A Field Guide to Surreal Botany

Two Cranes Press presents A Field Guide to Surreal Botany, an anthology of fictional plant species that exist beyond the realm of the real, with contributions from Jay Lake, Eric Schaller, Darja Malcolm-Clarke, Ben Peek, Victoria Elisabeth Garcia, Mark Teppo, Vera Nazarian, and many, many others. Fully illustrated in gorgeous full-color by Janet Chui, the specimen entries are by turns witty, hilarious, and very strange.

Edited by Janet Chui & Jason Erik Lundberg

First printing: July 2008
Trade paperback, 76 pp.
ISBN: 9789810810177

$12 USD (+$3 USD s/h)
$14 SGD (+$2 SGD s/h)

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Reviews

"I could go on and on about the excellent work here — about all the care put into making the entries read as authentic but the sly hints and literary winks that let readers know they are in on some cool joke with the writers. Lundberg and Chui show with A Field Guide to Surreal Botany just how many wonderful things can be done when you lavish care and attention on a literary project. This is a small press title that exceeded all of my expectations and has easily become one of my favorite reads this year. It's a delight; irresistible on every level. Fantasy fans will enjoy it for sure but if you are looking for something special for the plant lovers in your life (especially those with a sense of humor) then you should buy this book. It will be completely unexpected and wholly adored."
       —Colleen Mondor, Chasing Ray

"Science fiction is usually defined as a story that incorporates elements of science, but rarely does scifi actually take the form of a scientific paper or research volume. That's why Janet Chui and Jason Erik Lundberg's A Field Guide to Surreal Botany from Two Cranes Press is so startling and pleasurable to read. This slim, beautifully-illustrated volume is an anthology of 45 fictionalized plant species — it's fiction written to resemble science, and which comes out sounding almost like poetry. [...] It's a strange and detailed book, rather extreme in its interpretation of what science fiction can be, and therefore most welcome indeed."
       —Annalee Newitz, io9

"Yes, Two Cranes Press have really got it right, totally, totally right with this one. Gorgeously designed and printed, and yet (appropriately, given the subject) dirt-cheap, A Field Guide to Surreal Botany gets it right every way. [...] Printed on thick, slick, matte, faux-faded paper, it literally oozes quality, to the point where you might be tempted to lay it on a lesser volume and hope the process of osmosis will work some sort of 'magick.' But I think most readers will be loathe to lay it down anywhere. It's a compulsively readable and ultra-cool book."
       —Rick Kleffel, The Agony Column

"A Field Guide to Surreal Botany directly addresses the necessity of truth, or reality, in the narratives we produce to explain the world around us. [...] The investigation of an alternate reality firmly rooted within the confines of our increasingly familiar world is a worthwhile endeavor representative of the general project of fantasy fiction, and here in this little volume of made-up plants is a successful realization of that goal, one which explains the desire to imagine the impossible as a pursuit less about whimsy or fancy and more about discovering the hidden possibilities of the world we think we already know. Who are we, the book asks, to say that these plants do not exist? What do we really know, anyway?"
       —Richard Larson, Strange Horizons

"A Field Guide to Surreal Botany is a superb book, production-wise if nothing else. Various contributors showcase fictional plants that take on supernatural (even science fictional) aspects, each one as bizarre and ingenious as the entry preceding it. The book has a consistent format but don't let that fool you: the various authors own up to their entries, infusing it with their own sensibilities. [...] This is certainly a book that'll stick out and make a fine addition to anyone's library--and perhaps a book you might want to pass along to your friends."
       —Charles Tan, Bibliophile Stalker

"I can't think of a better gift than this book. It can be kept in a shelf and be consulted for inspiration, or be left over the coffee table and serve some flash fiction along with fine biscuits. Or it can be read cover to cover and appreciated as a fine salad, with green leafs that tastes like dreams."
       —Jacques Barcia, Post-Weird Thoughts