FANTASTIC AMERICANA: STORIES
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JOSH ROUNTREE
Today . . . a desperate mother bargains with wolves, and a man frozen in memories chases a magic portal that might finally lead him to his true love.
Tomorrow . . . survivors of the apocalypse will hunt deadly dirt angels, and escaped artificial intelligences will relive the Cold War until the very end of the universe.
Travel an American landscape of endless highways, video stores that never close, and lonesome cabins stalked by nightmares. Josh Rountree’s second collection gathers fifteen years of stories, including two originals never before published.
- August 2021 978-1-933846-16-3
- Cover art by Elena Vizerskaya
- trade paperback
- Order below, buy print or ebooks of this title from these dealers
Today . . . a desperate mother bargains with wolves, and a man frozen in memories chases a magic portal that might finally lead him to his true love.
Tomorrow . . . survivors of the apocalypse will hunt deadly dirt angels, and escaped artificial intelligences will relive the Cold War until the very end of the universe.
Travel an American landscape of endless highways, video stores that never close, and lonesome cabins stalked by nightmares. Josh Rountree’s second collection gathers fifteen years of stories, including two originals never before published.
“Rountree demonstrates impressive range in his wild debut collection of 21 speculative shorts. Unusual juxtapositions create striking tales . . . The result is as inventive as it is eclectic, and perfect for dipping in and out of . . . the variety of genres and subjects ensure there’s something here to tickle all manner of fancy.”
— Publishers Weekly
"The twin lines of this wide-ranging collection are Rountree’s riffs on contemporary popular music and his dark, deep-rooted tales of Texas fantastika. . . . The best stories are without question tales in which all these topics play with and against each other to make things happen. “Best Energies” plays with country music, Albert Einstein, and “old splinter teeth” — George Washington rendered immortal by control of the fountain of youth — and adds an independent Republic of Texas at odds with Washington, to create a fissile situation. “Fury Road” turns the songs of The Clash into a revolutionary toolbox, analogous to some of the transformations of popular culture in Michael Swanwick’s “The Feats of Saint Janis” or Jack Womack’s Elvissey. And “The Guadalupe Witch” is really something, a haunting river tale, the telling of which dismisses any epistemological ambiguities. Fantastic Americana justifies its bold title. It’s worth looking for."
— The Endless Bookshelf
“Josh Rountree is that rarest of creatures, a natural born storyteller. His collection Fantastic Americana: Stories is a total delight, drawing on the myths, the legends, and the music of this land, and weaving them into stories that are uniquely his own. Highly recommended.
— Jaime Lee Moyer, author of Divine Heretic and Brightfall
“The stories in Fantastic Americana prove that the weirdness of the Old World was just the launching pad for the weirdness of the New. Witches, werewolves, gods, and angels all find dangerous rebirth here, and American legends like Wild Bill Hickok and Paul Bunyan are joined by imported revolutionaries like Albert Einstein and Joe Strummer. Josh Rountree takes inspiration from the rich history of American mythology and music, but then he throws it into a Texas-sized blender along with his own visions of the chaotic spirits who inhabit the land that Woody Guthrie proclaimed “belongs to you and me.” Rock ‘n’ roll romantics travel through time, post-apocalyptic video-rental outlets do a brisk business, suburban zombies provide the catalyst for new hope, and the Merry Pranksters invade outer space. Just for starters. Each of these stories is a wild ride—but put them all together, and you’ve got a corkscrewing roller coaster that stretches from sea to shining sea. And all you have to do to hop aboard is crack open Fantastic Americana. Buckle up!”
— Bradley Denton, author of Lunatics and Blackburn
“Rountree’s writing came down on me like the Assyrian on the fold.”
— Howard Waldrop, author of Night of the Cooters
“The stories in this collection are deeply human even when their settings are fantastical, from America’s mythic past to its possible apocalyptic future. At the core of each tale are moments of connection and characters emerging from darkness into hope. This is a collection not to be missed!”
— A.C. Wise, author of Wendy, Darling and The Ghost Sequences
"As the title suggests, it deals heavily with American landscape . . . These are strong and well-written stories."
— Locus Magazine
"Rountree is not easily pigeonholed. His stories range from traditional contemporary fantasy to witchcraft to apocalyptic futures and supercomputers. His themes are very human, regardless of theme and setting, including the value of true love, understanding of oneself, and duty to one's companions. Despite the popularity of fantasy during the past twenty years or more, very few writers have done much with short fantasy fiction rather than novels, and Rountree is definitely one of the exceptions."
— Critical Mass
— Publishers Weekly
"The twin lines of this wide-ranging collection are Rountree’s riffs on contemporary popular music and his dark, deep-rooted tales of Texas fantastika. . . . The best stories are without question tales in which all these topics play with and against each other to make things happen. “Best Energies” plays with country music, Albert Einstein, and “old splinter teeth” — George Washington rendered immortal by control of the fountain of youth — and adds an independent Republic of Texas at odds with Washington, to create a fissile situation. “Fury Road” turns the songs of The Clash into a revolutionary toolbox, analogous to some of the transformations of popular culture in Michael Swanwick’s “The Feats of Saint Janis” or Jack Womack’s Elvissey. And “The Guadalupe Witch” is really something, a haunting river tale, the telling of which dismisses any epistemological ambiguities. Fantastic Americana justifies its bold title. It’s worth looking for."
— The Endless Bookshelf
“Josh Rountree is that rarest of creatures, a natural born storyteller. His collection Fantastic Americana: Stories is a total delight, drawing on the myths, the legends, and the music of this land, and weaving them into stories that are uniquely his own. Highly recommended.
— Jaime Lee Moyer, author of Divine Heretic and Brightfall
“The stories in Fantastic Americana prove that the weirdness of the Old World was just the launching pad for the weirdness of the New. Witches, werewolves, gods, and angels all find dangerous rebirth here, and American legends like Wild Bill Hickok and Paul Bunyan are joined by imported revolutionaries like Albert Einstein and Joe Strummer. Josh Rountree takes inspiration from the rich history of American mythology and music, but then he throws it into a Texas-sized blender along with his own visions of the chaotic spirits who inhabit the land that Woody Guthrie proclaimed “belongs to you and me.” Rock ‘n’ roll romantics travel through time, post-apocalyptic video-rental outlets do a brisk business, suburban zombies provide the catalyst for new hope, and the Merry Pranksters invade outer space. Just for starters. Each of these stories is a wild ride—but put them all together, and you’ve got a corkscrewing roller coaster that stretches from sea to shining sea. And all you have to do to hop aboard is crack open Fantastic Americana. Buckle up!”
— Bradley Denton, author of Lunatics and Blackburn
“Rountree’s writing came down on me like the Assyrian on the fold.”
— Howard Waldrop, author of Night of the Cooters
“The stories in this collection are deeply human even when their settings are fantastical, from America’s mythic past to its possible apocalyptic future. At the core of each tale are moments of connection and characters emerging from darkness into hope. This is a collection not to be missed!”
— A.C. Wise, author of Wendy, Darling and The Ghost Sequences
"As the title suggests, it deals heavily with American landscape . . . These are strong and well-written stories."
— Locus Magazine
"Rountree is not easily pigeonholed. His stories range from traditional contemporary fantasy to witchcraft to apocalyptic futures and supercomputers. His themes are very human, regardless of theme and setting, including the value of true love, understanding of oneself, and duty to one's companions. Despite the popularity of fantasy during the past twenty years or more, very few writers have done much with short fantasy fiction rather than novels, and Rountree is definitely one of the exceptions."
— Critical Mass
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