Goodreads Giveaway Complete
Congratulations to Karen Mikusak from Detroit, Michigan. She won a free paperback copy of The Irreal Reader: Fiction & Essays from The Cafe Irreal in Guide Dog Books' recent Goodreads giveaway. The Irreal Reader is currently available in paperback and Kindle formats.
Czech Literary Portal & Goodreads Giveaway
The paperback edition of The Irreal Reader: Fiction & Essays from The Cafe Irreal was officially released today and mentioned in the Czech Literary Portal. A lot went into the creation of this anthology; naturally we're very proud of it. Below are a few different places where you can check it out. Reviews are appreciated!
Also, there is a Goodreads giveaway for a free copy of the book that will run until the end of the month. Enter to win here.
The Irreal Reader
Available now from Guide Dog Books: The Irreal Reader collects the best fiction from The Cafe Irreal.
The Cafe Irreal: International Imagination, a pioneering web-based literary magazine, first went online in 1998 with the intention of publishing a type of fantastic fiction most often associated with writers such as Franz Kafka, Kobo Abe and Jorge Luis Borges. To this end, it has published more than 250 authors from over 30 countries. In the course of the past fifteen years, it has also seen its editors nominated for a World Fantasy Award and been named by Writer’s Digest as one of the Top 30 Short Story Markets.
In this anthology, edited by G.S. Evans and Alice Whittenburg, Guide Dog Books presents a selection of the fiction and essays from The Cafe Irreal that take us most definitively into the realm of the Irreal. These include pieces by Diploma de Honor Konex winner Ana María Shua (Argentina), Michal Ajvaz (winner of the Magnesia Litera prize in the Czech Republic), Pulitzer Prize winner Charles Simic, and Pushcart Prize winners Bruce Holland Rogers and Caitlin Horrocks.
White Indians
“Gills’ beautifully written prose in White Indians combines
his warring natures—the daring macho infused crazy man with the earth-reverent
husband and father. This book is a reminder that we Americans still live on a
continent that recently was a wilderness, and that we all possess an atavistic
need to interact with it. For those of us not so good as Michael Gills at
camping, hiking, and white-water rafting, he’s offered us a thrilling armchair
version.”
—Diane Wakoski, author The Diamond Dog
“Each word is a spark, every sentence a sizzling fuse. The
whole of White Indians is a sun-white conflagration, cleanly
and cleansing. The intensity of this visionary memoir is the core of its
message. Michael Gills sojourned in the heart of light and he has returned to
his home world with that light still clinging to his every utterance. I shall
never be the only reader grateful for his revelations—and a little frightened
of them.”
—Fred Chappell, Ancestors and Others: New and Selected
Stories
White Indians will be available in paperback and ebook formats. Please check out the book's Goodreads page.
The Irreal Reader: Description & TOC
In November, Guide Dog Books will release The Irreal Reader: Fiction & Essays from The Cafe Irreal, edited by G.S. Evans and Alice Whittenburg. We're very excited about this anthology and it's been a long time in the making. Here is the cover description and the full table of contents.
The Cafe Irreal: International Imagination, a pioneering web-based literary magazine, first went online in 1998 with the intention of publishing a type of fantastic fiction most often associated with writers such as Franz Kafka, Kobo Abe and Jorge Luis Borges. To this end, it has published more than 250 authors from over 30 countries. In the course of the past fifteen years, it has also seen its editors nominated for a World Fantasy Award and been named by Writer’s Digest as one of the Top 30 Short Story Markets. In this anthology, Guide Dog Books presents a selection of the fiction and essays from The Cafe Irreal that take us most definitively into the realm of the Irreal. These include pieces by Diploma de Honor Konex winner Ana María Shua (Argentina), Michal Ajvaz (winner of the Magnesia Litera prize in the Czech Republic), Pulitzer Prize winner Charles Simic, and Pushcart Prize winners Bruce Holland Rogers and Caitlin Horrocks.
