Tuesday, January 12, 2016

WooHoo! and Please!

Feast of Laughter Volume 3 is here!

As I say in the introduction, "Once was a phenomenon, twice was amazing, three times—we may just be onto something."

This is a beast of a Feast. 342 pages of essays, stories, poems, letters, and artwork. A new front cover by Lissanne Lake and on the back cover, Lafferty's office door! It also has an interview with Harlan Ellison, who spends a dozen pages trying to explain just how much he loves Lafferty.

Volume 3 has the best production quality and some of the best material of any Feast of Laughter yet. This came at the cost of time, stretching the deadline from November 7 to December 30 as the small army of Ktistec Press volunteers all neglected our families and day jobs to find time to assemble, edit, proofread, and produce this beast:
  • Kevin Cheek
  • Gregorio Montejo
  • John Owen
  • Rich Persaud
  • Daniel Otto Jack Petersen
  • Anthony Ryan Rhodes
(I love seeing my name up there with these guys. If greatness can be measured by effort and outcome, they are among the greatest!)

Rather than go on and on about how great this issue is, I'll let Michael Swanwick do the honors:
Feast of Laughter has to be one of the most extraordinary fannish feats of recent years. It's a full-length book/zine containing new and reprint essays, appreciations, letters, whatevers pertaining to the man who was easily the most original science fiction writer of the Twentieth Century -- Raphael Aloysius Lafferty.
R. A. Lafferty, "Ray" as his friends called him, was, during his lifetime, recognized as one of the giants of the field. Now, alas, he's close to forgotten.
But not quite! Some of the great man's friends and admirers have been working hard to reignite Lafferty's reputation. This volume of Feast of Laughter is the third collection of Laffertiana and it is a must for all serious Lafferty fans.
Michael Swanwick, Flogging Babel
You can download a free PDF copy on the Feast of Laughter website.

You can also find it on Amazon:






And now for the plea:
Feast of Laughter Volume 4 is coming up in just two months! I need everyone who has ever had anything to say about Lafferty to contribute. Dust off that old review, dig up that long-lost blog post, write something new and impassioned!

Given the timeframe, we'd like to try a section of Lightning Essays. Explain what Lafferty means to you in 400 to 600 words. Categories for Lightning Essays can include (but are not limited to):

  • Reviews
  • Essays
  • Personal recollections
  • Lafferty-inspired very short fiction or poetry

Thank  you!