The Third Bear by Jeff VanderMeer
One of our favorite and more prolific authors and editors of the weird and fantastic, Jeff VanderMeer had a pretty good year in 2010. High among his achievements this year was the shortlisting of his novel Finch back in February for a Nebula award, but he also also co-authored The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals: The Evil Monkey Dialogues (with wife Ann VanderMeer) and released a collection of short stories titled The Third Bear. If you haven’t read any of Jeff’s work, you owe it to yourself to give it a shot.
But don’t take my word for it. A group of authors have decided to release a PDF e-book, The Third Bear Carnival with their thoughts on Third Bear stories, and the results of an associated short story contest thrown into the mix. It’s worth reading for their contributions which run the gamut from analysis on Jeff’s apparent animal fetish to thoughts on specific stories from The Third Bear, some accompanying fiction, illustrations and even cartoons. We’re making the Third Bear Carnival available as a free download. Enjoy.
Illustration from The Third Bear Carnival