Preface
TERRY DARTNALL
ANA MARÍA SHUA
EWALD MURRER
KEVIN SEXTON
KUZHALI MANICKAVEL
CHARLES SIMIC
NORMAN LOCK
VANESSA GEBBIE
JIŘÍ KRATOCHVÍL
PAUL BLANEY
GREG JENKINS
CAITLIN HORROCKS
GUIDO EEKHAUT
GIRIJA TROPP
MICHAL AJVAZ
LEE WILLIAMS
BOB THURBER
ALEXANDRA BERKOVÁ
D.E. LUCAS
B E TURNER
MAURICIO ROSALES
RICHARD KOSTELANETZ
HARRY WHITE
BRUCE HOLLAND ROGERS
BRIAN BISWAS
JIRI VALOCH
J.B. MULLIGAN
UTAHNA FAITH
EMILIO MARTINEZ
D. HARLAN WILSON
DAVID RAY
VIT ERBAN
STEPHANIE HAMMER
PETER GRANDBOIS
TOMÁŠ PŘIDAL
From The Coconut Ape
JOSÉ CHAVES
G.S. EVANS
ALICE WHITTENBURG
GARRETT ROWLAN
G.S. EVANS
GARRETT ROWLAN
G.S. EVANS
DEAN SWINFORD
G.S. EVANS
ALICE WHITTENBURG
G.S. EVANS
GARRETT ROWLAN
G.S. EVANS
G.S. EVANS AND ALICE WHITTENBURG
Afterword
The Cafe Irreal: International Imagination, a pioneering web-based literary magazine, first went online in 1998 with the intention of publishing a type of fantastic fiction most often associated with writers such as Franz Kafka, Kobo Abe and Jorge Luis Borges. To this end, it has published more than 250 authors from over 30 countries. In the course of the past fifteen years, it has also seen its editors nominated for a World Fantasy Award and been named by Writer’s Digest as one of the Top 30 Short Story Markets. In this anthology, Guide Dog Books presents a selection of the fiction and essays from The Cafe Irreal that take us most definitively into the realm of the Irreal. These include pieces by Diploma de Honor Konex winner Ana María Shua (Argentina), Michal Ajvaz (winner of the Magnesia Litera prize in the Czech Republic), Pulitzer Prize winner Charles Simic, and Pushcart Prize winners Bruce Holland Rogers and Caitlin Horrocks.
CONTENTS
FICTIONS
TERRY DARTNALL
The Santa Fe
From Geisha House
From Botany of Chaos
From The Diary of Mr. Pinke
The Spindler
Kisi Shayar Something Something
Cats and Fish
Because We Are Precious and Brave
Seven Prose Poems
Unreal Geography
The Cruelty of Poetry
Storm Warning
The Note-Takers
PETER CHERCHES
From Mr. Deadman
A Sad Play
From the Pulps
The Restaurant
I Came Highly Recommended
I Dreamed and in My Dream
As I Walked Out
How the Universe Works
I Feel My Temperature Risin'
Herzenboogen's Theory of Collective Truth
Just Words
Cellular
The City and Heaven
The Kn!ghts of Slipway Seven
GLEYVIS CORO
The Fever
Shuteye
From Magoria
Of the Minotaur
The Comedy of Art
Poster
Openings
The Best of the Besht
Witness
The Ledger Angel
A Betrayal
semantical studies
The Man in the Red Raincoat
The Message
A White Chair
All Girl Band
News from Burgundia
Giraffe
Seven Pieces of Meat
A Small, Cold Sun
The Belly of the Centipede
Mayoral Morbitas
Sewing
From The Coconut Ape
All I Misunderstood as a Man Makes
Complete Sense as a Parrot
THEORETICAL WRITINGS
What Is Irrealism?
