Text: Ur - The New Book of Masks

Text: Ur--The New Book of Masks, edited by Forrest Aguirre, winner of a World Fantasy Award, is a collection of experimental and speculative fiction and fantasy from Raw Dog Screaming Press. On the press' Web site, the anthology is described as "a beautifully surreal masquerade" and a "hallucinogenic spectacle." Just look at the wild cover art by Carrie Ann Baade -- that riveting image is what invites you inside, into the odd worlds of these twenty stories. I have a few short hybrid pieces included in the anthology, which are now part of Stirring the Mirror: "Parchment and Twigs," "No Mooing in the Moonlight," and "Documenting My Abduction."

Authors contributing to Text: Ur are Brian Evenson, Rikki Ducornet, Lance Olsen, Tamar Yellin, Terese Svoboda, Jay Lake/Ruth Nestvold, Sarah Totton, Joshua Cohen, E. Sedia, Nadia Gregor, Darren Speegle, Tom Miller, Joe Murphy, Eric Schaller, Catherine Kasper, Christine Boyka Kluge, Toiya Kristen Finley, and Jason Erik Lundberg.

Publishers Weekly calls the collection "boldly original." Booklist says "stories here display remarkable degrees of creativity and craftsmanship." In Tangent, Text: Ur was described as "experimental, literate, at times cerebral, and overall well-crafted strangeness."

Cover art by Carrie Ann Baade used with permission from Raw Dog Screaming Press.