Ducornet
“The Night of the Normal Distribution Curve” by Leena Krohn (translation by Anna Volmari and J. Robert Tupasela)
“Unmaking” by Amanda le Bas de Plumetot
“The Head” by Karl Hans Strobl (translation by Gio Clairval)
“A Child’s Guide to the Hollow Hills” by Caitlin R. Kiernan
“Sausage” by Stacey Levine
“Myster Odd Theme Song” by Danny Fontaine & Jeff VanderMeer