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Missing Links and Secret Histories
Missing Links and Secret Histories is an anthology of short fictions by Nisi Shawl, Anna Tambour, Lucy Sussex, Mark Rich, and others. Ever wonder who that frequent addressee of Anglophone Nineteenth century narrators, Dear Reader, really was? About Nancy Drews mother? Or what the true story on which Edgar Allan Poe based his melodramatic Fall of the House of Usher was Perhaps it never occurred to you to wonder if their might be a relationship between H.G. Wells Dr. Moreau and Joseph Conrads Col. Kurtz, or why the popularity of fairy attendance waned in the eighteenth centurybut Missing Links and Secret Histories elucidates these and other mysteries (some admittedly occasionally obscure). It even includes excerpts from lost or suppressed manuscripts scholars have not even suspected, such as The V Manuscript written by the Marquis de Sade in 1783 while imprisoned in the Chateau de Vincennes, detailing an interview between the Marquis and a prisoner in the next cell calling himself de Hurlevent, but whom the Gimmerton Theory claims was really Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights fame.
238 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2013
1 person is currently reading
227 people want to read
About the author
L. Timmel Duchamp
59 books27 followers L. Timmel Duchamp was born in 1950, the first child of three. Duchamp first began writing fiction in a library carrel at the University of Illinois in 1979, for a joke. But the joke took on a life of its own and soon turned into a satirical roman a clef in the form of a murder mystery titled "The Reality Principle." When she finished it, she allowed the novel to circulate via photocopies, and it was a great hit in the academic circles in which she then moved. One night in the fall of 1984 she sat down at her mammoth Sanyo computer with its green phosphorescent screen and began writing Alanya to Alanya.
Duchamp spent the next two years in a fever, writing the Marq'ssan Cycle. When she finshed it, she realized she didn't know how to market it to publishers and decided that publishing some short fiction (which she had never tried to write before) would be helpful for getting her novels taken seriously. Her first effort at a short story was "Welcome, Kid, to the Real World," which she wrote in the summer of 1986. Her next effort, however, turned into a novel. (Getting the hang of the shorter narrative form was a lot harder than she'd anticipated.) So she decided to stick with novels for a while. When in fall 1987 a part-time job disrupted her novel-writing, she took the short stories of Isak Dinesen for her model, tried again, and wrote "Negative Event at Wardell Station, Planet Arriga" and "O's Story." And in 1989 she sold "O's Story" to Susanna J. Sturgis for Memories and Visions, "The Forbidden Words of Margaret A." to Kristine Kathryn Rusch for Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine, and "Transcendence" to the shortlived Starshore. Her first pro sale, though, was "Motherhood, Etc." to Bantam for the Full Spectrum anthology series.
After that she wrote a lot of short fiction (mostly at novelette and novella lengths), a good deal of which she sold to Asimov's SF. In the late 1990s Nicola Griffith convinced her to try her hand at writing criticism and reviews. In 2004, Duchamp founded Aqueduct Press; since then editing and publishing books (her own as well as other writers') has claimed the lion's share of her time and effort.
She lives in Seattle.
Duchamp spent the next two years in a fever, writing the Marq'ssan Cycle. When she finshed it, she realized she didn't know how to market it to publishers and decided that publishing some short fiction (which she had never tried to write before) would be helpful for getting her novels taken seriously. Her first effort at a short story was "Welcome, Kid, to the Real World," which she wrote in the summer of 1986. Her next effort, however, turned into a novel. (Getting the hang of the shorter narrative form was a lot harder than she'd anticipated.) So she decided to stick with novels for a while. When in fall 1987 a part-time job disrupted her novel-writing, she took the short stories of Isak Dinesen for her model, tried again, and wrote "Negative Event at Wardell Station, Planet Arriga" and "O's Story." And in 1989 she sold "O's Story" to Susanna J. Sturgis for Memories and Visions, "The Forbidden Words of Margaret A." to Kristine Kathryn Rusch for Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine, and "Transcendence" to the shortlived Starshore. Her first pro sale, though, was "Motherhood, Etc." to Bantam for the Full Spectrum anthology series.
