The Fiction Factory

by Jack Dann

First dates with Jesus, dinosaurs falling out of the sky, and a famous painting that eats art critics are among the quirky stories found in this collaborative collection. Each piece was written by Jack Dunn and one or more coauthors, and the joint creations are 18 highly entertaining and cutting-edge genre stories, many of them award-winning or award-nominated. Employees are drafted by corporations in the Nebula Award–nominated story "High Steel," and the first manned landing on Mars is imagined in "The God of Mars," just two examples of the futuristic flavor of the collection. Short, clever essays by the coauthors, among them Susan Casper, Gardner Dozois, and Gregory Frost, introduce each story and provide insight into the friendships, conflicts, and story conferences involved in collaborative writing.

300 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Leonca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have never done this before, but I'm giving this one a "trigger warning" for rape. There are the usual grab-bag "just didn't connect with me" stories, and then there are the ones that took me by surprise like Michael Swanwick and Jack Dann's Ships. Jack Dann and George Zebrowski's Yelowhead is especially nauseating as it delivers a matter-of-fact description of assault. There is a general roughness in the tone of many of the others that would have put me off from buying this anthology if I had known.

Stories that were fun and creative, if you can find them somewhere else:
Golden Apples of the Sun, Jack Dann, Gardner Dozois, Michael Swanwick and Jack Dann.
Afternoon at Schrafft's, Jack Dann, Gardner Dozois and Michael Swanwick.
Playing the Game, Jack Dann, Gardner Dozois.

[Missy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got maybe halfway though, got tired of reading the intro that accompanied every single story in the book about how the author came up with and wrote it with either one or 2 other people. First few times it was interesting - but basically reading different versions ofwent out with so and so, had drinks someone, emailed someone and they said this thing, which would be a cool story so we did this blah blah blah.
There were a few stories I liked, one I was hoping for it to go somewhere better than it did. I didn't feel right not reading the intros, like I wasn't being true to the book, so I never picked it back up to read. (yes, I feel bad if I didn't read all the stuff in it, as I'm one to always read the intro if books have them - even if it meant that in another book I had it ruined the story because it gave away too many plot points. Still liked that book, even though at every page and chapter I wondered if that one would be where the things took place. But that's a different book, so never mind. :)

[Carmelo Rafalà · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first introduction to Jack Dann was in the 1980s with the story "The Gods of Mars" in Omni. It floored me and engaged my sense of wonder meter, full force. I am glad to see that story is within these pages, as I have since lost the Omni issue. All of these stories are collaborations, and they are all brilliant. A must-read.