Timothy McSweeney's Header Image

- - - -

Now available for preorder:
The San Francisco Panorama
.

- - - -

D A V E   E G G E R S .

- - - -

Copyright 2003 Toronto Star
Toronto Star (Canada)
03/30/2003

- - - -

Title: To the golden age of pulps
Author(s): ROBERT WIERSEMA
Source: Toronto Star (Canada); 03/30/2003

- - - -

To the golden age of pulps

Michael Chabon calls on some pals to spin a few really tall ones Some very hip names answer a challenge to put up or shut up

Section: Entertainment, pg. D14

McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury Of Thrilling Tales started off as something of a dare, an opportunity for Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Chabon to either put up or shut up.

According to his foreword, Chabon had spent months bemoaning the state of the literary short story, now almost solely the province of "the contemporary, quotidian, plotless, moment-of-truth revelatory story," to anyone who would listen.

Where was narrative? What had happened to high-quality ghost stories, adventure tales, detective fiction, romances? Where was the sheer pleasure of storytelling?

Chabon made his case to Dave Eggers, author of A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius and founder of the quirky literary quarterly McSweeney's.

Eggers countered: "If I let you guest-edit an issue of McSweeney's, can we please stop talking about this?"

Chabon took Eggers up on his offer.

The result, McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury Of Thrilling Tales, is a special issue of the magazine (co-published with Vintage Books to meet the anticipated demand) dedicated to the heady, pulpy joy of short fiction.

In commissioning original stories from almost two dozen contributors, Chabon has assembled a collection that balances the heady verve of 1950s story magazines with high contemporary literary values.

The collection is almost evenly split between solid genre stories from experienced genre sources and more literary figures exhibiting rare narrative abandon.

The usual suspects include Sandman creator Neil Gaiman weighing in with "Closing Time," a subtle, affecting ghost story about the nature of storytelling, Harlan Ellison providing a metaphysical romp through fast food with "Goodbye To All That," and Stephen King presenting a new story, "The Tale Of Gray Dick," set in his Gunslinger mythos.

Michael Crichton's "Blood Doesn't Come Out" is a weak, too-mannered noir tale, but Elmore Leonard's "How Carlos Webster Changed His Name To Carl and Became A Famous Oklahoma Lawman" is a crisp and punchy piece of classic Leonard storytelling.

Then are the genre pieces from unexpected sources.

Nick Hornby's "Otherwise Pandemonium" is a charming story of sex and death at age 15 (along with a VCR that shows the end of the world). Dave Eggers himself creates a mind-bending story, "Up The Mountain Coming Down Slowly," rich with his trademark wit and insight.

Rick Moody's "The Albertine Notes" is a compelling, visionary science fiction novella about the nature of reality and memory. Sherman Alexie's "Ghost Dance" mixes race relations with zombie flesh-eaters at Little Big Horn.

In the spirit of the original pulps, much of the joy of the McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury is never knowing what the next story will bring. That the writing is so generally powerful adds to this collection's considerable pleasures.

The best part, though?

A small footnote at the close of Michael Chabon's own quirky and sly "The Martian Agent, A Planetary Romance" reads "Look for the second installment of "The Martian Agent" ... in McSweeney's Second Mammoth Treasury Of Thrilling Tales.

Leave them wanting more, with a promise of delights to come. Can a reader ask for anything more?

Robert Wiersema is a Victoria-based bookseller and freelance reviewer.

Mcsweeney's Mammoth Treasury Of Thrilling Tales

edited by Michael Chabon

Vintage, 480 pages, $21

- - - -

MORE ARTICLES

 

 

- - - -

MAIN PAGE | ARCHIVES



Memories of Amanda Davis




Red dot denotes content that is new today.

Black dot denotes newish content.

