Ann VanderMeer
Author of The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories
About the Author
Series
Works by Ann VanderMeer
The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories (2011) — Editor; Introduction — 967 copies, 21 reviews
The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities: Exhibits, Oddities, Images, and Stories from Top Authors and Artists (2011) — Editor — 491 copies, 17 reviews
Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology (2015) — Editor — 345 copies, 8 reviews
The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals: The Evil Monkey Dialogues (2010) — Author — 123 copies, 6 reviews
The Time Traveller's Almanac Part 1 - Experiments (The Time Traveller's Almanac, #1) (2014) — Editor — 8 copies, 1 review
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- VanderMeer, Ann Kennedy Bordman
- Birthdate
- 1957-03-06
- Gender
- female
- Occupations
- editor
publisher - Organizations
- Weird Tales
- Awards and honors
- Locus Award Finalist (Editor, 2017)
- Agent
- Sally Harding
- Relationships
- VanderMeer, Jeff (husband)
- Short biography
- Ann VanderMeer, née Kennedy, was the editor-in-chief of the venerable horror magazine Weird Tales from 2007 to 2011 and the founder of Buzzcity Press.
Works from her press and related periodicals have won numerous awards and appeared in anthologies. She was also the founder of The Silver Web magazine, a periodical devoted to experimental and avant-garde fantasy literature. - Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Kansas City, Missouri, USA
- Places of residence
- Tallahassee, Florida, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
Food fascinates Jews. Nearly every holiday and celebration centers around food (or in the case of Yom Kippur, the absence thereof). The stereotypical Jewish mother constantly tries to get her children to eat. Even in the afterlife, Jews are promised a succulent banquet of Leviathan, Behemoth, and Ziz, all three created for just this feast. This fixation exists even though (or perhaps because) Jewish Law dictates fairly stringent dietary restrictions: Pork, shellfish, anything that eats other show more animals, some birds, and most insects are forbidden. As with many biblical dictates, the exact interpretations and applications have changed over time and depending on whom you ask. Which animals are considered Kosher has long generated debate among layman and scholar alike. In this spirit, Ann and Jeff VanderMeer approach this heady subject in their lighthearted book The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals: The Evil Monkey Dialogues. As Ann VanderMeer explains:
This short (92 pages) compendium of mythical creatures - ranging from the abumi-guchi to the Ziz - features illustrations by designer John Coulthart and short descriptions followed by a humorous discourse between Ann VanderMeer and her husband’s blogging alter ego, Evil Monkey. Written in a conversational style, the occasionally self-referential entries often site “experts,” such as [a:Jorge Luis Borges|500|Jorge Luis Borges|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1260167972p2/500.jpg] and [a:Gustave Flaubert|1461|Gustave Flaubert|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1198541369p2/1461.jpg], as well as texts including the Old Testament and the Etz Hayim. Each account concludes with symbol denoting the creature’s potential kosherness. For example:
The volume concludes with an entertaining conversation between Ann VanderMeer and [a:Duff Goldman|2933290|Duff Goldman|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg], star of the Food Network’s Ace of Cakes. The pair initially discuss the proper preparation of and best wine selection to serve with the kosher creatures before things devolve into even more amusing topics regarding testicles, [a:Clive Barker|10366|Clive Barker|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1200469782p2/10366.jpg], and Goldman’s dictum that anything served in a Chinese restaurant is kosher.
With two page entries for each beast and a compact size, the delightful The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals makes for some delicious bathroom (or busstop) reading for Jews and gentiles alike. And for the uninformed out there, cholent is a traditional hearty Jewish stew that simmers for 12 hours or more. You’ll thank me later.
This review originally appeared in the San Antonio Current, March 31, 2010. show less
Two years ago, my husband and I were taking a hike in the woods. I don’t know how it came up, but at some point we started talking about the “kosherness” of certain animals. With Passover fast approaching, what you can and cannot eat was on my mind. The subject led to the silliness of trying to figure out what imaginary animals might be kosher. As we bantered back and forth we decided that we were having too much fun, which meant it might be fun for our readers, too. So we did a blog post in honor of Passover.