After that she wrote a lot of short fiction (mostly at novelette and novella lengths), a good deal of which she sold to Asimov's SF. In the late 1990s Nicola Griffith convinced her to try her hand at writing criticism and reviews. In 2004, Duchamp founded Aqueduct Press; since then editing and publishing books (her own as well as other writers') has claimed the lion's share of her time and effort.
She lives in Seattle.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 26, 2013
The thing I don't like about the five-star rating system is that a two star rating looks bad. It's not. I don't know why I feel the need to clarify that.
This book is a collection of fake Wikipedia entries from alternate universes. Mostly what that means is that they're mash-ups of previously existing stories and "real" stories based on myths and fairy tales. Each story is formatted like a Wikipedia entry, with links embedded in the text. (Not much good on paper, but potentially fun if they're active in the e-version [if there is one {not that I'm into that sort of thing}]). The best stories here, Jeremy Sim's "Sanyo TM-300 Home-Use Time Machine", Anna Tambour's "God" specifically, aren't tied to specifically to the idea of mashing up previously existing stories or myths. The problem with all the stories (except maybe Sim's) is that they read like Wikipedia pages. They're interesting and informative, but they can be a little dry and not especially engaging. Sim runs with the idea of anyone can edit a page and it's appropriately creepy and fun.
This book is a collection of fake Wikipedia entries from alternate universes. Mostly what that means is that they're mash-ups of previously existing stories and "real" stories based on myths and fairy tales. Each story is formatted like a Wikipedia entry, with links embedded in the text. (Not much good on paper, but potentially fun if they're active in the e-version [if there is one {not that I'm into that sort of thing}]). The best stories here, Jeremy Sim's "Sanyo TM-300 Home-Use Time Machine", Anna Tambour's "God" specifically, aren't tied to specifically to the idea of mashing up previously existing stories or myths. The problem with all the stories (except maybe Sim's) is that they read like Wikipedia pages. They're interesting and informative, but they can be a little dry and not especially engaging. Sim runs with the idea of anyone can edit a page and it's appropriately creepy and fun.
January 7, 2017
An enticing mix of fact and fiction - this right here is what I love, and also hate because I want to know more about thr stuff that isn't real! I absolutely enjoyed reading this and I wish there were more stuff out there like it.
August 27, 2015
Aqueduct Press is a Seattle publisher of feminist science fiction. I have been working my way through their catalog. I liked the idea for this anthology but most of the entries were mediocre.
Contents:
Caveat Lector; Or How I Ransacked Wikipedias across the Multiverse Solely to Amuse and Edify Readers by L. Timmel Duchamp (2 stars)
The introduction is only a single page and pales in comparison to the work of Ellen Datlow or Terri Windling.
Mystery of the Missing Mothers by Kristin King (2 stars)
I think this entry refers to Nancy Drew.
The Five Petals of Thought by Nisi Shawl (2 stars)
The history of a nonexistent philosophical movement.
Thaddeus P. Reeder by Jeremy Sim (2 stars)
The Dear Reader in Victorian fiction was an actual person.
The Gimmerton Theory by Nick Tramdack (2 stars)
This entry refers to Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights.
Maisie and Amomma by Mark Rich (2 stars)
The biography of two characters in The Light That Failed.
Madeline Usher Usher by Alisa Alering (2 stars)
I enjoyed this biography of Madeline Usher from The Fall of the House of Usher
The Kurtz-Moreau Syndicate by John J. Coyne (2 stars)
Mr. Kurtz and Dr. Moreau were working together for Cecil Rhodes or something.
Dejah Thoris by Mark Rich (2 stars)
Dejah Thoris of A Princess of Mars was an actual goddess or archetype or some such.
Mother Hubbard's Cupboard by Anna Tambour (2 stars)
The cupboard contained artifacts from the 1950s.
Gerayis (or Gedayis) by Alex Dally MacFarlane (2 stars)
This entry is a biography of the daughter of Tomyris
The Galadriel Apocrypha by Kristin King (2 stars)
I haven't read the Lord of the Rings.
The Godmother by Mari Ness (2 stars)
The biography of the fairy godmother in Cinderella.
Marmalette by Mari Ness (2 stars)
The biography of another fairy godmother.
Palatina by Mari Ness (2 stars)
The biography of yet another fairy.
The Blacksmith by Catherine Krahe (2 stars)
This entry is a biography of a minor character in The Glass Mountain.
