Monstrous Creatures

I'm finally getting a handle on my nonfiction collection, which I turn in about a week from now. The contents have begun to make some sense, thanks in large part to comments from Matt Cheney about the order. This isn't final, but it's getting close. All text that's previously published has been edited and perfected, some of it radically. The idea of focusing on the theme of monsters and the monstrous has meant leaving out some worthy material but what's gained by that is a more interesting focus. Some of the "monstrous" subtitles will be more subtle in the final, too.MY EDUCATION IN MONSTERS: A Life Devoted to the Fantastical and GrotesqueConversation #1: WICKED PLANTS AND MIRACULOUS MUSHROOMSMONSTROUS THOUGHTSThe Third BearThe Language of DefeatThe Romantic UndergroundPolitics in FantasyThe Triumph of the GoodThe New Weird – “It’s Alive?”Conversation #2: CHINA MIEVILLE AND THE LITERALNESS OF MONSTERSAPPRECIATIONS OF THE MONSTROUSPrague: City of fantasyCatherynne M. Valente’s The LabyrinthMaking Her Own Light: Caitlin R. KiernanUnsung Heroes of Science Fiction and FantasyAdditional Misadventures with EngelbrechtAlasdair Gray and LanarkMy Love-Hate Relationship with Clark Ashton-SmithAlfred Kubin and the Tortured Triumph of The Other SideThe “Black Books” of Derek RaymondA Giant of Literature, J.G. BallardThe Cosmology of Jeffrey FordFive Years of Sfar and Trondheim’s Dungeon SeriesHow to Raise and Keep an Imagination: Joseph Nigg and DragonsAuthors in Praise of BeerConversation #3: THE MONSTROUS CAPYBARA OF AUSTIN, TEXASPERSONAL MONSTERSHiking and InspirationFantasy and the ImaginationThe Hannukah BearMy Father’s PipeThe Music of FinchThe Novella: A Personal ExplorationConversation #4: EATEN BY BEARS—MARGO LANAGAN’S TENDER MORSELSOTHER PEOPLE’S MONSTERSPrague Reimagined: Michal Ajvaz’s The Other CityThe Perils and Triumphs of Transformation: China Mieville’s Un Lun DunTwo New Anthology Series, Two Views of ComicsTove Jansson’s MoominBittersweet Fantasy: Kazu Kibuishi’s AmuletDream Worlds: David B’s Nocturnal ConspiraciesSilence and Aversion: J. Robert Lennon’s CastleHouse of Leaves [2000], Mark Z. DanielewskiFuture Past: Brian Francis Slattery’s LiberationNot Good at Dying: The Many Deaths of the Firefly BrothersRe-envisioning the West: Emma Bull’s TerritoryHollywood Punk: Steve Erickson’s ZerovilleExchange Students Plot: Chuck Palahniuk’s PygmyLooking for Love: Alexander Theroux’s Laura WarholicMichel Houelleberq.'s H.P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against LifeLondon’s Last Stand: Jonathan Barnes’ The Domino MenThe Newt Speaks Volumes: Jack O’Connell’s The ResurrectionistNot Enough Bite: Victor Pelevin’s The Sacred Book of the WerewolfRwanda in 1994: We Wish to Inform You…, by Philip GourevitchHot Ice: Marcel Theroux’s Far NorthThe Past Is Our Future: Mark Von Schlegell’s Mercury StationPhilosophy in Fiction’s Clothing: Neal Stephenson’s AnathemThe Books of the DecadeConversation #5: THE DEMONS OF AMBERGRISMONSTROUS JOURNEYSDispatches from SmaragdineThe Blur: Stolen Moments from a Five-Week Book TourA BESTIARY (Of Sorts)