My nonfiction collection Monstrous Creatures: Explorations of Fantasy through Essays, Articles and Reviews
is now available as a Kindle e-book for those who are interested. All royalties I receive go to fund the international translations component of our forthcoming Leviathan 5 anthology.A new review of the collection, by Martin Lewis, just appeared on SF Site, under the ominous title of "Monstrous Creatures Jar Jar Binks Must Die" on my google feed. Thankfully, it just means Lewis is reviewing two books at once--indeed, he cheerfully chainsaws off a monstrous arm from my book so he can beat the other author over the head with it at one point. I can't deny the arm he uses wasn't intended in part for that purpose, though.I think Lewis does a good job---not because he has significant praise for Monstrous Creatures but because he identifies both strengths and weaknesses. He also takes me to task over something related to New Weird, and I can't really disagree with him.My publisher, Guide Dog, will probably be happy to have this to quote: "VanderMeer's love of the written word is obvious...This love and perspective translates into a fire; from the outset his views are unmistakably his own and no-one else's...VanderMeer is one of the best writers currently working in the fantasy genre and what Monstrous Creatures makes clear is that being a critic is an integral part of this. We are lucky to have his words."
