Your Humble Blogger doesn’t claim to have read the entirety of The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric and Discredited Diseases (San Francisco: Night Shade Books 2003), but it isn’t that sort of book. It is, however, very funny in places, and quite sweet in places. I particularly liked Dr. Alan Moore’s description of Fuseli’s Disease, which has symptoms that only appear in the dreams of the infected person, and which is terribly infectious, but only, again, in dreams. Dr. Neil Gaiman’s description of Diseasemaker’s Croup was well done, if obvious; his biographical note is brilliant. Dr. Jeffrey Ford’s biographical note is extraordinary, although his description of Figurative Synesthesia is not as good as it could be. Others range from the puerile to the poignant; I remember being amused by China Miéville’s piece on Buscard’s Murrain, but now can’t remember why. There were others that I liked enough to read bits aloud to my Best Reader, but I have no idea which they were. It's that sort of book.
The Thwack’s Guide has been nominated for a Hugo, by the way; it was announced while I was, in fact, reading the thing, which was nice for YHB. It’s an odd entry into an odd category; I may never ever have read a book nominated in that category before the award was given.
The best thing about the book, in my opinion, is how well they created a history for the various entries. Dr. Lambshead’s supporters and detractors are quoted in various entries, books by those supporters and detractors appear in footnotes to various entries. I’d be curious to see the ‘bible’ the editors sent out; I suspect it was quite impressive. I’d also be curious how the book came to be made, and how the various medical personnel were brought on board; I don’t actually know much about the editors, to know if they are the sorts of people writers line up to write for, or if this just seemed like such good fun.
Which it does seem to have been. And fun for the reader (this reader, anyway) as well as the writers. I’m considering buying copies as gifts; it’s the sort of book I imagine people not finding immediately funny or intriguing enough to buy, but finding, after several weeks of leafing through it, that it’s a stone hoot.
Redintegro Iraq,
-Vardibidian.
I haven’t read it yet, but I expect to at some point. I know a couple of the contributors, and we’ve published a couple of the others, and I’m a fan of some of the others.
VanderMeer runs Ministry of Whimsy Press, and has written and edited various things that are highly respected in the circles in which they’re known. He won the World Fantasy Award in 2000 for his novella “The Transformation of Martin Lake.” He’s recently best known for the novels Veniss Underground and City of Saints & Madmen, and for editing or co-editing various volumes of the Leviathan and Album Zutique anthology series.
Much to my embarrassment, I have yet to read his work. But I hope to.