Cheeky Frawg Book Release: Jagannath by Karin Tidbeck (recommended by NPR)

“I can’t think of when I last read a collection that blew me away the way that Jagannath has, or one that’s left me somewhat at a loss to describe just how strange and beautiful and haunting these tales are.” – Elizabeth Hand (from her introduction)“For you, dear reader, something wonderful—and weird—is going to happen if you open this book. It's waiting for you.” – Alan Cheuse, NPR, “All Things Considered”Today is the official release date of Swedish writer Karin Tidbeck’s Jagannath, a new story collection from our very own Cheeky Frawg press! If you love great fantastical fiction, you’ll want to pick it up—the book comes highly recommended by China Mieville, Ursula K. Le Guin, Karen Joy Fowler, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Michael Swanwick, Elizabeth Hand, and Karen Lord. And if you want to support international fiction, please help us spread the word through one of the ways listed in the “How to Help” section below.Jagannath just received glowing reviews from NPR, Publishers Weekly, and Locus, with more coverage forthcoming. A story from the collection has been made into a short film, another story podcast earlier this year, and a third picked up by a year’s best anthology. Here’s a description from the back cover:

Enter the strange and wonderful world of Swedish writer Karin Tidbeck with this feast of darkly fantastical stories. Whether through the falsified historical record of the uniquely weird Swedish creature known as the “Pyret” or the title story, “Jagannath,” about a biological ark in the far future, Tidbeck’s unique imagination will enthrall, amuse, and unsettle you. How else to describe a collection that includes “Cloudberry Jam,” a story that opens with the line “I made you in a tin can”? Marvels, quirky character studies, and outright surreal monstrosities await you in what is likely to be one of the most talked-about short story collections of the year. Introduction by Elizabeth Hand.

Below you’ll find more information, including relevant links. For the full press kit, check out the page on the Cheeky Frawg website. Thanks! - Ann and Jeff VanderMeerHow You Can Help!“Intensely memorable…impressively brave literary experiments…brilliant.” – Publishers WeeklyIf you like the book—Gary K. Wolfe in Locus called Jagannath the most significant debut since Margo Lanagan—and want to support unique fiction, here are some of the things you can do to help:—Buy the book. It’s currently selling on Amazon (Kindle and trade paper) and elsewhere for a very reasonable price. Buy it for friends. Buy it for family. It makes a great holiday gift. The next two weeks are critical for getting on Amazon and other bestseller lists, which help visibility. (Currently, Jag is on some of the Kindle bestseller lists.)—Review the book. On your blog, review site, or on a sandwich board in front of your local bookstore. Any mention, especially noting whatever you really liked about the book, helps immensely. And a limited number of additional review copies are available for review sites; email me at vanderworld at hotmail.com if interested.—Review it on Amazon. Go to the Amazon sales page for the book and tell other readers what you liked about it. A quick and easy way to help get the word out and create interest.—Make sure local booksellers carry it. Although Jagannath should start appearing in brick-and-mortar bookstores in November, you can always encourage booksellers who aren’t stocking it. You can even tell them it’s by some of the same people who brought them The Weird and The Steampunk Bible.—Request it from your local library. Making sure your local library knows about Jagannath not only increases library orders but allows more people to enjoy the book.—Spread the word through twitter and facebook. Tell people about Jagannath through social media, using one of the links below. Lots of excerpts have been posted in various places—choose your favorite.Links to Unique Content!“Promises to be one of the most distinctive new voices in short fiction since Margo Lanagan.” – Gary K. Wolfe, LocusHere is a selection of links to Jagannath content and reviews. Thanks again for your help in spreading the word.--Alan Cheuse’s review on NPR--Suvudu interview with the author --SF Signal post on the Polish film based on Tidbeck’s story “Who is Arvid Pekon?”--Podcast of “Jagannath” from the collection--Strange Horizons interview with the author--Sense of Wonder interview with the authorBlurbs for Jagannath!“I have never read anything like Jagannath. Karin Tidbeck’s imagination is recognizably Nordic, but otherwise unclassifiable–quietly, intelligently, unutterably strange. And various. And ominous. And funny. And mysteriously tender. These are wonderful stories.” – Ursula K. Le Guin“Restrained and vivid, poised and strange, Tidbeck, with her impossible harmonies, is a vital voice.” – China Miéville“Tidbeck has a gift for the uncanny and the unsettling. In these wonderful, subtle stories, magic arrives quietly. It comes from the forests or the earth or was always there in your own family or maybe exists in another realm entirely…leaving you slightly dazed and more than a little enchanted.” – Karen Joy Fowler“Karen Tidbeck’s stories are like flying machines one encounters in a dream: strange, taut, swift, light, efficient, varied, and completely unlike anything you’ll find anywhere else.” – Michael Swanwick“Were this collection to contain only its biomechanoid wonder of a title story, it would still be amazing. Jagannath heralds the arrival of a bold and brilliant new voice, which I see too few of these days. You must read Karin Tidbeck.” – Caitlín R. Kiernan“In Karin Tidbeck’s collection Jagannath, the mundane becomes strange and the strange familiar with near-Hitchcockian subtlety. I loved Tidbeck’s clean, classic prose. It creates beautifully eerie music for a twilight domain.” – Karen Lord