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Logorrhea edited by John Klima
01/06/2007 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: Bantam Spectra. 433 page enlarged paperback. Price: $13.00 (US), $17.00 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-553-38433-8. Buy Logorrhea in the USA - or Buy Logorrhea in the UK  check out websites: www.bantamdell.com
Do you know what 'Logorrhea' is? No. It isn't logical diarrhoea but 'a pathological incoherent, repetitious speech'. Bet you use the word all the time now and spend half an hour doing logorrhea yourself repeating endlessly to the person who asked you about it.
This word and twenty more like it was handed to a bunch of SF and fantasy writers to build short stories around or including the word above by editor John Klima. Oddly enough, these authors on the most part stepped out of their genre with only two remaining fantasy an a couple others borderline SF. Saying that, this is all new material which should sparkle the eyes of Michael Moorcock's 'Elric' stories cos he has a new one here.
Of the twenty-one words, I know and even used seven of them, the eighth I actually suffer from (for the record that would be eczema not psoriasis). Interestingly, the assorted authors here incorporate the word into story rather than rotate around it. I'm not entirely sure what editor Kilma was expecting to get from his requests. Fortunately, they are all capable of and did actually write decent fiction, just not really in our genre.
Saying that, if you've read the likes of Jeff Vandermeer, Hal Duncan, Elizabeth Hand and Liz Williams you'll probably be interested in seeing what they dreamed up. Don't be under any illusions here. They are all writing intensely and you would do well to read one story at a time then read multiples cos it can rattle the old brainbox a little.
Picking out favourites has become a problem because of this. Without wishing to throw aspersions on the other authors, I would probably pick Tim Pratt's 'From Around Here' as a primeval earth god in the form of a human sorts out a town street as being the most entertaining and probably the closest to our genre. He uses the word 'autochthonous' for the record.
I'm sure if you pick this book up, you'll be capable of choosing your own favourites and if nothing else, leaving it on the coffee table is sure to arouse curiosity.
GF Willmetts
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