Achten Tan: Land of Dust and Bone

Tales from the Year Between #1

by C. Vandyke

At the crossroads between Mieville’s New Crobuzon and M.T. Anderson’s Viriconium, on the border of Dhalgren and D&D, just to the left of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld and Mad Max’s Fury Road … lies Achten Tan

Tales from the Year Between is a biannual anthology that brings together some of the most talented writers from around the globe to invent an original world from scratch, then explore that world through their writing. After a week of intensive world-building, each author sets out to expand their new, fabulous universe through short-stories, flash fiction, poems, songs, and whatever other genres their boundless imaginations unleash ...

In this inaugural volume, the world in question is Achten Tan, an at times brutal and at times humorous city located at the foot of the Godtree on the southern edge of the Bonewastes. Home to giant ants, mysterious mirror fragments, and the world’s greatest barbecue rib joint, Achten Tan is bursting with stories of fantasy and wonder. One part Italo Calvino, one part
Frank Herbert, with just a dash of George R.R. Martin and L. Frank Baum

Warning. Achten Tan: Land of Dust & Bone is weird. Inside its pages are drama and humor; action and longing; violence, death, and love. It’s strange and beautiful, a living instance of the old aphorism regarding the whole being greater than the parts. Oh, and there are also giant ants and a city obsessed with barbecued ribs.

There are poems and short stories, one-act plays and flash fiction, epistles and excerpts from academic texts, erotic tales and even recipes. It’s a wonderful, fabulous, bizarre, and exciting mix of fiction.

(Contains contributions by the following authors: Gabrielle Awe, Jesse Nolan Bailey, Ian Barr, Darius Bearguard, Jonathan Beck, Kyle Beers, Dan Berison , Benjamin Blattberg, Elvira Canaveral, Gregory Coley, Darby Cupid, Chris “Terry” Durston, Diana C Gagliardi, Erin Rae Hoffer, Sarah Houck, Debbie Iancu-Haddad, Roger Kristian Jones, Vincent LaBate, Allison Moore, Iseult Murphy, Chapel Orahamm, S.L.Parker, Sarah Remy, Rosalind Dando, CD Storiz, Imelda Taylor, Chris Vandyke, Kelly Washington, and Paul Worthington. Maps by Aaron Hockett)

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Anthologies

397 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 9, 2020

About the author

Chris Vandyke was born in 1979 and spent the first 16 years of his life in the small coastal town of Gold Beach, Oregon. Since 2002 has been a High School English Teacher in the New York City Public School System, which is, needless to say, somewhat different than his hometown. He is the founder and president of Skullgate Media, a writer-owned publishing collective, as well as the editor-in-chief of Tales from the Year Between, a weird-fiction anthology. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, two children, and a menagerie of animals. They are currently one goat shy of a petting zoo.

Reviews

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven’t read many anthologies, so I can’t say I’m a good analysis relative to that - but overall I’m extremely floored at just how COHERENT Achten Tan is.

I can definitely tell the different writers, how people flow differently, and I really think everyone’s quite good - but world-wise? Character-wise? I’m honestly stunned at how well it all fits together. It doesn’t FEEL like a bunch of different people wrote it, in that way, but one unified cohesive idea.

It’s a strange world. One of people riding ants, of Godtrees with addictive fruits, of ribs that people eat and live in and climb upon and assign such importance to. It’s a bizarre world, but it’s fun seeing it like this, in this anthology - little snapshots of life, exposure to this strange, mythical place.

When I started this, I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect - but while I can definitely say this is probably the WEIRDEST book I’ve read so far this year, it was definitely highly enjoyable. I liked it!

[Phebe Yawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this book so curious about the world of Achten Tan. I can honestly say I was taken for a spin. There's nothing typical about this book. It's so fun and funny. I found myself eating ribs and dodging ginormous ants.

Definitely a new world of fantasy!

I've never ridden a large ant before but now I know what it'll look like. From high in life to beggars in the street you get so many angles and feels.

I loved experiencing this world and all of it's voices. If you like fantasy and are open to new experiences then this is for you. I'm new to Achten Tan but it seems that I live here. I've been here all the while

[Traa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was written with an impressive amount of collaboration, and superbly executed! These stories are all little windows into the world of Achten Tan that each give their own unique slice of an unfolding story. As you read, each contribution gives a different experience of what it's like to live in the shadow of the bones of a leviathan, ranging from comedy to adventure to poetry, from political assassinations to declarations of love to daily restaurant management. And make sure you read through the Appendices too; the description of Meaningful Dave and "Post-Structural Semiotics of Reconstructive Osseotopography" are a real hoot!

[Craig Rathbone · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent indie anthology of short stories and poetry set around the fantastical world of Achten Tan, I recommend reading it and also following them on Twitter!

