Fantasy fiction for a new generation, with not a trace of dragons or elves, this opening volume in a trilogy by an acclaimed British artist truly confounds the imagination and delights. Previously privately-printed, it was discovered by Watchman and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen creator Alan Moore and comes lauded by Terry Gilliam and many others. Set in historical Africa, this unclassifiable hotch potch of influences and innovations is a crazy surrealist jumble that never fails to amaze led by hunter Tsungali and the Cyclops, Ishmael amongst a striking soul sucking forest. With the real life figures of eccentric French writer Raymond Roussel and Victorian photographer Eadweard Muybridge involved in the spiderweb of interlocking stories and plots, this sprawling garden of delights is complex, poetic and holds a surprise on every page. A revelation. ~ Maxim Jakubowski
'A benchmark not just for imaginative writing but for the human imagination in itself...Read this book, and marvel.' Alan Moore 'A work of genius.' Iain Sinclair 'Brian Catling is simply a genius. His writing is so extraordinary it hurts.' Terry Gilliam In the tradition of China Miéville, Michael Moorcock and Alasdair Gray, B. Catling's The Vorrh is literary dark fantasy which wilfully ignores boundaries, crossing over into surrealism, magic-realism, horror and steampunk. In B. Catling's twisting, poetic narrative, Bakelite robots lie broken - their hard shells cracked by human desire - and an inquisitive Cyclops waits for his keeper and guardian, growing in all directions. Beyond the colonial city of Essenwald lies the Vorrh, the forest which sucks souls and wipes minds. There, a writer heads out on a giddy mission to experience otherness, fallen angels observe humanity from afar, and two hunters - one carrying a bow carved from his lover, the other a charmed Lee-Enfield rifle - fight to the end. Thousands of miles away, famed photographer Eadweard Muybridge attempts to capture the ultimate truth, as rifle heiress Sarah Winchester erects a house to protect her from the spirits of her gun's victims.
