The Empire of Ice Cream - Softcover

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 of vacation. Storylines both conventional and outlandish reveal humdrum routines as menacing and 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. Each story is followed by a brief afterword that details its genesis, offering insight into the many autobiographical elements found within.

Jeffrey Ford teaches writing and literature and is the author of The Beyond, The Fantasy Writer’s Assistant, The Girl in the Glass, Memoranda, The Physiognomy, Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque, and Vanitas. His award-winning short fiction has appeared in numerous science fiction and fantasy magazines and has been widely anthologized. He lives in Medford Lakes, New Jersey.