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Punktown
In 1980, Jeffrey Thomas began writing his first stories set in the noirish, far future city called Punktown — prefiguring the coining of the terms “cyberpunk” and “New Weird” — but it wasn’t until 2000 that his debut collection of these tales was published, by Jeff VanderMeer’s Ministry of Whimsy Press. Since that time, there have been further collections of short stories, plus a number of novels, two shared world anthologies, and a roleplaying game set in the Punktown universe.
Except in rare cases, the Punktown stories seldom share the same protagonist or continue a single plotline. They are glimpses into the lives of the city’s remarkable denizens, so that the reader is like a drone, stealthily trailing after one character to spy on a critical event in their life before moving on to the next. These characters represent the colorful variety of Punktown’s citizenry: the descendants of the human colonists who founded this city on a far-flung planet, the indigenous race called the Choom, fantastically imagined beings from a countless array of other worlds and even other dimensions, not to mention sentient machines.
Beyond the setting, there is no simple template, no predictable theme or approach for a Punktown story. Rife with grotesque imagery and nightmarish situations, most often they combine elements of horror with science fiction, but just as readily other genres such as crime fiction will enter into the mix, with the occasional nod to Lovecraft. Many of the stories function as a vehicle for social commentary, even satire of a darkly humorous nature.
First and foremost, these are stories of people — not always human in their physical makeup, but three-dimensional and relatable — living their desperate lives in a monstrous city that seems the personification of a universe intent on snuffing them out. As George Mann says in his introduction to Volume 2:
“…in these tales of a distant world, in a distant future, Thomas makes use of the alien to show us what it is to be human.”
This omnibus of three volumes collects several decades’ worth of Punktown short fiction. A generous cross-section of the city’s inhabitants is represented here. Gangsters and detectives, baristas and booksellers, cloned laborers and obsessed artists, mutants and lovers, monsters and ghosts. Whatever their guise, readers might well recognize themselves in one of them…or all of them.
Each book is bound in full black European cloth with ribbon marker, head and tail bands, stamping on spine and front, and a signature page in each. Each book has full wraparound dustjacket art and several black & white interior illustrations.
Except in rare cases, the Punktown stories seldom share the same protagonist or continue a single plotline. They are glimpses into the lives of the city’s remarkable denizens, so that the reader is like a drone, stealthily trailing after one character to spy on a critical event in their life before moving on to the next. These characters represent the colorful variety of Punktown’s citizenry: the descendants of the human colonists who founded this city on a far-flung planet, the indigenous race called the Choom, fantastically imagined beings from a countless array of other worlds and even other dimensions, not to mention sentient machines.
Beyond the setting, there is no simple template, no predictable theme or approach for a Punktown story. Rife with grotesque imagery and nightmarish situations, most often they combine elements of horror with science fiction, but just as readily other genres such as crime fiction will enter into the mix, with the occasional nod to Lovecraft. Many of the stories function as a vehicle for social commentary, even satire of a darkly humorous nature.
First and foremost, these are stories of people — not always human in their physical makeup, but three-dimensional and relatable — living their desperate lives in a monstrous city that seems the personification of a universe intent on snuffing them out. As George Mann says in his introduction to Volume 2:
“…in these tales of a distant world, in a distant future, Thomas makes use of the alien to show us what it is to be human.”
This omnibus of three volumes collects several decades’ worth of Punktown short fiction. A generous cross-section of the city’s inhabitants is represented here. Gangsters and detectives, baristas and booksellers, cloned laborers and obsessed artists, mutants and lovers, monsters and ghosts. Whatever their guise, readers might well recognize themselves in one of them…or all of them.
Each book is bound in full black European cloth with ribbon marker, head and tail bands, stamping on spine and front, and a signature page in each. Each book has full wraparound dustjacket art and several black & white interior illustrations.
1224 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2021
2 people are currently reading
7 people want to read
About the author
Jeffrey Thomas
247 books283 followersJeffrey Thomas is an American author of weird fiction, the creator of the acclaimed setting Punktown. Books in the Punktown universe include the short story collections Punktown, Voices from Punktown, Punktown: Shades of Grey (with his brother, Scott Thomas), and Ghosts of Punktown. Novels in that setting include Deadstock, Blue War, Monstrocity, Health Agent, Everybody Scream!, Red Cells, and The New God. Thomas’s other short story collections include The Unnamed Country, Gods of a Nameless Country, The Endless Fall, Haunted Worlds, Worship the Night, Thirteen Specimens, Nocturnal Emissions, Doomsdays, Terror Incognita, Unholy Dimensions, AAAIIIEEE!!!, Honey Is Sweeter Than Blood, Carrion Men, Voices from Hades, The Return of Enoch Coffin, and Entering Gosston. His other novels include The American, Boneland, Subject 11, Letters From Hades, The Fall of Hades, The Exploded Soul, The Nought, Thought Forms, Beyond the Door, Lost in Darkness, and A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Dealers.
His work has been reprinted in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII (editor Karl Edward Wagner), The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror #14 (editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling), and Year’s Best Weird Fiction #1 (editors Laird Barron and Michael Kelly). At NecronomiCon 2024 Thomas received the Robert Bloch Award for his contributions to weird fiction.
