The Empire of Ice Cream

Mixing the mundane with the metaphysical, the pairings of the everyday and the extraordinary in this collection of short fiction yield supernatural results—a young musician perceives another world while drinking coffee, a fairy chronicles his busy life in a sandcastle during the changing tide, a demonic 16th-century chess set shows up in a New Jersey bar, and Charon, the boatman of hell, takes a few days vacation. Storylines both conventional and outlandish reveal humdrum routines as menacing, or imaginary worlds as perfectly familiar. Allusions to authors such as Edgar Allan Poe and Jules Verne reinforce the fantasy tradition in these tales, while understated humor and moments of sadness add a quirky unpredictability. Also included is the previously unpublished novella, “Botch Town,” a coming-of-age story about a boy on Long Island whose family and friends live ordinary lives under threats both real and imagined. Each story is followed by a brief afterword that details its genesis.

Contents

Introduction by Jonathan Carroll
The Annals of Eelin-Ok + Story Notes
Jupiter’s Skull + Story Notes
A Night in the Tropics + Story Notes
The Empire of Ice Cream + Story Notes
The Beautiful Gelreesh + Story Notes
Boatman’s Holiday + Story Notes
Botch Town + Story Notes
A Man of Light + Story Notes
The Green Word + Story Notes
Giant Land + Story Notes
Coffins on the River + Story Notes
Summer Afternoon + Story Notes
The Weight of Words + Story Notes
The Trentino Kid + Story Notes