New Lafferty collection from Centipede Press

I know this list occasionally gets used for Lafferty news as well (rightly so, since Wolfe considers Lafferty and actual and true genius), so I just wanted to make sure folks new Centipede Press is putting out the first fine volume of Lafferty's complete stories (they're calling it the Lafferty Library). They say each volume will feature 'a guest introduction by a notable author in the field of fantastic fiction' (the first is by noted Wolfe fan Michael Swanwick). I hope they'll get Wolfe to do one! http://www.centipedepress.com/sf/manmademodels.html I discuss the pros and cons of the particular table of contents they've revealed on my Lafferty blog: http://antsofgodarequeerfish.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/complete-lafferty-library-volume-1.html Also, in case you've never seen where Wolfe calls Lafferty 'our most original writer' (he calls him a genius in a different essay), a few years ago I copied out Wolfe's essay from Castle of Days here: http://antsofgodarequeerfish.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/its-great-to-be-young-and-in-danger.html Take care.

Awesome! Reading Lafferty is one of those experiences that makes me realize just how much a love reading, and it is great that this collection will have so many stories of his I otherwise wouldn't have easy (or reasonably priced) access to. Can't wait to have them all, but I will say I'm not a fan of the cover design. I assume the binding and other features will be of high quality.

Afterword by John Pelan? He dares show his face in public, anywhere? //grrrrrrrrrr//

Antonin, I agree about the cover. Fred, what's the beef with Pelan? Never heard of him before now... -DOJP

He ran a publishing house. There are quite a few of us that bought books that were never sent. In my case, an advanced order, paid in full, for an anthology series of the short work of Clifford D. Simak. So I'm out several hundred dollars. As are many other CDS fans.

Ouch. Doesn't bode well for the Lafferty Library!

If he's restricted to contributing words, it shouldn't be a problem.

Pelan is an "associate editor" at Centipede Press. On the other hand, so is the highly reliable S.T. Joshi.

I met a Lafferty fan in the flesh the other day. I was at a used bookstore and saw a woman paging through Strange Doings, then she placed it back on the shelf. I told her it was worth it, and she said she already had two copies, and was just considering buying a back up in case the others fell apart! She mentioned her favorite was a history of Rome written by Lafferty. Has anyone read it? Thoughts? -----Original Message----- From: "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes" <danldo at gmail.com> Sent: ?12/?2/?2013 8:13 PM To: "The Urth Mailing List" <urth at lists.urth.net> Subject: Re: (urth) New Lafferty collection from Centipede Press Pelan is an "associate editor" at Centipede Press. On the other hand, so is the highly reliable S.T. Joshi. On Mon, Dec 2, 2013 at 4:01 PM, Fred Kiesche <godelescherbach at gmail.com> wrote: If he's restricted to contributing words, it shouldn't be a problem. On Dec 2, 2013 6:39 PM, "Daniel Otto Jack Petersen" <danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com> wrote: Ouch. Doesn't bode well for the Lafferty Library! On Mon, Dec 2, 2013 at 11:38 PM, Fred Kiesche <godelescherbach at gmail.com> wrote: He ran a publishing house. There are quite a few of us that bought books that were never sent. In my case, an advanced order, paid in full, for an anthology series of the short work of Clifford D. Simak. So I'm out several hundred dollars. As are many other CDS fans. On Dec 2, 2013 6:29 PM, "Daniel Otto Jack Petersen" <danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com> wrote: Antonin, I agree about the cover. Fred, what's the beef with Pelan? Never heard of him before now... -DOJP On Mon, Dec 2, 2013 at 9:36 PM, Fred Kiesche <godelescherbach at gmail.com> wrote: Afterword by John Pelan? He dares show his face in public, anywhere? //grrrrrrrrrr// On Mon, Dec 2, 2013 at 4:16 PM, Daniel Otto Jack Petersen <danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com> wrote: I know this list occasionally gets used for Lafferty news as well (rightly so, since Wolfe considers Lafferty and actual and true genius), so I just wanted to make sure folks new Centipede Press is putting out the first fine volume of Lafferty's complete stories (they're calling it the Lafferty Library). They say each volume will feature 'a guest introduction by a notable author in the field of fantastic fiction' (the first is by noted Wolfe fan Michael Swanwick). I hope they'll get Wolfe to do one! http://www.centipedepress.com/sf/manmademodels.html I discuss the pros and cons of the particular table of contents they've revealed on my Lafferty blog: http://antsofgodarequeerfish.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/complete-lafferty-library-volume-1.html Also, in case you've never seen where Wolfe calls Lafferty 'our most original writer' (he calls him a genius in a different essay), a few years ago I copied out Wolfe's essay from Castle of Days here: http://antsofgodarequeerfish.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/its-great-to-be-young-and-in-danger.html Take care.

The Fall of Rome has come up once or twice on the Lafferty forums. It's a pretty odd book. I had the opportunity to read most of it in a library once. IIRC, it was sort of a nonfiction account written in a novelistic manner, and I didn't know what to make of it because I didn't know how much of it was standard history and how much was Lafferty's extrapolations or interpolations or editorializing.

Gwern Branwen <gwern at gwern.net> 4:30 AM (3 hours ago) to Urth

The Fall of Rome has come up once or twice on the Lafferty forums. It's a pretty odd book. I had the opportunity to read most of it in a library once. IIRC, it was sort of a nonfiction account written in a novelistic manner, and I didn't know what to make of it because I didn't know how much of it was standard history and how much was Lafferty's extrapolations or interpolations or editorializing. Pretty much the same situation for me when I read most of it, Gwern. But for an aficionado there are Laffertian gold nuggets in there, and it was interesting to see him write a few passages that felt almost like his unique version of high fantasy, which is something I've never seen him attempt elsewhere. Interesting connections with Wolfe there... -DOJP

FROM THE FICTIONMAGS GROUP <http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailyherald/obituary.aspx?pid=168614070> TIP O' THE HAT TO GORDON VAN GELDER**

Finally got my copy of the first volume today. It is pretty nice, although I'm still not a fan of the cover design. The margins seem unusually large as well, there is a lot of space between the text and the edge of the page. The binding and materials are high quality though, and this will make a beautiful set when complete. And of course, all of the stories will be on my shelves! Can't wait to read ones I've missed.

I received mine as well. The physical quality is as Antonin described. I was displeased to come upon three errors on the second page of the first story (18). The name of the titular character is twice given as Jan instead of Jon, and there's a word missing from a sentence immediately after that. Very disappointing in a volume priced for collectors. Moreover, the pages have no headers; there is text, there are page numbers at the bottom, but that is all. In this kind of a collection of short stories, I expect to see the title of each story at the top of the appropriate pages. It's Lafferty, so I still plan to buy every volume they publish, but my goodwill for their effort is diminished. Makes me wish I had had $70K in hand when his estate was up for sale.

That's a shame about the typos, I haven't delved into it fully, just skimmed. I too will be buying every volume. Lafferty is peerless in short stories, and getting them all is worth... well, let me just say I would be willing to put up with a lot to have a complete collection. I am a bit confused about the pricing as well. My copy was $45, the sticker on the packaging said $100, and the Amazon pricing is $63. I wonder how the prices for the future volumes are going to pan out.