The Faces of Fantasy is a book of photographs taken by Patti Perret in and around 1996. She had published a book years earlier called The Faces of Science Fiction and found herself wanting to do a similar project and so, young children in tow, she traveled across American, Britain, and Ireland photographing various fantasy authors. That, unfortunately, is about as much information as you get from her introduction to this book. The book, borrowed from Jeff (thank you!), is a nice coffee table book-sized hefty paperback book and Ms. Perret’s black and white photographs range from commonplace to quite fantastic. The facing page of each photograph contains a brief comment by the author and at the bottom is a list of 2 or 3 of the author’s books.
All the authors, as the title suggests, are those considered to have written fiction that could be categorized as fantasy. I counted 101 authors whose photos are included. There are many things missing from this book that I would’ve liked to have seen. As I stated above there is little written about the motivation behind this project. There is no explanation as to why the authors in this book were chosen for the project. There is likewise no explanation as to why the books listed at the bottom of each author’s page were the ones chosen to be included as examples of their work. Were these books she has read, books that won awards, books the author picked him/herself to be included? Also, what were the stipulations given to the authors about what to write for their page? Some authors filled up the large space while others made one or two word statements. One author had unfortunately died while the book was awaiting publication and his facing page simply read “Edward Whittemore passed away.” What?!?!? The page is approximately 12X14 and all I get is that he died?!? Granted, everyone else wrote their own artist statements but surely someone could’ve submitted something about this guy to include with his photograph, otherwise what is the point? I would have also like to see Ms. Perret include some stories about this adventure of hers. She traveled the world and sat in the homes of some of the most amazing authors of our time and the only information we get about this is a few lines in the introduction written by Terri Windling. You get the impression that she traveled countless miles only to snap a quick photograph and leave. Maybe that is exactly what happened but it would be interesting to know this. I look at this book and see a great deal of lost potential.
Lest you get the idea that I completely disliked this book, please let me change my focus and tell you that I really enjoyed reading it. While there is a great deal of lost potential this book also holds a great deal of hidden potential. The introduction by Terri Windling is a fascinating historical look at the fantasy genre and is not one to be missed. One could simply jot down the authors and books that she mentions and have quality reading material for years to come. On a similar note there are many authors whose pictures are included that I had not heard of before. This is again potential for books to add to one’s reading list. And I gather that more than anything this was the point of this book. To introduce you to authors that you may or may not have heard of as a way of encouraging you to read their material. I enjoyed discovering the images of authors who I hadn’t seen before. I also liked getting a glimpse into the homes and yards of authors that I had seen. The cover image is a photograph of Neil Gaiman standing in front of the “Addams Family House” that he frequently talks about on his blog. Peter David, in a glamour shot pose reminiscent of George Costanza on Seinfeld, was the most entertaining picture. I also enjoyed seeing a more recent picture of Harry Harrison, whose appreciation for his readers was evident in his quote. Over all it was an entertaining and quick read. I was glad that I hadn’t purchased it but feel like I was bettered by the experience of reading it. I have more appreciation for authors that I already enjoyed, am curious about authors I hadn’t heard of, and I have a list of books spanning the last century that I would like to read.
(Terri Windlings’ site, The Endicott Studio, contains many excellent recommendations for fantasy reading along with many non-fiction articles about fantasy. Her essays entitled Les Contes de Fées: The Literary Fairy Tales of France and Women and Fairy Tales contain a great deal of the material she discussed in her introduction to this book.)
I felt the same way when I read the book, too. What an incredible waste of potential. I can sense your frustration about this in your review. The author had a chance to spend time with all these authors and you feel as if you are just being introduced to them at a party and about the minute your getting ready to have some meaningful conversation with them they are wisked away from you. Many of the authors only wrote a few lines and then the rest of the page is blank. I also found the Peter David photograph disturbing and hiliarious at the same time. 🙂 It’s so him.
The Neil Gaiman page was the most interesting by far. So many of the author’s stories made no sense. It’s as if the author gave them NO direction on what to write about. I suppose as a coffee table book the book is a nice light read but as an overall book its a shame so many trees died to produce it.
Carl, I forgot to tell you I only paid 5 dollars for it not the 25 or 30 dollars listed on the back . I figure for the Gaiman part it was worth the 5 dollars alone. 🙂
“you feel as if you are just being introduced to them at a party and about the minute your getting ready to have some meaningful conversation with them they are wisked away from you”…perfectly stated! And for $5 I’d have to say that you did alright! For $22.95 you’d have to demand your money back.
Doesn’t Gaiman have a cool house????
Yes. I can so see him living in a house like that.
A house like that would be a dream come true!
He’s from England and his wife in an American and he told her that the only way he would move to America was if she found him an Addams’ Family house. She came through and they’ve lived in Minnesota for several years.
For all its flaws, I love this book and enjoy browsing through it. Yes, some of the
authors’ statements are peculiar and opaque (and LeGuin pointedly recycled bits
of previously published – admittedly excellent – essays), but many of them are marvellous. .
P.C. Hodgell’s was wonderful, and I also love Ellen Kushner’s. I also love pondering
why some of the authors chose to be portrayed in those perticular ways. Many of
the authors I consider to be good writers had very simple settings and normal,
comfortable clothing, but many of the rather overdone, try-too-hard authors had
similarly try-too-hard photos, with costumes and loads of props. It’s very interesting.
I agree that more authors would have been even better!