Peter Rabbit by Jenni Moody (3 stars)
This entry is a biography of Peter Rabbit. It includes the story of how he founded Planned Rabbithood.
Secrets of Flatland by Anne Toole (2 stars)
I haven't read Flatland.
Sanyo TM-300 Home-Use Time Machine by Jeremy Sim (2 stars)
The forgettable entry for a time machine.
Elizabeth Burgoyne Corbett by L. Timmel Duchamp (2 stars)
This makes me want to read New Amazonia: a Foretaste of the Future.
God by Anna Tambour (1 stars)
I found this entry fairly dull.
La Cucaracha Rules by Lucy Sussex (2 stars)
The rules of an evil secret conspiracy or some such.
Contents:
Caveat Lector; Or How I Ransacked Wikipedias across the Multiverse Solely to Amuse and Edify Readers by L. Timmel Duchamp (2 stars)
The introduction is only a single page and pales in comparison to the work of Ellen Datlow or Terri Windling.
Mystery of the Missing Mothers by Kristin King (2 stars)
I think this entry refers to Nancy Drew.
The Five Petals of Thought by Nisi Shawl (2 stars)
The history of a nonexistent philosophical movement.
Thaddeus P. Reeder by Jeremy Sim (2 stars)
The Dear Reader in Victorian fiction was an actual person.
The Gimmerton Theory by Nick Tramdack (2 stars)
This entry refers to Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights.
Maisie and Amomma by Mark Rich (2 stars)
The biography of two characters in The Light That Failed.
Madeline Usher Usher by Alisa Alering (2 stars)
I enjoyed this biography of Madeline Usher from The Fall of the House of Usher
The Kurtz-Moreau Syndicate by John J. Coyne (2 stars)
Mr. Kurtz and Dr. Moreau were working together for Cecil Rhodes or something.
Dejah Thoris by Mark Rich (2 stars)
Dejah Thoris of A Princess of Mars was an actual goddess or archetype or some such.
Mother Hubbard's Cupboard by Anna Tambour (2 stars)
The cupboard contained artifacts from the 1950s.
Gerayis (or Gedayis) by Alex Dally MacFarlane (2 stars)
This entry is a biography of the daughter of Tomyris
The Galadriel Apocrypha by Kristin King (2 stars)
I haven't read the Lord of the Rings.
The Godmother by Mari Ness (2 stars)
The biography of the fairy godmother in Cinderella.
Marmalette by Mari Ness (2 stars)
The biography of another fairy godmother.
Palatina by Mari Ness (2 stars)
The biography of yet another fairy.
The Blacksmith by Catherine Krahe (2 stars)
This entry is a biography of a minor character in The Glass Mountain.
Peter Rabbit by Jenni Moody (3 stars)
This entry is a biography of Peter Rabbit. It includes the story of how he founded Planned Rabbithood.
Secrets of Flatland by Anne Toole (2 stars)
I haven't read Flatland.
Sanyo TM-300 Home-Use Time Machine by Jeremy Sim (2 stars)
The forgettable entry for a time machine.
Elizabeth Burgoyne Corbett by L. Timmel Duchamp (2 stars)
This makes me want to read New Amazonia: a Foretaste of the Future.
God by Anna Tambour (1 stars)
I found this entry fairly dull.
La Cucaracha Rules by Lucy Sussex (2 stars)
The rules of an evil secret conspiracy or some such.
December 20, 2013
This is an interesting study of how much cultural context is found in any wikipedia article. Fake articles from various (real) contributors, on obscure subjects, written in the stilted, encyclopedic style, paint vivid (and humorous) pictures of alternative realities: where time-machines are common household appliances; where Tolkien's mythos is taken seriously as a religion by a post-singularity consciousness; or where fictional characters are real and vice-versa.
It could be a satire of wikipedia; or of the presumption of its editors; or of the credulity of its readers; or of the paradoxical concept of a trusted authority emerging from a million unorganized individuals; or of our culture that has given wikipedia a place of trust and authority.
It could be a satire of wikipedia; or of the presumption of its editors; or of the credulity of its readers; or of the paradoxical concept of a trusted authority emerging from a million unorganized individuals; or of our culture that has given wikipedia a place of trust and authority.
Want to read
January 23, 2016science fiction
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews