Paging Dr. Lambshead

Mark your calendars, kids: I've got a small piece accepted for publication in the forthcoming Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities (HarperCollins, July 2011). They say lightning doesn't strike twice, but as this is the second thing I've placed with editors Jeff and Ann VanderMeer (the first being in their excellent antho Fast Ships, Black Sails), you gotta wonder. Although, to be honest, the extremely brief nature of my contribution probably counts as more of a static shock. My effort, titled "Mother of Spirits," was submitted for their micro-fiction, and was disproportionately fun to write. I've half a mind to homebrew up some of the stuff (I have my ways, even without a still or an actual "Mother of Spirits") and send it to the VanderMeers for fun. Here is the sum total of those making it into the micro-fiction section of the book:

Hugh Alter – The Sea Scroll
Julie Andrews – Mellified Alien
Christopher Begley – Unhcegila’s Scales
Jayme Lynn Blaschke – Mother of Spirits
Nickolas Brienza – The Fort Chaffee Polyhedral Deck
Tucker Cumming – “Our Greatest President”
Kaolin Imago Fire – Leary’s Pineal Body
Dr. Galubrious – St. Blaise’s Toad (text and image)
Jess Gulbranson – Coffin Torpedo
Jennifer Harwood-Smith – The Dinner Bell of the Mary Celeste
Willow Holser – Silence, One Ounce
Rhys Hughes – Reversed Commas (box of)
Paul Kirsch – Much Smaller Cabinet
Michael J. Larson – Unlabeled Wax Phonograph Cylinder
Therese Littleton – Czerwatenko Whelk in Olive Oil
Graham Lowther – Ear Eye
Claire Massey – Harness & Leash for Fly
Tony Mileman – Untitled Booklet
Adam Mills – Bear Gun
Ignacio Sanz – Oneyroscope
Steven M. Schmidt – Tycho’s Astronomical Support Garment
Grant Stone – Kepler the Clock
Brian Thill – The Dander of Melville
Nicholas Troy – South American Insult Stone
Nick Tramdack – Bullet Managerie
Tom Underberg – American Night Quilt
Horia Ursu – Dracula’s Testicles
William T. Vandemark – The Decanter of Everlasting Sadness (submitted via email due to use of proprietary material)
Kali Wallace – Human Skeleton, Irregular
Tracy Welser – Parsimonius Skull (owl)
Amy Willats – Skull
Nadine Wilson – Tomb-Matches

And here is some of Jeff's commentary on their selection criteria:

We also tried to look for variety in terms of length of entry, and try to make sure longer entries truly supported their initial concept by opening up and expanding on ideas in a satisfactory ways. A few very short entries worked well by getting in and getting out with the necessary speed. Some, like Bear Gun, were just plain hilarious, while others, like American Night Quilt and Mother of Spirits, displayed nice use of detail and no one submitted anything quite like them. The Untitled Booklet’s conceit of a publication that was actually an insect struck us as brilliant, as did Rhys Hughes’ Reversed Commas box. Others, like Ear Eye and Coffin Torpedo, had us at the title, and luckily held up. We took the baldly humorous and the oh-so serious because the good doctor’s cabinet can incorporate both extremes. But, we digress…

I suspect the Thackery T. Lambshead persona has become something of a literary cottage industry for the VanderMeers. It wouldn't surprise me at all if we see more silliness in this vein, and hopefully I'll be able to contribute my fair share.

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