Polyphony, Volume 1 (Paperback or Softback)

Polyphony is a new biannual anthology of original short fiction. Featuring a mix of established and new writers, Polyphony Volume 1 offers a dozen stories that skate gracefully across the boundaries of science fiction, fantasy, magic realism, and literary fiction.

"Twelve good writers, cutting free of commercial and canonical limitations, make an anthology that goes way beyond 'experimental' into 'extraordinary.'"
Ursula K. Le Guin

"Face it: for the most part, SF, Fantasy and Horror--the genres of the ostensibly fantastic--have long ago hit the snooze button and rolled back over for a long lazy hibernation, while the world outside their bedchamber ferments and explodes in ways almost too bizarre to imagine. But now comes an irresistable wake-up call. The stellar new original anthology series POLYPHONY is a fizzy bottle of champagne sprayed across the sleepers' faces. Old hands--Shepard and Emshwiller--consort with newer writers--Duncan and McHugh--and first-timers--Singh and Garcia--to produce a slipstream banquet that is truly a many-voiced paean to the inexhaustible possibilities of the literature of the marvelous."
Paul Di Filippo

"So far, most of the remarkable slipstream fiction being published today has been falling into the chasm between genre and literary fiction. Genre science fiction and fantasy magazines seem designed to put such stories only into the hands of people guaranteed to be disappointed by them; mainstream literary publications are uncomfortable with anything that carries the whiff of genre. POLYPHONY is the promised land for readers of the strange, miraculous, and speculative. Cross the river and enter."
John Kessel

"POLYPHONY" means "many voices." Or "two or more independent melodic parts sounded together." This first volume of POLYPHONY lives up to both definitions. It offers an array of strong voices and arranges them so as to showcase not only their harmonies but also their distinctions. Established voices like Lucius Shepard's, Andy Duncan's, Carol Emshwiller's, and Maureen McHugh's chime provocatively with the haunting new voices of Victoria Elizabeth Garcia and Vandana Singh. The reader also hears terrific solos by Leslie What, Ray Vukcevich, Carrie Vaugh, Douglas Lain, and James Van Pelt, and a stunning 11-part recitative by Bruce Holland Rogers, a whole concert in itself. POLYPHONY is a stirring venture. Anyone attuned to first-rate storytelling will applaud its debut and eagerly await performances to come.
Michael Bishop

"Leslie [What's] comic stories are indeed fun to read, but I've noticed quite often that there is a serious aftertaste when the bubbles and froth have disappeared. That's very nice. 'Blind Date With the Invisible Man' is one of those stories that linger afterward."
Kate Wilhelm