Jeff VanderMeer

Yesterday io9 revealed the table of contents for The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, our follow-up to The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases. This new anthology is out from HarperCollins in June. Thanks to our editor there, Diana Gill, as well as Will Hinton, for making it a smooth and fun process. The book is available for preorder. It will be an oversized, 7 x 10 hardcover with probably special treatment of the front cover in terms of raised surfaces, etc.

A few extra notes about the anthology. It features over 70 images, including sumptuous title page treatments by John Coulthart. The book is divided into the following sections: Holy Devices and Infernal Duds: The Broadmore Exhibits, Honoring Lambshead: Stories Inspired by the Cabinet, Microbial Alchemy & Demented Machinery: The Mignola Exhibits, The Miéville Anomalies, Further Oddities, Visits & Departures, and A Brief Catalog of Additional Items. In addition, each section is prefaced by the continuation of a brief frame story I’ve written, and the “introduction” is a reveal of further details about Lambshead not set out in the first volume.

The purpose of all of this was to create contexts for different kinds of stories. So the book includes everything from traditional fantasy to avant garde approaches, as well as stories presented as exhibit descriptions. It’s browsable or, because of the variety of the content, readable straight through.

I thought I’d set out the full list of contributors in alphabetical order, starting with the amazing artists. Most of the art is original to the anthology, including four new pieces each by Mike Mignola and Greg Broadmore. Jake von Slatt actually built two new pieces for the anthology. The plan is that readers will have a chance to win one of the pieces—not a photograph of it, the actual artifact.

ART BY:
Aeron Alfrey
Kristen Alvanson
Rikki Ducornet
Greg Broadmore
John Coulthart
Scott Eagle
Vladimir Gvozdariki
Yishan Li
China Mieville
Mike Mignola
Jonathan Nix
Eric Orchard
James A. Owen
Ron Pippin
J.K. Potter
Eric Schaller
Ivica Stevanovic
Jan Svankmajer
Sam Van Olffen
Myrtle von Damitz, III
Jake von Slatt

SHORT STORIES
Kelly Barnhill
Holly Black
S.J. Chambers
Stepan Chapman
Ted Chiang
Michael Cisco
Gio Clairval
Amal El-Mohtar
Minister Faust
Jeffrey Ford
Brian Evenson
Lev Grossman
Will Hindmarch
N.K. Jemisin
Caitlín R. Kiernan
Mur Lafferty
Jay Lake
China Miéville
Michael Moorcock
Alan Moore
Reza Negarestani
Garth Nix
Naomi Novik
Helen Oyeyemi
Cherie Priest
Ekaterina Sedia
Rachel Swirsky
Carrie Vaughn
Tad Williams
Charles Yu

MICRO FiCTIONS (A Brief Catalog of Additional Items)
Hugh Alter
Charlie Jane Anders,
Julie Andrews
Christopher Begley
Jayme Lynn Blaschke
Nickolas Brienza
Tucker Cummings
Kaolin Imago Fire
Jess Gulbranson
Jennifer Harwood-Smith
Willow Holser
Rhys Hughes
Incognitum
Paul Kirsch
Michael J. Larson
Therese Littleton
Graham Lowther
Claire Massey
Tony Mileman
Adam Mills
Annalee Newitz
Ignacio Sanz
Steven M. Schmidt
Grant Stone
Norman Taber
Brian Thill
Nick Tramdack
Nicholas Troy
Tom Underberg
Horia Ursu
William T. Vandemark
Kali Wallace
Tracie Welser
Amy Willats
Nadine Wilson
Ben Woodard