McSWEENEY'S STORE

SUBSCRIBE TO:
McSWEENEY'S
THE BELIEVER
WHOLPHIN

FUTURE McSWEENEY'S BOOKS

THE AMANDA DAVIS HIGHWIRE FICTION AWARD

INVITE A McSWEENEY'S AUTHOR TO SPEAK IN YOUR TOWN OR COLLEGE

THE BEST AMERICAN NONREQUIRED READING

McSWEENEY'S MONTHLY MAILING LIST

BOOKSTORES WITH A McSWEENEY'S DISPLAY

McSWEENEY'S-RELATED EVENTS AND VARIOUS TOUR DATES

ORDER INQUIRIES AND ADDRESS CHANGES

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
FOR BOOKS
FOR THE QUARTERLY
FOR THE WEBSITE
FOR WHOLPHIN

McSWEENEY'S INTERNSHIPS

CONTACT US

- - - -

LETTERS TO McSWEENEY'S

LISTS

McSWEENEY'S RECOMMENDS

REVIEWS OF NEW FOOD

NEW WHOLPHIN FILM

DAN LIEBERT, VERBAL CARTOONIST

TEDDY WAYNE'S UNPOPULAR PROVERBS

NON-ESSENTIAL MNEMONICS

BITCHSLAP: A COLUMN ABOUT WOMEN AND FIGHTING

DISPATCHES FROM A GUY TRYING UNSUCCESSFULLY
TO SELL A SONG IN NASHVILLE


GLOBAL WAR ON BEDBUGS: LETTERS FROM BEDBUG CITY

THE CONFLICTED EXISTENCE OF A FEMALE PORN WRITER

OH MY GAWD: A COLUMN ABOUT A TEENAGER NAVIGATING RELIGION

DISPATCHES FROM MANILA

DISPATCHES FROM AN INDIAN CASINO

THE CONVERGENCES CONTEST

CHRIS WHITE ANSWERS PROFOUND
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PRESIDENTS


REPORTS FROM THE PINBALL SCENE

LETTERS FROM THE HELLBOX

NOTES FROM AN AMATEUR SPECTATOR
AT AMATEUR MIXED MARTIAL ARTS FIGHTS


B.R. COHEN'S DAYS AT THE MUSEUM

CONVERSATIONS AT A WARTIME CAFÉ

AND HERE'S THE KICKER:
MIKE SACKS'S CONVERSATIONS WITH HUMOR WRITERS


GRANT MUNROE'S CORPORATE FOLKTALES

SARAH WALKER SHOWS YOU HOW

DISPATCHES FROM AN ENVIRONMENTAL LAWYER
WHO IS TRYING TO GROW A MUSTACHE


DISPATCHES FROM A HANGDOG BANKRUPT

DISPATCHES FROM THE CAPITAL

DISPATCHES FROM INDIA

THE WINNER'S CIRCLE WITH ERIC FEEZELL

SEAN MICHAELS LISTENS TO MUSIC IN MONTREAL

SHORT IMAGINED MONOLOGUES

KIDS' LETTERS TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

STAINED TEETH: A COLUMN ABOUT WINE

YOUR MONEY, YOUR JOB ... YOUR LIFE, WITH ALISON ROSEN

KEVIN DOLGIN TELLS YOU ABOUT PLACES YOU SHOULD GO IN EUROPE

ABOUT THE WILD THINGS

ABOUT THE CONVALESCENT

ABOUT FEVER CHART

ABOUT GOD SAYS NO

ABOUT ZEITOUN

LETTERS FROM AN EARTH BALL
TO, OR CONCERNING, SEAN HANNITY


E-MAILS SENT TO THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FLAG-FOOTBALL TEAM


TRAVELING EUROPE IN STYLE WITH AUCKLAND DINGIROO,
DARK-AGE TOURIST AND CRITIC OF FOOD AND DRINK


JOHN MOE'S POP-SONG CORRESPONDENCES

INTERVIEWS WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE INTERESTING OR UNUSUAL JOBS

FLIP: A COLUMN ABOUT SKATEBOARDING

OPEN LETTERS TO PEOPLE OR ENTITIES WHO ARE UNLIKELY TO RESPOND

DISPATCHES FROM A PUBLIC LIBRARIAN

MICHAEL IAN BLACK IS A VERY FAMOUS CELEBRITY

DAN KENNEDY SOLVES YOUR PROBLEMS WITH PAPER

STEPHEN ELLIOTT'S POKER REPORT

- - - -

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL