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Moving Across the Landscape in Search of an Idea
A collection of stories with verbose titles, concise narratives, and copious notes, in multiple genres.
The collection includes the following stories:
Would anyone care to explain... by Devan Barlow
In Which Grace Agatha Zimmerman, Age 9... by Samantha L. Barrett
Presented to you, the Reader... by M.L.D. Curelas
Strolling the Slender Streets of Scorching Salé... by Eric Daffron
The Cool Side of the Pillow... by Scott Edelman
Splendid Though I Realize the Conception... by Jendia Gammon
This is the Title, The Artist Prince Wilfem the Third... by Liam Hogan
Midnight at the Bookshop... by Brian Hugenbruch
Advice for Humans Dating... by Jennifer Jeanne McArdle
Catalogue #1334 of the Time Travel Museum Collection... by Melody E. McIntyre
The Custodian's Manual for Working... by Ben Murphy
From A Complete and Revised History... by Kara Race-Moore
Before I Died, We Fought About... by Camden Rose
The rain has come, and we need... by Dani Salvadori
What You Need to Know When... by Holly Schofield
In which our intrepid glass wizard... by Sarah Swarbrick
Last Voices from a Lost Colony... by Jenny Thompson
Intergalactic Planetary Exploration... by Miriam Thor
The collection includes the following stories:
Would anyone care to explain... by Devan Barlow
In Which Grace Agatha Zimmerman, Age 9... by Samantha L. Barrett
Presented to you, the Reader... by M.L.D. Curelas
Strolling the Slender Streets of Scorching Salé... by Eric Daffron
The Cool Side of the Pillow... by Scott Edelman
Splendid Though I Realize the Conception... by Jendia Gammon
This is the Title, The Artist Prince Wilfem the Third... by Liam Hogan
Midnight at the Bookshop... by Brian Hugenbruch
Advice for Humans Dating... by Jennifer Jeanne McArdle
Catalogue #1334 of the Time Travel Museum Collection... by Melody E. McIntyre
The Custodian's Manual for Working... by Ben Murphy
From A Complete and Revised History... by Kara Race-Moore
Before I Died, We Fought About... by Camden Rose
The rain has come, and we need... by Dani Salvadori
What You Need to Know When... by Holly Schofield
In which our intrepid glass wizard... by Sarah Swarbrick
Last Voices from a Lost Colony... by Jenny Thompson
Intergalactic Planetary Exploration... by Miriam Thor
130 pages, Paperback
Published June 15, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 28, 2024
A really ingenious and inventive idea for an anthology of flash fiction. Air and Nothingness Press is a remarkable outfit—all of their publications are visually stunning—and Moving Across the Landscape in Search of an Idea is no exception.
I first heard of this book via an open submission call, and the concept immediately appealed to me as a fan of both restriction and guideline (when it comes to generative writing) and as someone who really loves interesting formatting and ergodic fiction. Full disclosure: I submitted a piece of my own to this call, fully intending to purchase and read the resulting book regardless of my own acceptance. From the jacket flap/submission guidelines:
"Authors were requested to have a maximum of 1500 words, divided between the story title (200-500+), the story itself (250-600+), and any footnotes, endnotes, sidenotes, parenthetical diversions, marginalia, doodles, indices, and glossaries (250-500+) they wished to include."
The majority of these stories focus on footnotes to convey a narrative behind the story, or to allude/imply to events that might happen around or outside or even within the story itself, though there are others which work in and around the written word in various delightful ways. Some entries are presented as poetry—artifacts of characters not seen or deceased, with a "narrator" or "editor" in the marginalia to deepen or add new dimension to the narrative. Others still use the footnote mechanic to clarify or define intentional acronyms or refer to other fictional works.
Most of these eighteen authors are brand-new to me, which is a double delight, and the story by Samantha L. Barrett is my favorite of the book. Its tone is light-hearted, almost comical—but by the end of it, especially that final paragraph!—the entire thing is cast over by a sudden cold shadow, as if the sun has abruptly been obscured by massing clouds. Another favorite is the story by Camden Rose, which takes the footnote mechanic to another level: the main story could be read as its own entity, but the footnotes (especially the final note, which dropped my jaw) "haunt" the piece with thematic resonance.