[Em · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this. Written by a collective of writers but is a fully imagined world. Diversity of styles but coherent overall. My blog about it all is here - https://www.spacefoxpublications.com/...

[Alexandra Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, it's strange. Yes, there are big, giant ants. Yes, people live in bones... but think almost like a Mad Max meets Waterworld meets Dune meets I dunno. The stories, and believe me, I wasn't expecting to like them, meshed together well and made the world complete, albeit a strange world with a weird fascination with ribs as in the kind you eat. With sauce.

Some particular standouts were A City of Bone and Tar by Darby Cupid, Soar by Allison Moore, Speechless by Debbi Icancu-Haddad, Quietus by CD Storiz, and Curious by Diana Gagliardi. Speechless and Quietus were probably my favorites and I hated that there weren't more of those. (Couldn't you have made those longer? Seriously, why were all the stories so short? That's my only negative. I wanted some of them to continue on a journey.) I also laughed out loud at Chris Van Dyke's C'Naga and the Girl, very creative. I totally imagined the accent, too. Look in the back of the book, there's all sorts of weird stuff but very posh.

I then checked out the website and was happy as a cat with some nip to find there is some other stuff in the makings. Which, now I think I'll have to check out because I notice a few of the people were in this book are in the other books with a giant squid on the cover and an underwater adventure coming out. There's sharks so I'm making the assumption its like a 20,000 leagues under the sea type of bit. The site is a treat as well. Makes me wonder if these aren't all Dungeons & Dragons playing crew. Would love to be a part of that game. So, sure. I give it 5 stars. Read it if you are a true Fantasy and Science Fiction reader and want something that has heart and creativity. Read it if you are into finding a world that isn't like others come before it. Read it if you just want to have fun and enjoy something. But then, order yourself a side of ribs with tangy sauce because I'm telling you, you'll be craving for them.

[Jacob Klop · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was quite entertained by this anthology of, I was going to say short stories, but it’s so much more. There’s also poetry, recipes, maps and I’m probably missing a bunch of other stuff.

The star of the collection is the world of Achen Tan itself. Every piece of writing has been incorporated into the location and my compliments to the editor/co-ordinator, who has done a wonderful job of ensuring that there’s a cohesive feel to such a diverse group of authors and their work.

Personally, I enjoyed the short stories the most, and my favourites in no particular order were;
The Girl and C’Naga – A quick read with a nice fairy tale feel.
Speechless – Love how the main character communicates with tattoos.
Quietus – A nice redemption arc
The Errand – Anything with an assassin is bound to pull me in.
Bone Borne – Great atmosphere.
Beneath the Ribs stories – Quick openings to each of the seasons (sections of the anthology) that did a nice job of setting the atmosphere.

I did find a number of stories too short, but on the whole I was impressed with the over-all quality of this anthology.

[Stephen Smyth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I heard about this on Twitter and thought it sounded interesting.

It is much more than just interesting.

It feels like the Silmarillion, almost, except much sillier at times - there's a mix of tones, with some very effective darker tales and some comedy ones, and both are just as good. It's a complete mythology, including the fact that mythologies always have some inconsistency.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review in video format: https://youtube.com/shorts/-iJew6yOOpY

I do really like the concept of short stories set in a shared dark fantasy universe, and Achten Tan does feel like a very living breathing place with worldbuilding that is awesome and creates fantastic narratives within. Unfortunately, due to the large variety of stories, and the subgenres which these stories take the form of (there is spicy stuff, traditional fantasy, poetry, outright comedy), no cohesive tone is ever achieved, and the quality of each short story can vary wildly from one to the next, with some very strong ones often followed by ones I didn't really care about. Achten Tan provides moments of greatness sprinkled in with average ones, and I can't say It's enough for me to enthusiastically recommend it to fantasy fans in general, while still recommending it to those who want a very varied collection of short stories set in a given dark fantasy setting.

[Jim G Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first met the authors and editors of this book when I was on Twitter. The concept of each person writing a chapter and then publishing the finished work in 6 months was intriguing, and i had to check it out.

This is an exceptional anthology, and all of the stories mesh well together to create the total adventure. I highly recommend this, as well as other anthologies published by this group.

[Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's by no means literature at its best it's certainly literature at its most.

There are lots of different formats and genres in here, from playscripts to traditional prose, there's sheet music and poetry and newspaper clippings and original artwork and everything - I mean, it really goes through all the different strengths, although that doesn't necessarily make it particularly well written.
A lot of it tried my patience at times, I thought that a lot of things were written in a way to be deliberately difficult to read, even though I tend to read for pleasure.
Stuff towards the end...
I mean, there's some stuff in here that I was really entertained by but it's just such a mixed bag that I can't really think about the book as one big piece and more as constituent parts instead but, I mean... you know... there's gonna be something in here to please everyone.

I think...