Rebranding isn’t just a strategy for businesses. It’s an even hotter trend in geography. I’m
told that 20 countries have changed their names in just the last decade. One can only admire
the zeal for self-reinvention that turns the Czech Republic in Czechia or Burma into Myanmar.
But, honestly, the map name-changers ought to do more consumer market research. Look
at poor Iceland—just imagine what it could do with a more tourist-friendly name? They ought
to a negotiate a trademark exchange with Greenland, which isn't fully leveraging its superior
brand. Honestly, why don’t nations conduct a few focus groups before coming up with these
depressing names? The folks in Trivandrum would never have changed their name to
Thiruvananthapuram if they had only talked to a few travel agents first.
But the biggest success story in geographic rebranding
can be found in those pesky swamps. Once feared for
their malarial atmosphere, muggy weather, and pesky
mosquitoes, they have put all that behind in a glorious
rebranding. The swamps have become wetlands, and
summon up images of pristine ecosystems and colorful
indigenous flora and fauna. Now that is how geographical
rebranding ought to work.
But no one has told the proprietors of Swamplandia!, a
struggling tourist attraction in the Florida wetlands. The
Bigtree family like to think of Swamplandia! as an exciting
theme park, but there’s little here to interest tourists
besides a hokey museum that displays items relating to
the family’s make-believe Native American roots (Grandpa
Sawtooth was originally named Ernest Schedrach and
came from Ohio), and a lot of alligators. The real draw is
alligator wrestling, an athletic exhibition only a step above
(or perhaps below) bullfighting and cock-fighting in status.
Swamplandia lays claim to one genuine star attraction, a prepossessing woman named
Hilola Bigtree, Sawtooth’s daughter-in-law and the greatest of the female alligator wrestlers.
When she dies of cancer, the theme park loses its audience. But the Bigtree family also
loses its cohesion and sense of direction. Poor old Grandpa is sent to a home for
the elderly in a converted boat. Hilola’s husband starts spending more and more time on the
mainland, involved in mysterious and seemingly futile plans to reinvent Swamplandia!. Their
three children cope in even stranger ways. The oldest, son Kiwi, plans to leave Swamplandia
behind, go to school, and maybe earn some money that can help the rest of his family. His
sister Osceola begins talking to dead people via the Ouija board and occult trances. The
youngest Bigtree, thirteen-year-old Ava is a Swamplandia! loyalist, who stays around the
alligators and has dreams of becoming a great gator wrestler and carrying on her mother’s
legacy. Who knows, she might even draw audiences back to their swamp.
In the opening pages, Karen Russell seems intent on turning this amusing premise into a
grand comic novel, an endearing mix of Tarzan of the Apes, Gilligan’s Island and Family Ties.
But readers are advised to strap on their seat belts, because the tone of this book will twist and
turn with the rapidity of a real theme-park ride. Before you’re done, you will encounter a
dark psychological terrain more akin to Deliverance and Cape Fear, but also bits and pieces
of other narrative styles.
The most powerful section of Swamplandia! is a
Conrad-esque historical seafarer’s narrative,
“The Dredgeman's Revelation," that could easily
stand on its own (and has as a short story in The
New Yorker). Another sub-plot deals with Kiwi’s
abandonment of Swamplandia! for a menial job
in another tourist attraction. Kiwi’s new employer,
the World of Darkness, is a cross between Dante’s
Inferno and the inside of Jonah’s Old Testament
whale. Here Russell’s sassy prose style here offers
a dark satire on theme park kitsch and the hapless
tourists who frequent these monuments to tackiness.
As this thumbnail summary makes clear, Swamplandia! is a bit of a compendium of writing
styles. The scaffolding that holds up the book is a first-person narrative in the voice of Ava,
who is our main protagonist and the emotional center of the book. But Russell shifts for long
stretches into third person while recounting a seriocomic coming-of-age story about Kiwi on
the mainland, and though she uses this storyline to set up some clever symbolic echoes that
mock the rest of her tale, she isn’t quite as convincing here. Like her characters, Russell is at
her best when she’s dealing with swamp life, and the forays into the city are more enervating
than exciting.
Yet this novel holds together surprisingly well despite the sharply contrasting constituent
parts. A zany comic energy propels this book in the first third. Magical realism takes over
for the middle third. And a dark horror story threatens to absorb everything in the final third.
Yet these counterbalance each other, and a work that could easily come across as a cut-
and-paste job achieves something larger and more satisfying.