There are also some fascinatingly formatted pieces here that utilize not only coordinates of longitude/latitude (in Dani Salvidori's entry, which also includes actual links to working YouTube videos and websites (as of July 2024), adding a sense of hyper-context to the story) but also side-notes where the characters involved are actively commenting on the fiction as one reads along. The Sherlock Holmes homage by M.L.D. Curelas was cheeky and very fun, for example, and I loved the character dynamics in the "draft article post" detailing Fae-Human relations by Jennifer Jeanne McArdle. Also of note was the inclusion of "Reading Group Questions" at the conclusion of Scott Edelman's entry—I found this to be a fascinating way to deepen the ambiguity present in the body of the story itself.
Genre-wise, I did feel that there was a slight imbalance: the entries beholden to science-fiction outweighed the others, and I felt the weaker pieces in this book were also generally found among their number. That being said, I very much enjoyed how inventive and speculative all of the entries were in this anthology, even if I felt there were a few stories which did not employ footnotes/marginalia to their best effect; where the mechanic felt tacked-on, rather than integral to the story's presentation.
But this is just a nit-pick, really, in the grand scheme of things—such an interesting theme for an anthology is rare, and the authors chosen to present it are more than capable of rising to the task, bringing creativity, wit, and intelligence to the fore. The physical media of this book is also absolutely stunning; it is a perfect bound paperback with French flaps, measuring about 4.5"x6.5" inches, and not a single increment of space is wasted or neglected. All of the footnotes, sidenotes, endnotes, and marginalia, etc., are formatted beautifully and crisply, never once appearing "busy" on the page. Todd Sanders/Air & Nothingness Press continue to focus on challenging, intriguing themes in their publications, and reliably produce books that are certifiably works of art on their visual merit alone.
Highly recommended to fans of speculative, flash, and ergodic fiction, as well as anyone seeking something fresh and original to tickle and stimulate the imagination. Moving Across the Landscape In Search of an Idea does in fact move, and seek, and in so doing, gathers up a bountiful harvest of ideas that any imaginative reader can then feast upon, enjoying the beautiful landscape as they do.
I first heard of this book via an open submission call, and the concept immediately appealed to me as a fan of both restriction and guideline (when it comes to generative writing) and as someone who really loves interesting formatting and ergodic fiction. Full disclosure: I submitted a piece of my own to this call, fully intending to purchase and read the resulting book regardless of my own acceptance. From the jacket flap/submission guidelines:
"Authors were requested to have a maximum of 1500 words, divided between the story title (200-500+), the story itself (250-600+), and any footnotes, endnotes, sidenotes, parenthetical diversions, marginalia, doodles, indices, and glossaries (250-500+) they wished to include."
The majority of these stories focus on footnotes to convey a narrative behind the story, or to allude/imply to events that might happen around or outside or even within the story itself, though there are others which work in and around the written word in various delightful ways. Some entries are presented as poetry—artifacts of characters not seen or deceased, with a "narrator" or "editor" in the marginalia to deepen or add new dimension to the narrative. Others still use the footnote mechanic to clarify or define intentional acronyms or refer to other fictional works.
Most of these eighteen authors are brand-new to me, which is a double delight, and the story by Samantha L. Barrett is my favorite of the book. Its tone is light-hearted, almost comical—but by the end of it, especially that final paragraph!—the entire thing is cast over by a sudden cold shadow, as if the sun has abruptly been obscured by massing clouds. Another favorite is the story by Camden Rose, which takes the footnote mechanic to another level: the main story could be read as its own entity, but the footnotes (especially the final note, which dropped my jaw) "haunt" the piece with thematic resonance.
There are also some fascinatingly formatted pieces here that utilize not only coordinates of longitude/latitude (in Dani Salvidori's entry, which also includes actual links to working YouTube videos and websites (as of July 2024), adding a sense of hyper-context to the story) but also side-notes where the characters involved are actively commenting on the fiction as one reads along. The Sherlock Holmes homage by M.L.D. Curelas was cheeky and very fun, for example, and I loved the character dynamics in the "draft article post" detailing Fae-Human relations by Jennifer Jeanne McArdle. Also of note was the inclusion of "Reading Group Questions" at the conclusion of Scott Edelman's entry—I found this to be a fascinating way to deepen the ambiguity present in the body of the story itself.
Genre-wise, I did feel that there was a slight imbalance: the entries beholden to science-fiction outweighed the others, and I felt the weaker pieces in this book were also generally found among their number. That being said, I very much enjoyed how inventive and speculative all of the entries were in this anthology, even if I felt there were a few stories which did not employ footnotes/marginalia to their best effect; where the mechanic felt tacked-on, rather than integral to the story's presentation.
