Says Jeff VanderMeer, author of Finch, The Third Bear and co-editor - with his better half Ann - of what will surely be the definitive anthology of all things Weird, forthcoming from Corvus/Atlantic this October:
"I can't even really tell you where I got the idea for Mormeck, except that I'd been wanting to use the name for awhile and a still-born story with a character named that had gone nowhere. But suddenly I was looking at some random notes for a new fictional universe and I remembered the name Mormeck and then this Japanese comics character popped into my brain and I knew Mormeck was a huge, mountain-large creature with a laboratory resting atop his head. On a distant planet. Observing a hundred or more alt-Earths."
Well of course he was!
In fact, courtesy the staggering imagination of artist Mo Ali, here he is in the -- uhh... the flesh? I guess?
"The Journals of Mormeck" is a novella-length serialised story Jeff has been posting entries of on his blog, Ecstatic Days. I suppose you could call it an experiment - you would be right to - yet I think that would be to sell this awesome monstrosity short, because even the experiments of this particular author are of a whole different class than most.
I don't know how much longer "The Journals of Mormeck" is going to go, but I've been following along for a few weeks now like a good genre blogger, and day in and out, I've found it tremendously entertaining; grotesque, challenging, and stuffed full of ideas like an massive evil olive. For instance:
"Inter-dimensional komodos. Sure. Luna moth surveillance devices. No problem. Being devoured by blood-thirsty bears as a way to travel between alternative realities. Yeah, baby! Angels resurrected from their own ashes. Absolutely!"
Moreover, VanderMeer's musings as to how the tale came about, and how it's evolved and continues to evolve since he made the decision to serialise it on the site, have been plum fucking fascinating. If you've ever wondered how stories are made - what happens when mummy narrative and daddy character love one another very much - you simply need to get up to speed on "The Journals of Mormeck".
Here's where you should start.
And once you're all caught up, the entries starting on June 25th on this page here pick up where the omnibus blog post leaves off.
Go on, now, and get reading. You won't regret it.
I mean it -- begone!
I totally agree with you. There is something about this whole project which has resonated with me from the get go. I consider it one of the best things Jeff has written (that I've had the pleasure of reading thus far) and it's almost painful waiting for the next "chapter."
ReplyDeleteThe sensory input is astounding and that coupled with the complex characters and thoughts, just totally rocks my reading world. In a way, this series is truly a mind altering experience.
Wonderful blogging/write up on this. I hope more people zip through their interwebz to experience this treasure.