The book certainly worked wonders for Karen Russell’s career. This debut novel earned her
spots on New York magazine’s honor roll of “impressive New Yorkers under the age of 26.
and The New Yorker’s “20 under 40” list. For the National Book Foundation, she was one of
the “5 under 35” honorees. In 2013, she received a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant" at
the age of 32. The literary world rarely hands out so many accolades to an author so young,
and there’s almost always a backlash down the line to those who see to ride the fast track to
authorial eminence.
For a writer so skilled in moving from comedy to horror to high literary style, the biggest
challenge might simply be deciding which tone and attitude provides her the strongest
platform. In any event, Russell certainly has the talent to survive the prodigy stage. Since the
success of Swamplandia!, she has focused on short fiction, and perhaps that will be her
major focus going forward. But I wouldn’t be surprised if she delivered another great novel—
or maybe even two or three.
Ted Gioia writes on music, literature and popular culture. He is the author of ten books. His most
recent book is How to Listen to Jazz (Basic Books).
Publication date: March 5, 2018
told that 20 countries have changed their names in just the last decade. One can only admire
the zeal for self-reinvention that turns the Czech Republic in Czechia or Burma into Myanmar.
But, honestly, the map name-changers ought to do more consumer market research. Look
at poor Iceland—just imagine what it could do with a more tourist-friendly name? They ought
to a negotiate a trademark exchange with Greenland, which isn't fully leveraging its superior
brand. Honestly, why don’t nations conduct a few focus groups before coming up with these
depressing names? The folks in Trivandrum would never have changed their name to
Thiruvananthapuram if they had only talked to a few travel agents first.
But the biggest success story in geographic rebranding
can be found in those pesky swamps. Once feared for
their malarial atmosphere, muggy weather, and pesky
mosquitoes, they have put all that behind in a glorious
rebranding. The swamps have become wetlands, and
summon up images of pristine ecosystems and colorful
indigenous flora and fauna. Now that is how geographical
rebranding ought to work.
But no one has told the proprietors of Swamplandia!, a
struggling tourist attraction in the Florida wetlands. The
Bigtree family like to think of Swamplandia! as an exciting
theme park, but there’s little here to interest tourists
besides a hokey museum that displays items relating to
the family’s make-believe Native American roots (Grandpa
Sawtooth was originally named Ernest Schedrach and
came from Ohio), and a lot of alligators. The real draw is
alligator wrestling, an athletic exhibition only a step above
(or perhaps below) bullfighting and cock-fighting in status.
Swamplandia lays claim to one genuine star attraction, a prepossessing woman named
Hilola Bigtree, Sawtooth’s daughter-in-law and the greatest of the female alligator wrestlers.
When she dies of cancer, the theme park loses its audience. But the Bigtree family also
loses its cohesion and sense of direction. Poor old Grandpa is sent to a home for
the elderly in a converted boat. Hilola’s husband starts spending more and more time on the
mainland, involved in mysterious and seemingly futile plans to reinvent Swamplandia!. Their
three children cope in even stranger ways. The oldest, son Kiwi, plans to leave Swamplandia
behind, go to school, and maybe earn some money that can help the rest of his family. His
sister Osceola begins talking to dead people via the Ouija board and occult trances. The
youngest Bigtree, thirteen-year-old Ava is a Swamplandia! loyalist, who stays around the
alligators and has dreams of becoming a great gator wrestler and carrying on her mother’s
legacy. Who knows, she might even draw audiences back to their swamp.
In the opening pages, Karen Russell seems intent on turning this amusing premise into a
grand comic novel, an endearing mix of Tarzan of the Apes, Gilligan’s Island and Family Ties.
But readers are advised to strap on their seat belts, because the tone of this book will twist and
turn with the rapidity of a real theme-park ride. Before you’re done, you will encounter a
dark psychological terrain more akin to Deliverance and Cape Fear, but also bits and pieces
of other narrative styles.
The most powerful section of Swamplandia! is a
Conrad-esque historical seafarer’s narrative,
“The Dredgeman's Revelation," that could easily
stand on its own (and has as a short story in The
New Yorker). Another sub-plot deals with Kiwi’s
abandonment of Swamplandia! for a menial job
in another tourist attraction. Kiwi’s new employer,
the World of Darkness, is a cross between Dante’s
Inferno and the inside of Jonah’s Old Testament
whale. Here Russell’s sassy prose style here offers
a dark satire on theme park kitsch and the hapless
tourists who frequent these monuments to tackiness.
