Wednesday, December 15, 2004

MANIFESTATIONS OF SHRIEK IN THIS WORLD

Shriek: An Afterword is narrated by Janice Shriek and typed by her on an old manual typewriter. Here's a sample page, with additional comments by her brother, Duncan:



And a look at her typewriter:




And an excerpt from and description of the novel...

By the wet, glistening outdoor lamps, I could see the beginning of a vast, almost invisible migration—from the broken remains at our feet, from the burgundy bell-shaped fungi, from the inverted wine glasses, from the yellow-green nodules. Like ghosts, like spirits, a million tiny fruiting bodies, in a thousand intricate shapes, like terrestrial jellyfish—oh, what am I trying to say so badly except that they were beautiful, gorgeous, as they fled out the window, to be taken by the wind. In the faint light. Soundlessly. Like souls…In that moment, almost in tears from the combination of exhaustion and fear of the unknown, I think I caught a glimpse of what my brother Duncan saw; of what had created the ecstasy I had seen in him.
- From Shriek: An Afterword


Epic yet personal, Shriek: An Afterword is a tragi-comic family account covering several decades in the author's imaginary Ambergris, a city previously chronicled in the award-winning City of Saints & Madmen (Pan Macmillan). Narrated with flamboyant intensity by ex-society figure Janice Shriek under increasingly urgent conditions, the novel presents a vivid gallery of characters and events, including a historian obsessed with a doomed love affair and a secret that may kill or transform him; a war between rival publishing houses that threatens to change Ambergris forever; and a marginalized people known as "gray caps," armed with advanced fungal technologies, waiting underground for their chance to mold the true future of the city. This is the story of the Family Shriek, a novel of love, life, and death.

2 Comments:

At 8:16 PM, Blogger Jason Erik Lundberg said...

Fantastic photographs, Jeff. I've already told you how much I like the photo of the mushroom- and fungus-infested typewriter, but I also really love the typed page by Janice and hand-written comments by Duncan. And of course the page has been infected by mold as well.

It's so cool that you're producing these yourself.

 
At 6:11 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jonathan Edwards prepared these images. His web site is: www.trynottoblink.com

I supplied mushrooms, text, and a lot of ideas that he added his own to and we went from there. I'm hoping the images won't just be inside the book, but part of the cover design of one or more of the editions.

JeffV

 

Post a Comment

<< Home