Though he considers Viet Nam his second home, Thomas lives in Massachusetts.
His work has been reprinted in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII (editor Karl Edward Wagner), The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror #14 (editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling), and Year’s Best Weird Fiction #1 (editors Laird Barron and Michael Kelly). At NecronomiCon 2024 Thomas received the Robert Bloch Award for his contributions to weird fiction.
Though he considers Viet Nam his second home, Thomas lives in Massachusetts.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 2, 2022
4.25
You can find an equal dose of grime, grit, and gruesome storytelling to go around in Punktown. That is, if you have the stomach for it. It’s the underbelly found in any major metropolis. Except here it sits directly on the surface and exists as a living, breathing creature with a personality much the same as its residents. Just as filthy, ruthless, and unforgiving. For those who reside within its dwellings, there is no refuting or denying its presence. It shares a symbiotic relationship with its inhabitants and this is where we see that even the downright retched and miscreant still have the slightest bit of humanity crawling around inside, desperate for air. Jeffrey Thomas is willing to go into some dark alleys to demonstrate this. Sometimes it’s tough to watch and other times it’s tough to convince ourselves that we’re not simply the same kind of voyeurs that line the same dark alleys. But by the end of each story, we find there’s a purpose beyond just getting our kicks.
Many of the stories started as some of the most depraved and voyeuristic I’ve ever read. But those are the ones that turned into some of the most thought-provoking and imaginative of all the work culled here. “Imp”, “Heart for Heart’s Sake”, and “Sacred Meat” fit the bill. We all have the opportunity to indulge in our deepest most repressed fantasies. The question is: how deep are you willing to go to satisfy them? There’s also Lovecraftian horror exquisitely formed in the manner of “The Bones of the Old Ones”. It’s a fun run down the rabbit hole where you can experience the thrill of danger at the edge of your seat without ever really being in danger. But you won’t soon forget the feeling of butterflies bouncing around your gut, hoping and praying that the “good” guys will find a way out. But you wouldn't be wrong to root against them either. Afterall, it is Punktown.
There’s no thematical or chronological pattern for the dispersal of contents in this Centipede Press edition. And this is good news. There’s no way to expect anything other than the bleakest and grisliest of circumstances with each turn of the page. However, if you venture far enough into this collection, you’ll notice Thomas’ fascination with cloning and dual or overlapping personalities. It’s as if most of the inhabitants are fixated on the creation of doubles and not just out of curiosity. The reason is almost always nefarious and having fun at the expense of their own creation — which they feel they own — just comes with the territory. But creating another being comes with responsibility and this is not something that many Punktowners can process with any semblance of reality. And what we find is that the clones have more humanity in their synthetic makeup than their creators. All in a day’s work in Punktown.
You can find an equal dose of grime, grit, and gruesome storytelling to go around in Punktown. That is, if you have the stomach for it. It’s the underbelly found in any major metropolis. Except here it sits directly on the surface and exists as a living, breathing creature with a personality much the same as its residents. Just as filthy, ruthless, and unforgiving. For those who reside within its dwellings, there is no refuting or denying its presence. It shares a symbiotic relationship with its inhabitants and this is where we see that even the downright retched and miscreant still have the slightest bit of humanity crawling around inside, desperate for air. Jeffrey Thomas is willing to go into some dark alleys to demonstrate this. Sometimes it’s tough to watch and other times it’s tough to convince ourselves that we’re not simply the same kind of voyeurs that line the same dark alleys. But by the end of each story, we find there’s a purpose beyond just getting our kicks.
Many of the stories started as some of the most depraved and voyeuristic I’ve ever read. But those are the ones that turned into some of the most thought-provoking and imaginative of all the work culled here. “Imp”, “Heart for Heart’s Sake”, and “Sacred Meat” fit the bill. We all have the opportunity to indulge in our deepest most repressed fantasies. The question is: how deep are you willing to go to satisfy them? There’s also Lovecraftian horror exquisitely formed in the manner of “The Bones of the Old Ones”. It’s a fun run down the rabbit hole where you can experience the thrill of danger at the edge of your seat without ever really being in danger. But you won’t soon forget the feeling of butterflies bouncing around your gut, hoping and praying that the “good” guys will find a way out. But you wouldn't be wrong to root against them either. Afterall, it is Punktown.
There’s no thematical or chronological pattern for the dispersal of contents in this Centipede Press edition. And this is good news. There’s no way to expect anything other than the bleakest and grisliest of circumstances with each turn of the page. However, if you venture far enough into this collection, you’ll notice Thomas’ fascination with cloning and dual or overlapping personalities. It’s as if most of the inhabitants are fixated on the creation of doubles and not just out of curiosity. The reason is almost always nefarious and having fun at the expense of their own creation — which they feel they own — just comes with the territory. But creating another being comes with responsibility and this is not something that many Punktowners can process with any semblance of reality. And what we find is that the clones have more humanity in their synthetic makeup than their creators. All in a day’s work in Punktown.
Displaying 1 of 1 review