As this thumbnail summary makes clear, Swamplandia! is a bit of a compendium of writing
styles. The scaffolding that holds up the book is a first-person narrative in the voice of Ava,
who is our main protagonist and the emotional center of the book. But Russell shifts for long
stretches into third person while recounting a seriocomic coming-of-age story about Kiwi on
the mainland, and though she uses this storyline to set up some clever symbolic echoes that
mock the rest of her tale, she isn’t quite as convincing here. Like her characters, Russell is at
her best when she’s dealing with swamp life, and the forays into the city are more enervating
than exciting.
Yet this novel holds together surprisingly well despite the sharply contrasting constituent
parts. A zany comic energy propels this book in the first third. Magical realism takes over
for the middle third. And a dark horror story threatens to absorb everything in the final third.
Yet these counterbalance each other, and a work that could easily come across as a cut-
and-paste job achieves something larger and more satisfying.
The book certainly worked wonders for Karen Russell’s career. This debut novel earned her
spots on New York magazine’s honor roll of “impressive New Yorkers under the age of 26.
and The New Yorker’s “20 under 40” list. For the National Book Foundation, she was one of
the “5 under 35” honorees. In 2013, she received a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant" at
the age of 32. The literary world rarely hands out so many accolades to an author so young,
and there’s almost always a backlash down the line to those who see to ride the fast track to
authorial eminence.
For a writer so skilled in moving from comedy to horror to high literary style, the biggest
challenge might simply be deciding which tone and attitude provides her the strongest
platform. In any event, Russell certainly has the talent to survive the prodigy stage. Since the
success of Swamplandia!, she has focused on short fiction, and perhaps that will be her
major focus going forward. But I wouldn’t be surprised if she delivered another great novel—
or maybe even two or three.
Ted Gioia writes on music, literature and popular culture. He is the author of ten books. His most
recent book is How to Listen to Jazz (Basic Books).
Publication date: March 5, 2018
Check out our sister sites:
The New Canon
Great literary works
published since 1985
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Reviews of current books
Postmodern Mystery
Experimental works of mystery &
suspense
Fractious Fiction
Radical, unconventional and
experimental fiction
The New Canon
Great literary works
published since 1985
Great Books Guide
Reviews of current books
Postmodern Mystery
Experimental works of mystery &
suspense
Fractious Fiction
Radical, unconventional and
experimental fiction
| Swamplandia! by Karen Russell |
Essay by Ted Gioia
Ted Gioia is publishing essays on his
50 favorite works of non-realist fiction
released since 2000. Featured books
will include works of magical realism,
alternative history, sci-fi, horror, and
fantasy, as well as mainstream literary
fiction that pushes boundaries and
challenges conventional notions of
verisimilitude.
50 favorite works of non-realist fiction
released since 2000. Featured books
will include works of magical realism,
alternative history, sci-fi, horror, and
fantasy, as well as mainstream literary
fiction that pushes boundaries and
challenges conventional notions of
verisimilitude.
| conceptual fiction Exploring the Non-Realist Tradition in Fiction |
To purchase, click on image
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Conceptual Fiction:
A Reading List
(with links to essays on each work)
Home Page
Abbott, Edwin A.
Flatland
Adams, Douglas
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Aldiss, Brian
Barefoot in the Head
Aldiss, Brian
Hothouse
Aldiss, Brian
Report on Probability A
Allende, Isabel
The House of the Spirits
Amado, Jorge
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
Amis, Martin
Time's Arrow
Apuleius
The Golden Ass
Asimov, Isaac
The Foundation Trilogy
Asimov, Isaac
I, Robot
Atwood, Margaret
The Blind Assassin
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid's Tale
Bacigalupi, Paolo
The Windup Girl
Banks, Iain M.
The State of the Art
Ballard, J.G.
The Atrocity Exhibition
Ballard, J.G.
Crash
Ballard, J.G.
The Crystal World
Ballard, J.G.
The Drowned World
Barker, Clive
Books of Blood, Vols. 1-3
Barth, John
Giles Goat-Boy
Bester, Alfred
The Demolished Man
Bierce, Ambrose
The Complete Short Stories
Blackwood, Algernon
The Complete John Silence Stories
Blish, James
A Case of Conscience
Borges, Jorge Luis
Ficciones
Bradbury, Ray
Dandelion Wine
Bradbury, Ray
Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray
The Illustrated Man
Bradbury, Ray
The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury, Ray
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Brockmeier, Kevin
The View from the Seventh Layer
Brooks, Max
World War Z
Bulgakov, Mikhail
The Master and Margarita
Bunch, David R.
