Джефф Вандермеер - The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities

About the Editors

Hugo Award–winner Ann VanderMeer and World Fantasy Award–winner Jeff VanderMeer have recently coedited such anthologies as Best American Fantasy #1 & 2, Steampunk, Steampunk Reloaded, The New Weird, Last Drink Bird Head , and Fast Ships, Black Sails . They are the coauthors of The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals . Future projects include The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Fictions , for Atlantic. Jeff’s latest books are the novel Finch , a World Fantasy Award and Nebula Award finalist; the story collection The Third Bear ; the nonfiction collection Monstrous Creatures ; the coffee-table book The Steampunk Bible (with S. J. Chambers); and the writing strategy guide Booklife . Ann is the editor in chief of Weird Tales magazine and has a regular art column on the popular SF/fantasy Web site io9. Together, they have been profiled by National Public Radio and the New York Times ’ Papercuts blog. They are active teachers, and have taught at Clarion San Diego, Odyssey, and the teen writing camp Shared Worlds, for which Jeff serves as the assistant director. They live in Tallahassee, Florida, with too many books and four cats. For more information, visit jeffvandermeer.com.

First and foremost, a huge thank-you to Diana Gill, our editor, for being wonderfully supportive of this project and letting this three-ring circus reach its full potential. Thanks also to Will Hinton at Harper Voyager, who put up with a constant stream of e-mails and image downloads, among other impositions—as well as everyone else involved in this project, including the book designer. Huge thanks as well to John Coulthart for acting as an image consultant to this anthology, while also providing his own art/design and found art—you’re the best and we couldn’t have done it without you. Thanks to the gang at Brueggers, Hopkins, and Monks for good company, and for keeping us fed and caffeinated during the process. Thanks to our friends at the Leon Station post office for laughs and over twenty years of great service. We would also like to thank Myra Miller and Arthur Burns at Alpha Data Systems for continuing support (and a special shoutout to Arthur for keeping all our technology running smoothly).

We’re also indebted to Stepan Chapman and Michael Cisco’s contributions to The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases, as this volume makes use of some of their ideas and writings from that prior volume. We’re also forever indebted to our New Weird editor in the Czech Republic, Martin Šust, for his help in acquiring art from Jan Svankmajer. Finally, thanks to all of the contributors for making this anthology so special for us.

ARTISTS

All images copyright 2011 to the individual creators and original to this anthology, unless otherwise noted. All public-domain art and photography provided by and/or Photoshopped by John Coulthart. All title pages copyright 2011 John Coulthart.

“Mecha-frog” and “Mecha-fish” preceding ‘Holy Devices and Infernal Duds’, Vladimir Gvozdev, copyright © 2008

Introduction

“just one shelf in Lambshead’s study” —Jennifer and J. K. Potter, photograph from their “knickknack collection,” as arranged by Jennifer

“stage set for musical of Dr. Lambshead . . .” —Sam Van Olffen, “Travailleurs de lacier,” copyright © 2008

“secret medical laboratory stage set . . .” —Sam Van Olffen, “Dissecator,” copyright © 2007

“One of Lambshead’s few attempts at art . . .”— Myrtle von Damitz III, detail shot from “Family Portrait” with Michael, Michelle, and Sydney Holdman pictured, copyright © 2010

“One of the few museum exhibit loans . . .” —Vladimir Gvozdev, “Mecha-Rhino,” copyright © 2008

“Spell or secret communication?” —Kristen Alvanson, “Constructing an Elysian Pod for the Last Journey,” copyright © 2007

“so-called ‘Skull Cucumber’ hoax . . .” —Jan Svankmajer, cryptozoology print, copyright © 1975

“demonstrating the doctor’s commitment to the future . . .” —Jake von Slatt, “Bassington & Smith Electro-Mechanical Analog Brain,” copyright © 2010, first publication herein

“More evidence of the disarray . . .” —J. K. Potter, originally end papers for James Blaylock’s The Adventures of Langdon St. Ives from Subterranean Press, copyright © 2008

The Broadmore Exhibits

“Electrical Neurheographiton,” “St. Brendan’s Shank,” “The Auble Gun,” and “Dacey’s Patent Automatic Nanny” —Greg Broadmore

“Nikola Tesla ca. 1890” —Wikipedia Commons

“The Tasker Battle Carriage” —Sam Van Olffen, “Cours Lapin, cours!” copyright © 2008

Honoring Lambshead

“medieval tapestry . . .” —James A. Owen

“Tree Spirits Rising” —Jonathan Nix, copyright © 2006

“Relic with Fish” —Ivica Stevanovic

“Lord Dunsany’s Teapot” —Yishan Li

“Portrait of a Bear Unbound (with speaker)” —Eric Orchard

“The Meistergarten” —John Coulthart

The Mignola Exhibits

“Addison Howell on his Clockroach,” “Sir Ranulph Wykeham-Rackham,” “Shamalung,” and “Pulvadmonitor ”—Mike Mignola

The Miéville Anomalies

“The Very Shoe” and “Gallows-horse”— China Miéville

The Further Oddities

“Thing in Jar” —Aeron Alfrey

“Frog Resurrection” —Ron Pippin, copyright © 2008

“Armor Montage” —Ivica Stevanovic

“Castleblakeney Key” —Aeron Alfrey, copyright © 2009

“Taking the Rats to Riga”— Eric Schaller

“ The Book of Categories”— Ron Pippin, copyright © 2008

“The Dead Dead Gang book cover” —John Coulthart

Visits and Departures

“Kneel” (full and detail views)—Scott Eagle, “Meditation on Power” installation, copyright © 2009

Catalog of Additional Items

“Bear Gun/Taxidermy Gun” —Eric Orchard

“Coffin Torpedo” —Jess Gulbranson

“Disgruntled Artifacts” —Rikki Ducornet

“Mooney & Finch Somnotrope” —Jake von Slatt, “Chronoclasmic Inhibitor,” copyright © 2010, first publication herein

“Much Smaller Cabinet” —Ron Pippin, Archive Box #2, copyright © 1999

“Skull” —John Coulthart, copyright © 1995

“The St. Blais Toad” —Norman Tabor

“Jean Lorrain’s Nightmares of an Ether-Drinker ”— R. B. Russell, Tartarus Press designer/artist for dust jacket and boards, copyright © 2003

“Panoramic view of the Lambshead’s cabinet”— Bruce Ecker, The Obsolete Gallery, copyright © 2007

TEXT

“Introduction: The Contradictions of a Collection, Dr. Lambshead’s Cabinet” and all image captions, unless otherwise noted, copyright © 2011 Jeff & Ann VanderMeer. The character of Thackery T. Lambshead is a creation of Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, copyright © 2003.

The following subsection introductory text copyright © 2011 Jeff VanderMeer: “Holy Devices and Infernal Duds: The Broadmore Exhibits,” “Honoring Lambshead: Stories Inspired by the Cabinet,” “Microbial Alchemy and Demented Machinery: The Mignola Exhibits,” “The Miéville Anomalies,” “Further Oddities,” “Visits and Departures,” and “A Brief Catalog of Additional Items.”