Recommended Reading: Empire Of Ice Cream

Empire Of Ice CreamA lovely large box of books arrived on Friday, and amongst them was one I was terribly anxious for: The Empire of Ice Cream, the new short story collection by Jeffrey Ford. It might be a bit early, but I think I’m prepared to make the call that this will be the short story collection of the year.At some point Kelly will have to hand over the well-deserved crown that Magic For Beginners earned her last year–of course she’s still (very justifiably) winning awards for it, so this may be precipitate.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know I’m a long time fan of Ford’s–I’ve posted about his work several times, and I’ve also posted about the interesting content of his LiveJournal at least once.

I’ve been excited about this new collection since Golden Gryphon first posted the table of contents for it–I’ve read about two-thirds of the material already, but in addition to reading the new stuff I’m also interested in rereading the material I’ve already read in a new context. Ford’s work has such a broad stylistic range that I’m really curious about what may appear as common elements when looking at the stories side-by-side.

I knew the quality that the physical object would have, as I have purchased quite a few of Golden Gryphon’s “archival quality hardcovers” over the years, including Ford’s previous short story collection, The Fantasy Writer’s Assistant.

I also knew the quality that the stories would have. As I mentioned above, I’ve read a good number of the stories already and, of course, I had read the previous collection. That’s not even mentioning Ford’s novels, which I’ve read almost all of (I’m still trying to find a copy of his first novel “Vanitas”). He’s definitely in the top ten short story writers working today, and I would probably put him in the top five.

But hey, don’t take my word for it. Here’s an extract from Ford’s Wikipedia entry:

His stories and novels have been nominated multiple times for the World Fantasy Award, the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Award, the International Horror Guild Award, the Fountain Award, the Edgar Allan Poe Award. He has been the recipient of three World Fantasy Awards, for his second novel The Physiognomy, the short story collection The Fantasy Writer’s Assistant, and his short story “Creation.” In 2004, he won a Nebula Award for his novellette “The Empire of Ice Cream”. “Exo-Skeleton Town” won the Grand Prix l’Imaginaire for best translated story in 2005. “The Annals of Eelin-Ok” won The Fountain Award (for excellence in the short story) also in 2005. The Girl in the Glass won the 2005 Edgar Allan Poe Award in the Best Paperback Original category.

Still not convinced?

Well, you can go and read the title story online. That should give you some idea of the quality of work we’re talking about.

Once you’ve had that taste, you can find a bunch more of his stories online. In particular you might want to check out The Annals of Eelin-Ok.

If you do get the book, you might want to later check out the interview with Jeff at Science Fiction Weekly, wherein he discusses quite a number of the individual stories in the collection.

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As an aside, I really (really) liked Ford’s last novel, The Girl in the Glass. It is also very recommended.

There’s a lot of discussion of that book going on over at the Litblog Co-op right now, driven by my pal Gwenda.

You should check out what’s happening over there. At a minimum you should see Gwenda’s initial post, Ford’s two essays, and the MP3 podcast featuring discussions with Gwenda & Jeff.

(Incidentally, if you have read Ford’s work and not previously met him or heard him speak, prepare to be surprised by his voice on the podcast. The first time I met Ford I was quite taken aback by the difference between my mental image of “the guy who could write these stories” and the reality of Jeff. I had pictures someone kind of effete, with a faintly upper class English accent, and with that sort of starved aesthetic look of a madman who spends his days in a garret caught in a fevered obsession with the crafting of his words. The reality is a little different: Jeff is straight outta Jersey and sounds it. He looks like this. The reality of Jeff makes him twice as awesome in my books.)

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