Moderan
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Butler, Octavia E.
Fledgling
Campbell, Ramsey
Demons by Daylight
Campbell, Ramsey
The Nameless
Card, Orson Scott
Ender's Game
Carpentier, Alejo
The Kingdom of This World
Carroll, Lewis
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chabon, Michael
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Chambers, Robert W.
The King in Yellow
Chiang, Ted
Stories of Your Life and Others
Clarke, Arthur C.
Childhood's End
Clarke, Arthur C.
A Fall of Moondust
Clarke, Arthur C.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Clarke, Susanna
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Cline, Ernest
Ready Player One
Crichton, Michael
Jurassic Park
Crowley, John
Little, Big
Danielewski, Mark Z.
The Fifty Year Sword
Danielewski, Mark Z.
House of Leaves
Davies, Robertson
Fifth Business
Delany, Samuel R.
Babel-17
Delany, Samuel R.
Dhalgren
Delany, Samuel R.
The Einstein Intersection
Delany, Samuel R.
Nova
Dick, Philip K.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Dick, Philip K.
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Dick, Philip K.
The Man in the High Castle
Dick, Philip K.
Ubik
Dick, Philip K.
VALIS
Dickens, Charles
A Christmas Carol
Disch, Thomas M.
Camp Concentration
Disch, Thomas M.
The Genocides
Doctorow, Cory
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Donoso, José
The Obscene Bird of Night
Egan, Jennifer
A Visit from the Goon Squad
Ellison, Harlan (editor)
Dangerous Visions
Ellison, Harlan
I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream
Esquivel, Laura
Like Water for Chocolate
Farmer, Philip José
To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Fowles, John
A Maggot
Fuentes, Carlos
Aura
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gaiman, Neil
Neverwhere
Gardner, John
Grendel
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
Neuromancer
Grass, Günter
The Tin Drum
Greene, Graham
The End of the Affair
Grossman, Lev
The Magicians
Haig, Matt
The Humans
Haldeman, Joe
The Forever War
Hall, Steven
The Raw Shark Texts
Harrison, M. John
The Centauri Device
Harrison, M. John
Light
Heinlein, Robert
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Heinlein, Robert:
Stranger in a Strange Land
Heinlein, Robert
Time Enough for Love
Helprin, Mark
Winter's Tale
Hendrix, Grady
Horrorstör
Herbert, Frank
Dune
Joe Hill
Heart-Shaped Box
Hill, Susan
The Woman in Black
Hoffman, Alice
Practical Magic
Houellebecq, Michel
Submission
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Ishiguro, Kazuo
Never Let Me Go
Jackson, Shirley
The Haunting of Hill House
James, Henry
The Turn of the Screw
James, M.R.
Ghost Stories of an Antiquary
Keret, Etgar
Suddenly, A Knock at the Door
Ketchum, Jack
Off Season
Keyes, Daniel
Flowers for Algernon
King, Stephen
Carrie
King, Stephen
Pet Sematary
Koja, Kathe
The Cipher
Krilanovich, Grace
The Orange Eats Creeps
Kundera, Milan
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Kunzru, Hari
Gods Without Men
Lafferty, R.A.
Nine Hundred Grandmothers
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Dispossessed
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Lathe of Heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Left Hand of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
The Big Time
Leiber, Fritz
Conjure Wife
Leiber, Fritz
Our Lady of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
Swords & Deviltry
Leiber, Fritz
The Wanderer
Lem, Stanislaw
His Master's Voice
Lem, Stanislaw
Solaris
Lethem, Jonathan
The Fortress of Solitude
Levin, Ira
Rosemary's Baby
Lewis, C. S.
The Chronicles of Narnia
Lindqvist, John Ajvide
Let the Right One In
Link, Kelly
Magic for Beginners
Lovecraft, H.P.
Tales
Machen, Arthur
The Great God Pan
Malzberg, Barry N.