This short (92 pages) compendium of mythical creatures - ranging from the abumi-guchi to the Ziz - features illustrations by designer John Coulthart and short descriptions followed by a humorous discourse between Ann VanderMeer and her husband’s blogging alter ego, Evil Monkey. Written in a conversational style, the occasionally self-referential entries often site “experts,” such as [a:Jorge Luis Borges|500|Jorge Luis Borges|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1260167972p2/500.jpg] and [a:Gustave Flaubert|1461|Gustave Flaubert|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1198541369p2/1461.jpg], as well as texts including the Old Testament and the Etz Hayim. Each account concludes with symbol denoting the creature’s potential kosherness. For example:
BANSHEE
Originating in Irish mythology, the banshee is a frightening female spirit, often considered a bad omen. But how much of a bad omen? Specter-ologists are unsure. Messenger of death or the cause of death? Perhaps the two roles are interchangeable, for many people with bad tickers have had heart attacks upon encountering a banshee. The provenance of the banshee has also been the cause of some debate. Some consider the banshee a prophetess who can see the future. Others (among them heretics, drunks, and rebels) consider the banshee to be a fallen angel. A mournful wail is the calling card of the banshee, who when seen will be wearing a gray hooded cloak, not unlike a rain poncho. Dr. Jorge Luis Borges’ theory that the banshee is a form of elf should be ignored as ridiculous.
EVIL MONKEY: “Would it be wise to try to eat a messenger of death? Wouldn’t that be like eating death? Is eating death kosher?”
ANN: “Depends on what you mean by death. If death is a guy in a black robe, no. If death is a strawberry, then, yes.”
EVIL MONKEY: “So she’s not kosher?”
ANN: “No. Any ‘creature’ you can call ‘he’ or ‘she’ is probably not kosher. But why are the evil ones always women?”
EVIL MONKEY: “Nothing I can say here will save me.
The volume concludes with an entertaining conversation between Ann VanderMeer and [a:Duff Goldman|2933290|Duff Goldman|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg], star of the Food Network’s Ace of Cakes. The pair initially discuss the proper preparation of and best wine selection to serve with the kosher creatures before things devolve into even more amusing topics regarding testicles, [a:Clive Barker|10366|Clive Barker|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1200469782p2/10366.jpg], and Goldman’s dictum that anything served in a Chinese restaurant is kosher.
With two page entries for each beast and a compact size, the delightful The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals makes for some delicious bathroom (or busstop) reading for Jews and gentiles alike. And for the uninformed out there, cholent is a traditional hearty Jewish stew that simmers for 12 hours or more. You’ll thank me later.
This review originally appeared in the San Antonio Current, March 31, 2010. show less
Firstly WOW. This is genuinely one of the best anthologies I have ever read. And the best part is I've now been introduced to dozens of new authors.
In the 60+ stories offered the methods range from phonecalls to magic houses and from spaceships to dancing. the breadth and depth of the ways that time travel is used is incredible.
Some of the stories that have stuck with me are:
Enoch Soames: A memory of the 1890s by Max Beerbohm.
- time travel via a deal with the devil. a writer travels show more forward to the 1990s to see how he is remembered
This Tragic Glass by Elizabeth Bear
- Literary scholars of the future save long dead poets from early deaths so that they may continue to write in the future ( as an English grad I loved this one)
Lost Continent by Greg Egan
- This story of time travelling war refugees critiques the red tape around very real immigration detention camps
Red Letter Day by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
- Before graduating high schoolers receive a messagef rom their 50 year old self telling them what to change in the future. This story follows the students who don't get a letter.
Highly recommended show less
In the 60+ stories offered the methods range from phonecalls to magic houses and from spaceships to dancing. the breadth and depth of the ways that time travel is used is incredible.
Some of the stories that have stuck with me are:
Enoch Soames: A memory of the 1890s by Max Beerbohm.
- time travel via a deal with the devil. a writer travels show more forward to the 1990s to see how he is remembered
This Tragic Glass by Elizabeth Bear
- Literary scholars of the future save long dead poets from early deaths so that they may continue to write in the future ( as an English grad I loved this one)
Lost Continent by Greg Egan
- This story of time travelling war refugees critiques the red tape around very real immigration detention camps
Red Letter Day by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
- Before graduating high schoolers receive a messagef rom their 50 year old self telling them what to change in the future. This story follows the students who don't get a letter.
Highly recommended show less
Whew, this one was a tome! 72 short stories and nearly 950 pages, all on the theme of time travel. You'd think that after spending two weeks working my way through all of that, I'd be thoroughly tired of the subject, but somehow it never got old. Probably this is due to the fact that there's such a wide variety of different styles and different approaches to the subject here (including a few one could argue aren't really time travel stories at all, and yet still do feel as if they belong show more somehow). Some are pretty straightforward, as time travel stories go, and others are deeply, deeply strange. (And there are a pretty good percentage of the latter, as one might expect from any book with Jeff VanderMeer's name on the cover.) We've got tales that span billions of years and/or staggering numbers of alternate timelines; small, intimate stories about individual human lives; and a whole lot of stuff in-between.