On International Imagination
The Waking Dream: A Review of Kazuo Ishiguro's The Unconsoled
Irrealism Is Not a Surrealism: A Consideration of Analogon #32
Irrealism and the Visual Arts
From “American Irrealism and the Cult of Experience”
From “Defining Irrealism: Scientific Development and Allegorical Possibility”
G.S. EVANS
A Response to “Defining Irrealism”
DEAN SWINFORD
A Response to “A Response to ‘Defining Irrealism’”
Irrealism and the Dream-State
From “Finding the Strange in the Familiar: Irreal Stories by Women Writers”
Magical Realism and Its Meanings: A Not So Necessary Confusion
GARRETT ROWLAN
Irrealism and Ambient Music
This Could Be a Pipe: Foucault, Irrealism and Ceci n'est pas une pipe
After Kafka: Kafka Criticism and Scholarship as a Resource in an Attempt to Promulgate a New Literary Genre
Revolutionary Brain on Kindle
Harold Jaffe's Revolutionary Brain: Essays & Quasi-Essays is now available on Kindle. Get it for $2.99 for a limited time.Also check out the Kindle edition of Jaffe's Anti-Twitter, currently ranked #1 in the Satire category at Amazon. It is available as a free download for the next 24 hours.
Monstrous Creatures for FREE
"An entertaining, eclectic chronicle of modern fantastical fiction, Monstrous Creatures delivers incisive commentary, reviews, and essays pertaining to permutations of the monstrous, whether it’s other people’s monsters, personal monsters, or monstrous thoughts. A two-time winner of the World Fantasy Award, Jeff VanderMeer is one of speculative fiction’s foremost voices. For the past 20 years, he has not only written weird literary fiction translated into 20 languages, but written about it extensively, influencing the way people think about fantasy through reviews in major papers like The Washington Post and The New York Times, as well as through interviews, thoughtful essays, blog posts, teaching, and guest-speaking. Monstrous Creatures, a follow-up to his 2004 nonfiction collection Why Should I Cut Your Throat?, collects all of his major nonfiction from the past five years, including such controversial pieces as “The Romantic Underground,” “The Triumph of the Good,” and “The Language of Defeat”. Interviews with writers like Margo Lanagan and China Miéville are an added bonus, creating a dialogue with VanderMeer’s own interpretations of the monstrous in the fantastical."
Possible Architect 9 & 10
Episodes 9 and 10 are now available at the website for Lance Olsen's Architectures of Possibility. Professor, critic and novelist Davis Schneiderman talks about writing and publishing in the age of digital distraction and auto summarizes Alice in Wonderland in 85 words.
Praise for Revolutionary Brain
Here are some recent blurbs from interviews of Harold Jaffe's Revolutionary Brain:
"Both alarming and playful, Revolutionary Brain is an accessible read that offers neither authoritative explanations nor easy resolutions to today’s problems of digital overload; instead, the book, by its own example, attempts to illustrate how art and activism can shock us out of complacency." —New Orleans Review
"[I]t is what Jaffe does with others’ words that makes his writing riveting. Along with poignant, startling, disturbing." —San Diego Gay & Lesbian News
"I found myself pondering his words and meanings on every page. It was enjoyable; it was thought-provoking, at times it was comedic, and one that I will need to read many times to get the full gist of his meanings." —San Diego Free Press
"Both alarming and playful, Revolutionary Brain is an accessible read that offers neither authoritative explanations nor easy resolutions to today’s problems of digital overload; instead, the book, by its own example, attempts to illustrate how art and activism can shock us out of complacency." —New Orleans Review
"[I]t is what Jaffe does with others’ words that makes his writing riveting. Along with poignant, startling, disturbing." —San Diego Gay & Lesbian News
"I found myself pondering his words and meanings on every page. It was enjoyable; it was thought-provoking, at times it was comedic, and one that I will need to read many times to get the full gist of his meanings." —San Diego Free Press
Interview with Harold Jaffe
In this timely collection of essays and "quasi-essays," acclaimed novelist and critic Harold Jaffe explores the intricate vicissitudes of millennial culture. Gesturing, in a philosophical shorthand, toward a kind of pop Armageddon, Revolutionary Brain is at once thesis, allegory, and surreal comedy, demonstrating just how far we, and the natural world we have debased, have fallen. Obsessed with technology, we are incapable of reconstructing ourselves. By way of Jaffe's elegant prose and perfect pitch, our collective disability is laid bare at the 11th hour. Revolutionary Brain is a powerful cry for a brave new aesthetics that turns towards, not away, from our tormented globe.
Technologized Desire on Kindle
D. Harlan Wilson's Technologized Desire: Selfhood & the Body in Postcapitalist Science Fiction, is now available on Kindle. The Nook will follow in the next week or so.
