Embrace the Mutation: Fiction Inspired by the Art of J. K. Pot...

Unlike in most anthologies, in Embrace the Mutation: Fiction Inspired by the Art of J.K. Potter each story begins with an image…Along with page decorations, small sketches and other grace notes, legendary artist J.K. Potter has contributed two dozen never-before published photos, those he's held back, keeping his most intense and impressive images in his private collection… until now.A dozen acclaimed writers of the dark and fantastic have taken these images and constructed their stories around them, giving length and written substance to Potter's nightmares.Contents:Introduction / J.K. Potter --Night falls, again / Michael Marshall Smith --First, catch your demon / Graham Joyce --No end of fun / Ramsey Campbell --The war between the objects and the subjects / John Crowley --In a silent way / Dennis Etchison --Pavane for a prince of the air / Elizabeth Hand --Help me, Rondo / Michael Bishop --The goose girl / Poppy Z. Brite --Radiant green star / Lucius Shepard --Egyptian Avenue / Kim Newman --The cat's pajamas / James Morrow --Breathing in faces / Peter Crowther --And what did you see in the world? / Norman Partridge.

From Publishers Weekly

Editors Schafer and Sheehan have assembled a dream team of 13 dark fantasists to "literate" a folio of horror artist Potter's photorealistic nightmare visions and elaborate the thoughts and feelings of his "changelings who have bid farewell to their former selves in order to populate a brave new world of beautiful mutations and sensuous freaks." Some contributors are more receptive than others to Potter's aesthetic and pursue it down a variety of refreshingly divergent avenues. Lucius Shepard's "Radiant Green Star" is an affecting coming-of-age tale whose many individual elements genetically-engineered circus performers, Amerasian identity, emerging teenage sexuality express a worldview founded on malleable truths and reality in flux. In James Morrow's delightfully wacky dystopia, "The Cat's Pajamas," a modern Frankenstein attempts ham-handedly to mold not just the body but the body politic. There's no fantasy to speak of in Elizabeth Hand's "Pavane for a Prince of the Air," yet its poignant account of a funeral for a friend vividly evokes a sense of the soul and its transmigration. More horror-oriented fare by Ramsey Campbell, Dennis Etchison and Michael Marshall Smith stresses the mood of their illustrations over its content, but suggest as the artwork does that horror is not an inappropriate response to a world where body piercing, cosmetic surgery and prosthetic enhancements have become de rigeur. Overall, the writing quality here is exceptional, and Potter's artwork unforgettable. (Apr. 1) FYI: The special limited edition ($100; ISBN 1-892284-57-X) includes additional Potter illustrations. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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