But this is just a nit-pick, really, in the grand scheme of things—such an interesting theme for an anthology is rare, and the authors chosen to present it are more than capable of rising to the task, bringing creativity, wit, and intelligence to the fore. The physical media of this book is also absolutely stunning; it is a perfect bound paperback with French flaps, measuring about 4.5"x6.5" inches, and not a single increment of space is wasted or neglected. All of the footnotes, sidenotes, endnotes, and marginalia, etc., are formatted beautifully and crisply, never once appearing "busy" on the page. Todd Sanders/Air & Nothingness Press continue to focus on challenging, intriguing themes in their publications, and reliably produce books that are certifiably works of art on their visual merit alone.
Highly recommended to fans of speculative, flash, and ergodic fiction, as well as anyone seeking something fresh and original to tickle and stimulate the imagination. Moving Across the Landscape In Search of an Idea does in fact move, and seek, and in so doing, gathers up a bountiful harvest of ideas that any imaginative reader can then feast upon, enjoying the beautiful landscape as they do.
August 7, 2024
I do have a story in this, so I'm not unbiased, but this book is so much fun! The very clever concept (long titles, brief story, copious footnotes and other extras) was skillfully executed by the authors. Some are hilarious, some are gut-wrenching, all are worth the read.
July 4, 2024
This anthology is a collection of short stories written with specific requirements to have a title, a narrative, and footnotes all of about the same word length – quite the challenge indeed! No genre was specified, so here we get fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, travelogue, poetry, and more. An intriguing read, I highly recommend if you are in the mood to try something different.
From A Complete and Revised History... by Kara Race-Moore – I wrote this! I love the Tour d’Olympus. It is real in my heart and I loved making it real in this story, presenting an imagined far future of a Mars, so colonized and civilized there is time for competitive sports, as an academic history text.
In Which Grace Agatha Zimmerman, Age 9... by Samantha L. Barrett – A funny deconstruction of the monster-under-the-bed story. The humor reminded me of Monsters Inc. – but with a slightly sharper bite to it. And watch out for that WHAM ending!
What You Need to Know When... by Holly Schofield – A plea for more ADA accommodations in this world presented as a sci-fi story presented as a very realistic guidebook for neurodivergent people traveling to a specific space station, with all the relevant data needed to work one’s way through the interfaces and restaurants and hotels that, even in the future, cater more to those neurotypical.
Last Voices from a Lost Colony... by Jenny Thompson – I had to put the book down and just stare at the wall when I finished this story, that’s how gut wrenching it was. A brilliant collection of poems tells the tale of an epic tragedy, showing both the grand scale of the disaster and the all too up close and personal side of it. I will be on the look out for more of Thompson’s poetry.
Midnight at the Bookshop... by Brian Hugenbruch – A fantasy story set in post-WWI Oxford, with the characters all sharpened both by the cutthroat world of academia plus the trauma of having gone through “the war to end all wars”. This magical bookshop tops just about every other bookshop / library I’ve seen in sci-fi and fantasy, as we get descriptions of clouds at the top of the stairs, that’s how high the shelves go!
Before I Died, We Fought About... by Camden Rose – the Dead cannot interact with the Living, as we see here as one of the recent Dead makes commentary on an ordinary day, pointing out the lies mixed in with the mundane, and just how tragic it is when communication breaks down between two people who once loved each other.
Intergalactic Planetary Exploration... by Miriam Thor – I laughed and laughed at this one! The dry report of a “First Contact” between humans a new species being invited to join the intergalactic union is peppered with snarky footnotes (the best kind of footnotes) as a space captain wants to make clear to their boss who, exactly, made the mistakes here. An excellent revenge story.
The Cool Side of the Pillow... by Scott Edelman – Despite everything going wrong in this sci-fi tale of what happens when people push too fast to test new tech, and a lot of existential dread, it becomes a surprisingly hopeful and uplifting story, challenging the readers to take heart in the idea that all lives are important.
Catalogue #1334 of the Time Travel Museum Collection... by Melody E. McIntyre – A very well executed time travel story. A manual for creating time loops is peppered who notes by the “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” type person who is trying to effectively use said time loop device, with further notes from the person who cleared up the mess afterwards. Time travel is always tricky to emerged from unscathed – and here we see even having a manual doesn’t always help.