Here's the Table of Contents.
Here's the book description:
In Technologized Desire, D. Harlan Wilson measures the evolution of the human condition as it has been represented by postcapitalist science fiction, which has consistently represented the body and subjectivity as ultraviolent, pathological phenomena. Operating under the assumption that selfhood is a technology—i.e., a creative projection from the body encompassing everything from language to electronic machinery—Wilson studies the emergence of selfhood in philosophy (Deleuze & Guattari), fiction (William S. Burroughs' cut-up novels and Max Barry's Jennifer Government), and cinema (Army of Darkness, Vanilla Sky, and the Matrix trilogy) in an attempt to portray the schizophrenic rigor of twenty-first century mediatized life. We are obligated by the pathological unconscious to always choose to be enslaved by capital and its hi-tech arsenal. The universe of consumer-capitalism, Wilson argues, is an illusory prison from which there is no escape—despite the fact that it is illusory.
Here's the Table of Contents.
Here's the book description:
In Technologized Desire, D. Harlan Wilson measures the evolution of the human condition as it has been represented by postcapitalist science fiction, which has consistently represented the body and subjectivity as ultraviolent, pathological phenomena. Operating under the assumption that selfhood is a technology—i.e., a creative projection from the body encompassing everything from language to electronic machinery—Wilson studies the emergence of selfhood in philosophy (Deleuze & Guattari), fiction (William S. Burroughs' cut-up novels and Max Barry's Jennifer Government), and cinema (Army of Darkness, Vanilla Sky, and the Matrix trilogy) in an attempt to portray the schizophrenic rigor of twenty-first century mediatized life. We are obligated by the pathological unconscious to always choose to be enslaved by capital and its hi-tech arsenal. The universe of consumer-capitalism, Wilson argues, is an illusory prison from which there is no escape—despite the fact that it is illusory.
Technologized Desire on Kindle/Nook
D. Harlan Wilson's book of literary and cultural criticism, Technologized Desire: Selfhood & the Body in Postcapitalist Science Fiction, will be available on Kindle and Nook soon. Here are a few blurbs and passages from some reviews:
"A
common accompanying theme ... of postcapitalist science fiction is dystopian
post-humanism: a merging of the biological self with technology with disastrous
global consequences. Such stories swarm with clones, cyborgs, and virtual
realities. These latter stories have a tendency to dehumanize the human, many
seeming to strive to answer the question, 'What is humanity?' while characters
plug or jack or dial into virtual, highly technologized existences. With this
backdrop of science fiction, along with that of decades of culture, philosophy,
politics, and history as its base, and expanding his science fiction data field
to include cinema as the prevailing mass medium for such fiction, prolific
fiction and non-fiction author D. Harlan Wilson's Technologized Desire:
Selfhood & the Body in Postcapitalist Science Fiction is an ambitious
undertaking, analyzing the currents of all these information flows and
examining them for patterns and meaning with a keen, postmodern eye." The
New York Review of Science Fiction
"With
or without choice, Wilson's technologized subjects explore the possibilities
left them through 'science fiction texts [...] that can be read as
technocultural phenomena as well as sources that read into the nature of
technoculture.' This is the fruitful outcome of Wilson's project—a series of
deft and interesting analyses of the ways in which specific sf texts map the
position of the technologized self within the postmodern world ... I would
recommend the book highly to anyone interested in any of the texts under
analysis and for those interested in postcapitalism or sf as a proscriptive
genre. Although the level of theoretical engagement would make Technologized
Desire a difficult text for all but the most advanced graduate students, I
could easily see using it in the classroom as a model for graduate students on
how to integrate multiple theories by multiple theorists into a persuasive
argument." Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts
"Technologized
Desire proves itself to be a rich addition to the growing canon of
21st-century critical theory and literary criticism. Wilson is an author who
expresses a clear concern for the future; his book is an urgent text of keen
observation and wide-reaching social commentary that warrants nothing less than
