“Even as Reality by Other Means points out what is wrong with society, James Morrow never letsus forget that society is made up of individuals who matter, be they a soldier on the battlefield, a hitchhiker on the Ark, or our daughter the Earth. No one has ever used the devices of satire and science fiction to give us literature this smart, this elegant, this compassionate. I hope thatMorrow, who understands that the only way out is for us to reason together, will forgive me for saying that I admire his work beyond all reason.” –F. Brett Cox, coeditor of Crossroads: Tales of the Southern Literary Fantastic “No matter where―or when―he sets his stories, Morrow’s a clean stylist with an accurate grip on the diction, the character, and the metabolic rate of the narrator. Intelligent and funny, this is the best kind of mind candy.” — Kit Reed, author of The Story Until Now “In these angrily compassionate tales, Morrow ventriloquizes Dante and Swift in writing as cutting as freshly strung barbed wire. Each posits an astonishing otherness that debunks a menacing human folly while also eliciting gasps or guffaws of outraged delight.” — Michael Bishop, author of A Funeral for the Eyes of Fire “Here’s undeniable proof that James Morrow is our Jonathan Swift—a funnier, more fantastical Swift. Morrow can be brainy and absurd, hilarious and profound, scatological and philosophical—all on the same page. After you stop laughing, you keep thinking, and that’s when you realize you’re in the hands of a master. No one else sounds like him, and no one else has sharper satirical knives.” — Daryl Gregory, author of Afterparty “James Morrow, a master of the reductio ad absurdum, is a thoughtful satirist whose sharp but never gratuitous wit takes aim at serious issues in beautifully crafted prose that is always a pleasure to read.” — Pamela Sargent, author of The Shore of Women TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION BY GARY K. WOLF BIGFOOT AND THE BODHISATTVA THE CAT’S PAJAMAS ARMS AND THE WOMAN THE WAR OF THE WORLDVIEWS BIBLE STORIES FOR ADULTS, NO. 17: THE DELUGE SPINOZA’S GOLEM KNOWN BUT TO GOD AND WILBUR HINES DAUGHTER EARTH THE VAMPIRES OF PARADOX BIBLE STORIES FOR ADULTS, NO. 31: THE COVENANT LADY WITHERSPOON’S SOLUTION MARTYRS OF THE UPSHOT KNOTHOLE AUSPICIOUS EGGS THE IRON SHROUD FIXING THE ABYSS THE WISDOM OF THE SKIN THE RAFT OF THE TITANIC
Save 30% on print editions when you order from Wesleyan University Press and use discount code W301.
320 pp., 6-1/8 x 9-1/4″ Jacketed Cloth, $30.00, 978-0-8195-7594-4 eBook, $23.99, 978-0-8195-7575-3 Publication in November 2015
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The Best Short Fiction of James Morrow
Introduction by Gary K. Wolfe Published by Wesleyan University Press
Join the Abominable Snowman as, determined to transcend his cannibalistic past, he studies Tibetan Buddhism under the Dalai Lama. Pace the walls of Ilium with fair Helen as she tries to convince both sides to abandon their absurd Trojan War. Visit the nursery of Zenobia Garber, born to a Pennsylvania farm couple who accept her for the uncanny little biosphere she is. Scramble aboard the raft built by the passengers and crew of the sinking Titanic—and don’t be surprised when the vessel transmutes into a world even more astonishing than the original Ship of Dreams. Reality by Other Means offers readers the most celebrated results from James Morrow’s thirty-five-year career designing fictive thought experiments. Anchored by seven previously uncollected stories, this omnibus ranges from social satire to theological hijinks, steampunk escapades to philosophical antics.
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