The stories also span a pretty good stretch of ordinary linear time, from the 1880s through the early 2010s, when the anthology was published. Some are well-known, deeply influential works: Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder" is here, as is an excerpt from The Time Machine. But there are also stories I'd never read by authors I'd never heard of. I hesitate to call it a definitive collection. Several of the first stories that come to mind when I think of famous time travel tales are notably absent, although perhaps for good reasons, one of which is that there seems to be no room here for stories that only exist to go, "Oooh, look, a paradox!" In any case, there are a lot of time travel stories in the history of SF, and I suspect if you asked 100 people to compile 950-page anthologies of them, you'd get 100 very different books.
As for the one we got in this particular timeline, unsurprisingly not every single story is quite to my taste. I can't really say that any of them made me sit bolt upright and go "wow!", either. But taken as a whole, there is something fascinating and more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts satisfying about it. I do feel rather like I've just been on a big, weird, cool, kaleidoscopic timey-wimey journey. show less
The stories also span a pretty good stretch of ordinary linear time, from the 1880s through the early 2010s, when the anthology was published. Some are well-known, deeply influential works: Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder" is here, as is an excerpt from The Time Machine. But there are also stories I'd never read by authors I'd never heard of. I hesitate to call it a definitive collection. Several of the first stories that come to mind when I think of famous time travel tales are notably absent, although perhaps for good reasons, one of which is that there seems to be no room here for stories that only exist to go, "Oooh, look, a paradox!" In any case, there are a lot of time travel stories in the history of SF, and I suspect if you asked 100 people to compile 950-page anthologies of them, you'd get 100 very different books.
As for the one we got in this particular timeline, unsurprisingly not every single story is quite to my taste. I can't really say that any of them made me sit bolt upright and go "wow!", either. But taken as a whole, there is something fascinating and more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts satisfying about it. I do feel rather like I've just been on a big, weird, cool, kaleidoscopic timey-wimey journey. show less
It’s not often that I find a short story anthology that works the whole way through. I think it’s only happened twice? No dud stories, no questionable narrative choices, stories that flow together, a good breadth of subject matter, and entertaining to boot! And this one came with illustrations. It made me all excited for steampunk again, and sad that both that the movement has fizzled and that few steampunk novels get to the same levels of depth and vibrancy and creativity, at least of show more the ones I’ve read.
This collection has a little bit of everything: steam-powered robots, fantastical cities, spies, socialist orphans, angry housewives, mad scientists, mad photographers, time travel, mathematical fish, steampunk blogging, horror, whimsy, humour, mysteries, metafiction, and everything in between. I’m not even sure I can name any favourite stories, they were all that good! (Also, it’s been nearly two months. The brain, she forgets things.)
So yeah: if you’re looking for a solid anthology or a lot of fun steampunk, this is a great book to pick up. I’m not sure I’m up for reading another one in the series (there are three total) but I am definitely going to have Vandermeer anthologies on my radar in the future. They’ve served me really well on this one.
To bear in mind: Contains stories that tackle racism, sexism, colonialism, and various other social problems of the 1800s, but in a punching-up sort of way.
9/10 show less
This collection has a little bit of everything: steam-powered robots, fantastical cities, spies, socialist orphans, angry housewives, mad scientists, mad photographers, time travel, mathematical fish, steampunk blogging, horror, whimsy, humour, mysteries, metafiction, and everything in between. I’m not even sure I can name any favourite stories, they were all that good! (Also, it’s been nearly two months. The brain, she forgets things.)
So yeah: if you’re looking for a solid anthology or a lot of fun steampunk, this is a great book to pick up. I’m not sure I’m up for reading another one in the series (there are three total) but I am definitely going to have Vandermeer anthologies on my radar in the future. They’ve served me really well on this one.
To bear in mind: Contains stories that tackle racism, sexism, colonialism, and various other social problems of the 1800s, but in a punching-up sort of way.
9/10 show less
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 47
- Also by
- 10
- Members
- 6,561
- Popularity
- #3,739
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 158
- ISBNs
- 79
- Languages
- 7
- Favorited
- 4