Herovit's World
Mandel, Emily St. John
Station Eleven
Mann, Thomas
Doctor Faustus
Márquez, Gabriel García
100 Years of Solitude
Markson, David
Wittgenstein's Mistress
Matheson, Richard
Hell House
Matheson, Richard
I Am Legend
Matheson, Richard
What Dreams May Come
McCarthy, Cormac
The Road
Miéville, China
Embassytown
Miéville, China
Perdido Street Station
Miller, Jr., Walter M.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Millhauser, Steven
Dangerous Laughter
Mitchell, David
Cloud Atlas
Moorcock, Michael
Behold the Man
Moorcock, Michael
The Final Programme
Morris, Jan
Hav
Morrison, Toni
Beloved
Murakami, Haruki
1Q84
Murakami, Haruki
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the
End of the World
Nabokov, Vladimir
Ada, or Ardor
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
Wizard of the Crow
Niffenegger, Audrey
The Time Traveler's Wife
Niven, Larry
Ringworld
Noon, Jeff
Vurt
North, Claire
The First 15 Lives of Harry August
Obreht, Téa
The Tiger's Wife
O'Brien, Flann
At Swim-Two-Birds
Okri, Ben
The Famished Road
Oyeyemi, Helen
White is for Witching
Percy, Walker
Love in the Ruins
Poe, Edgar Allan
Tales of Mystery & Imagination
Pohl, Frederik
Gateway
Pratchett, Terry
The Color of Magic
Pynchon, Thomas
Gravity's Rainbow
Rabelais, François
Gargantua and Pantagruel
Rice, Anne
Interview with the Vampire
Robinson, Kim Stanley
Red Mars
Roth, Philip
The Plot Against America
Rowling, J.K.
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone
Rushdie, Salman
Midnight's Children
Russ, Joanna
The Female Man
Saramago, José
Blindness
Sheckley, Robert
Dimension of Miracles
Sheckley, Robert
Mindswap
Sheckley, Robert
Store of the Worlds
Shelley, Mary
Frankenstein
Silverberg, Robert
Dying Inside
Silverberg, Robert
Nightwings
Silverberg, Robert
The World Inside
Simak, Clifford
City
Simak, Clifford
The Trouble with Tycho
Smith, Clark Ashton
The Dark Eidolon
Smith, Cordwainer
Norstrilia
Smith, Cordwainer
The Rediscovery of Man
Stephenson, Neal
Snow Crash
Straub, Peter
Ghost Story
Spinrad, Norman
Bug Jack Barron
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde
Stoker, Bram
Dracula
Stross, Charles
Glasshouse
Sturgeon, Theodore
More Than Human
Sturgeon, Theodore
Some of Your Blood
Swift, Jonathan
Gulliver's Travels
Thomas, D.M.
The White Hotel
Tiptree, Jr., James
Warm Worlds and Otherwise
Tolkien, J.R.R.
The Hobbit
Tryon, Thomas
The Other
Updike, John
The Witches of Eastwick
Van Vogt, A.E.
The Mixed Men
Van Vogt, A.E.
Slan
Van Vogt, A.E.
The Voyage of the Space Beagle
Van Vogt, A.E.
The World of Null A
Vance, Jack
The Dragon Masters
Vance, Jack
Emphyrio
Vance, Jack
The Languages of Pao
Verne, Jules
Around the Moon
Verne, Jules
From the Earth to the Moon
Verne, Jules:
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Vollmann, William T
Last Stories and Other Stories
Vonnegut, Kurt
Cat's Cradle
Vonnegut, Kurt
The Sirens of Titan
Vonnegut, Kurt
Slaughterhouse-Five
Wallace, David Foster
Infinite Jest
Wallace, Edgar
King Kong
Walpole, Horace
The Castle of Otranto
Walpole, Horace
Hieroglyphic Tales
Weir, Andy
The Martian
Wells, H.G.
The First Men in the Moon
Wells, H.G.
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Wells, H.G.
The Time Machine
Wilson, Robert Anton & Robert Shea
The Illuminatus! Trilogy
Winton, Tim
Cloudstreet
Wong, David
John Dies at the End
Woolf, Virginia
Orlando
Yamada, Taichi
Strangers
Zabor, Rafi
The Bear Comes Home
Zelazny, Roger
Lord of Light
Zelazny, Roger
This Immortal
Special Features
Notes on Conceptual Fiction
My Year of Horrible Reading
When Science Fiction Grew Up
Ray Bradbury: A Tribute
The Year of Magical Reading
Remembering Fritz Leiber
A Tribute to Richard Matheson
Samuel Delany's 70th birthday
The Sci-Fi of Kurt Vonnegut
The Most Secretive Sci-Fi Author
Curse You, Neil Armstrong!