a careful, thoughtful read." Rain Taxi
"Wilson's
text serves not only as a well-informed addition to science fiction criticism
and theory, but also as a critique of postmodem society and the direction it is
headed. Utilizing examples from postcapitalist films, novels, and comic books,
Wilson provides a dynamic analysis of science fiction as a way to view
postmodern capitalism and its effects on society and individuals." FemSpec
"Postmodern
SF, Wilson suggests, has recovered from the panic of cyberpunk and begun to
treat the human as body as a commodity-self that can free itself from the
technological ... Ultimately, Wilson's book is a quick read, except where he
chooses to quote Bukatman and Deleuze-Guattari. It could serve as an entry into
SF and postmodern fiction and film." Journal of the Midwest Modern
Language Association
"As
time goes on, will humanity become less human? Technologized Desire:
Selfhood and the Body in Postcapitalist Science Fiction is a discussion of
science fiction and its relation to the future of mankind and its relationship
to technology. Analyzing the works of many writers, D. Harlan Wilson brings
readers some original philosophy about the conclusions we can draw for the
future of mankind, by simply looking at science fiction. Technologized
Desire is an utterly fascinating read that deserves a place in any literary
studies collection." Midwest Book Review
"By
and large, his interpretations are right on the money: Wilson's analyses are
almost always rich, insightful, and convincing. Thus, Crowe's and Raimi's films
demonstrate the impossibility of a 'natural' self even while guilefully
suggesting the opposite; Burroughs' trilogy advances postcapitalist (i.e.,
hypercapitalist) 'reality'; and the Wachowskis' MATRIX films recapitulate all
of this with an eye toward 'the futurological dimension of a postcapitalist
dystopia,' as well as the history of science fiction itself. In addition,
Wilson's key concern—that capitalist critique be added to the otherwise
exemplary work begun by Bukatman—constitutes a valuable contribution to recent
scholarship on postmodern science fiction." Science Fiction Studies
"Wilson
mobilized a pantheon of twentieth century commentators from Freud to Benjamin,
to Baudrillard and Lacan, to Jameson and Zizek, to, finally, Deleuze and
Guattari—'poet laureates of technocapitalism' ... [D]espite being a deceptively
concise book, Technologized Desire ... is a more than worthy addition to
sf scholarship. I can appeal both to those deeply entrenched in the discourses
of capitalist posthumanity and to beginners whom the book will send outward to
other critical texts invoked by Wilson." Extrapolation
"In
Technologized Desire, the cultural pathologies that mark the panic
ecstasy and terminal doom of the posthuman condition are powerfully rehearsed
in the language of science fiction. Here, images of prosthetic subjects,
zombies, cut-ups and armies of the medieval dead actually slip off the pages of
literature to become the terminal hauntology of these technologized times. Technologized
Desire is nothing less than a brilliant data screen of future memories.
Read it well: it's a survival guide for bodies flatlined by the speed of
accelerating technology." Arthur Kroker, author of The
Postmodern Scene and Panic Encyclopedia
"Describing
an impressively wide arc from high-toned cultural theory to cyberpunk fiction
to techno-centered cinema, Wilson advances his theory that 'the only choice
available to the postmodern subject ... is rooted in a dependency on ... the
ultraviolent schizophrenic production of the commodity-self.' Technologized
Desire is a bright, brazen, evocative reading of technology, the body, and
the art that is inaccurately labeled science 'fiction'." Harold Jaffe,
author of Straight Razor, 15 Serial Killers and Beyond the
Techno-Cave: A Guerilla Writer's Guide to Post-Milennial Culture
"D.
Harlan Wilson’s Technologized Desire: Selfhood and the Body in
Postcapitalist Science Fiction is a fantastic book. One of the finest
theoretical examinations in the field, it is also eminently readable and highly
incisive. With this, Wilson has written a major work, one that will stand out
(and above) in science fiction studies. Both great fun and wonderfully
intelligent, how could you go wrong? Highly recommended.” Gary Hoppenstand, editor
of The Journal of Popular Culture
“Postmodern analysis of science fiction doesn’t
get any better than this. Jump in and see how far down the rabbit hole goes.” William
Irwin, editor of The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the
Real and More Matrix and Philosophy: Revolutions and Reloaded Decoded
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