Postscripts 2

I just received my contributor's copies of Postscripts no. 2. This issue features my interview with Kage Baker, which is intelligent, entertaining and endlessly fascinating (more of a reflection on Ms. Baker than any meager skills I bring to the table). Published by PS Publishing, it really is a fine product. The standard edition is nice enough, reminding me somewhat of the old Aussie print version of Eidolon. What's really impressive, however, is that there is also a limited edition hardback, signed by all contributors to the issue. It brings to mind the long-gone Pulphouse: A Hardback Magazine, which unfortunately had gone the way of the dodo before I ever began publishing. But Postscripts is alive and kicking, and it is a lovingly crafted magazine. The production values are top-notch, printed on nice, heavy paper with clean, easily-read type. The interior black-and-white illustrations are well-done, reproducing clearly.

Kudos are definitely in order for Pete Crowther, who has shepherded this project (and PS Publishing as well) to fruition. It's only fitting that he won a World Fantasy Award a month or so back for his work with PS Publishing, in the "Special Award: Professional" category.

I haven't had a chance yet to read much of the content (instead, I'm mostly just gazing at it and occasionally stroking the spine lovingly) but already I can tell you that Jeff VanderMeer's story, "Shark Versus Octopus God" is a favorite. The title alone should clue most folks in that this one's right up my alley. Take the opening, for instance:

A long time ago, when Dakuwaqa the Shark God was young and not so wise, he made all who lived in or near the sea fear him. They feared him for his knives that posed as teeth. They feared him for his relentlessness. They feared him for his speed. They feared him because the bloodlust was buried so deep in him that he loved to fight.

Dakuwaqa could take many shapes, but he enjoyed the shape of the shark the best in those days. It fit him. It fit his aspirations.

A little later, we get introduced to the Octopus God:

The Octopus God had lived for a thousand years, and was said to be slightly mad. Sometimes, the ocean would strobe with emerald-ruby-gold-blue-green phosphorescence late at night and even Kadavu's many nocturnal fishers, from people to eels to crabs to herons, would retire for the evening. They were certain the Octopus God was having an episode. (Others thought he was merely perfecting the details of an underwater light opera he had been working on for centuries.)

It follows the traditional fable style, but VanderMeer throws in his unique brand of strangeness, as evidenced by the "light opera" reference in the above. For the most part, it works, and gloriously so. A few of the colloquial idioms are somewhat jarring and don't fit all that well with the tone and setting, but hey, one of my favorite Joe Lansdale stories is "Godzilla's 12-Step Program," which features a bisexual King Kong, so who am I to quibble?

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