Robert Heinlein at 100
A.E, van Vogt Tribute
The Puzzling Case of Robert Sheckley
The Avant-Garde Sci-Fi of Brian Aldiss
Science Fiction 1958-1975: A Reading List
Links to related sites
The New Canon
Great Books Guide
Postmodern Mystery
Fractious Fiction
Ted Gioia's web site
Ted Gioia on Twitter
_____
SF Site
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Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
Los Angeles Review of Books
The Millions
Big Dumb Object
SF Novelists
More Words, Deeper Hole
The Misread City
Reviews and Responses
SF Signal
True Science Fiction
Tor blog
Disclosure: Conceptual Fiction
and its sister sites may receive review
copies and promotional materials from
publishers, authors, publicists or other
parties.
All rights reserved.
Conceptual Fiction:
A Reading List
(with links to essays on each work)
Home Page
Abbott, Edwin A.
Flatland
Adams, Douglas
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Aldiss, Brian
Barefoot in the Head
Aldiss, Brian
Hothouse
Aldiss, Brian
Report on Probability A
Allende, Isabel
The House of the Spirits
Amado, Jorge
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
Amis, Martin
Time's Arrow
Apuleius
The Golden Ass
Asimov, Isaac
The Foundation Trilogy
Asimov, Isaac
I, Robot
Atwood, Margaret
The Blind Assassin
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid's Tale
Bacigalupi, Paolo
The Windup Girl
Banks, Iain M.
The State of the Art
Ballard, J.G.
The Atrocity Exhibition
Ballard, J.G.
Crash
Ballard, J.G.
The Crystal World
Ballard, J.G.
The Drowned World
Barker, Clive
Books of Blood, Vols. 1-3
Barth, John
Giles Goat-Boy
Bester, Alfred
The Demolished Man
Bierce, Ambrose
The Complete Short Stories
Blackwood, Algernon
The Complete John Silence Stories
Blish, James
A Case of Conscience
Borges, Jorge Luis
Ficciones
Bradbury, Ray
Dandelion Wine
Bradbury, Ray
Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray
The Illustrated Man
Bradbury, Ray
The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury, Ray
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Brockmeier, Kevin
The View from the Seventh Layer
Brooks, Max
World War Z
Bulgakov, Mikhail
The Master and Margarita
Bunch, David R.
Moderan
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Butler, Octavia E.
Fledgling
Campbell, Ramsey
Demons by Daylight
Campbell, Ramsey
The Nameless
Card, Orson Scott
Ender's Game
Carpentier, Alejo
The Kingdom of This World
Carroll, Lewis
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chabon, Michael
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Chambers, Robert W.
The King in Yellow
Chiang, Ted
Stories of Your Life and Others
Clarke, Arthur C.
Childhood's End
Clarke, Arthur C.
A Fall of Moondust
Clarke, Arthur C.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Clarke, Susanna
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Cline, Ernest
Ready Player One
Crichton, Michael
Jurassic Park
Crowley, John
Little, Big
Danielewski, Mark Z.
The Fifty Year Sword
Danielewski, Mark Z.
House of Leaves
Davies, Robertson
Fifth Business
Delany, Samuel R.
Babel-17
Delany, Samuel R.
Dhalgren
Delany, Samuel R.
The Einstein Intersection
Delany, Samuel R.
Nova
Dick, Philip K.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Dick, Philip K.
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Dick, Philip K.
The Man in the High Castle
Dick, Philip K.
Ubik
Dick, Philip K.
VALIS
Dickens, Charles
A Christmas Carol
Disch, Thomas M.
Camp Concentration
Disch, Thomas M.
The Genocides
Doctorow, Cory
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Donoso, José
The Obscene Bird of Night
Egan, Jennifer
A Visit from the Goon Squad
Ellison, Harlan (editor)
Dangerous Visions
Ellison, Harlan
I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream
Esquivel, Laura
Like Water for Chocolate
Farmer, Philip José
To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Fowles, John
A Maggot
Fuentes, Carlos
Aura
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gaiman, Neil
Neverwhere
Gardner, John
Grendel
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
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A zany comic energy propels
this book in the first third.
Magical realism takes over
for the middle third. And a dark
horror story threatens to absorb
everything in the final third.
this book in the first third.
Magical realism takes over
for the middle third. And a dark
horror story threatens to absorb
everything in the final third.