Splendid Though I Realize the Conception... by Jendia Gammon – Journalism meets the inexplicable as a journalist attempts to investigate a hole in the multi-verse . Very Stranger Things for grownups as the reporter is just trying to do a good job, and not above swearing as everything goes haywire.
The Custodian's Manual for Working... by Ben Murphy – A sci-fi tale that felt like it could have easily been staged on the set of 2001 as the custodian manages the sleeping others in their cyro-beds, and, given how cerebral it is, its no accident the ship is called the Intellect. An excellent portrayal of emotion vs. rationality.
Advice for Humans Dating... by Jennifer Jeanne McArdle – Argh! Jealous! The title here is a collection of titles all being considered. Brilliant way to cover a lot of information in the required word length. The story itself is an unfinished draft with notes that soon make it clear there is one reader in mind for this story about the dangers of a human venturing into fairyland.
Presented to you, the Reader... by M.L.D. Curelas – This was adorable! A Sherlock Holmes story that exactly captures the distinct voices of both Watson and Holmes, as they are clearly in the middle of an adorable domestic spat, still fighting it out via recountings and angry editorial notes. An excellent piece of “slice of life” Holmesian fiction.
Strolling the Slender Streets of Scorching Salé... by Eric Daffron – Daffron presents a brief travelogue of his eager attempt to experience what his favorite author – Abdellah Taïa, a Moroccan writer and filmmaker – wrote about in his recountings of growing up in Morocco. They say “sightseeing is the art of disappointment” but Daffron, while not experiencing the exact same thing as Taïa, still clearly had an amazing time.
The rain has come, and we need... by Dani Salvadori – A terrifying story of climate change told in lyrical, almost dreamy poetry. Nature will have its way, no matter what we do. I highly recommend looking up the coordinates provided to see the land that the sea and rain are rapidly taking away.
Would anyone care to explain... by Devan Barlow – I got a good chortle out of this urban fantasy. A restaurant manager takes one night off and comes back to find everything in shambles. A heavily annotated 1-star review, showing both the customer and staff’s POV, shows how many hijinks went down at thid restaurant straight out of What We Do in the Shadows.
In which our intrepid glass wizard... by Sarah Swarbrick – A magical quest story of epic proportions despite the enforced brevity. The main character is, perhaps, on an impossible journey, but she won’t little things like that stop her in her quest for great achievement and fame. And for all her magic, a silver tongue might be her greatest asset as the tension becomes tighter and tighter as she gets so close to her goal.
This is the Title, The Artist Prince Wilfem the Third... by Liam Hogan – Here we have quite the meta story as the reader is presented with a the title of an artwork and its footnoted description on the placard in the museum the piece is held in. What is Art, exactly, demands the artist, and how can we be so arrogant as to name it?
December 30, 2024
This anthology is a blast to read. Every author brought their own angle to the use of the marginalia. Some use the footnotes to add context or info, some to introduce a second voice--in some, the main narrative is in the footnotes and the core text is, say, a custodian's manual on a generational ship, or instructions for use of a time loop device. Not only is there a nice variety of voices and genres but they're well-curated, arranged nicely both from an emotional peaks-and-valleys standpoint and to put pieces near each other that feel like they're in conversation (the "dead in space" one followed by the "dead in a time loop" one, for example).
I love stories that can be read in multiple ways, and that's one of the beautiful things about the form experiments in these stories. The stories in this anthology made me want to linger over them and re-read them, and usually I'd discover something new on the second pass. Very much enjoyed reading this and definitely recommend it to other readers--especially folks who like weird forms, of course, but honestly even people who usually don't I think would find a lot of these stories very enjoyable and accessible.
I love stories that can be read in multiple ways, and that's one of the beautiful things about the form experiments in these stories. The stories in this anthology made me want to linger over them and re-read them, and usually I'd discover something new on the second pass. Very much enjoyed reading this and definitely recommend it to other readers--especially folks who like weird forms, of course, but honestly even people who usually don't I think would find a lot of these stories very enjoyable and accessible.
December 22, 2024
Very cool concept! There a a few gems in the collection, but my favorite by far was Jenny Thompson’s “Last Voices from a Lost Colony”
September 28, 2024
A nice little anthology of flash. The prompt for all of the stories is unique, and some of these stories really used the format to its full advantage. There were a few duds, as always happens in a collection of short fiction, but I liked most of them. My favorites were the ones by Miriam Thor, Camden Rose, and Devan Barlow.
I also really like the physical book itself. Feels good.
I also really like the physical book itself. Feels good.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews