November 20, 2008

Der Orchideengarten

This post now resides on my other site 50 Watts:

6 comments:

  1. Heh, we seem to be bugged by the same things. I love the Rottensteiner book (was published by Thames & Hudson here) and I've also searched for more about Der Orchideengarten.

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  2. I fear that if I dig too deep into your archives I'll be forced to close down, admitting that you have it all covered. I'll definitely link back to your Sasha Schneider post(s).

    I've been meaning to do a post on Rottensteiner's anthologies. Some of his books look like they will be generic and all-surface, but then he goes on about Potocki and Buzzati and Der Orchideengarten and you realize he's a great guide to fantasy/horror/sci-fi genres.

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  3. I wouldn't worry about that, you've covered plenty of stuff I wouldn't touch on or even know about.

    I've got a US edition of the Fantasy book as well, it has a better cover than the UK one which was a garish copy of a Sidney Sime drawing. The illustration selection inside that book is really impressive too, very well-chosen. Didn't he do a companion volume about science fiction?

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  4. I think I have only the US edition, which set me back 21 cents plus shipping at Amazon. And yes, he does have a science fiction one, also with an impressive selection of illustrations.

    My only gripe with both books is that the illustrations are erratically identified. Sometimes no information is given.

    The anthologies I mentioned by Rottersteiner are Slaying of the Dragon (with Buzzati, Ballard, and others) and View From Another Shore: European Science Fiction. I think I'm forgetting one too -- maybe an anthology of Austrian sci-fi...

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  5. Rottensteiner edited an anthology of Austrian and German sci-fi that came out early this year (translations by Mike Mitchell of the great Dedalus Books!) as well as one of just Austrian sci fi.
    Yeah the art I've seen from Der Orchideengarten is mouth-watering!

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  6. Thanks. Great minds think alike -- a friend of the blog Lang told me about the Black Mirror anthology (and it just arrived in the mail), and I've been threatening to feature the Austrian sci-fi book for a few months. I'm thinking it's a good time to interview Rottensteiner!

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