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The Tails of Alleymanderous
and Other Odd Tales
Introduction by Mary Choo:
Bruce Taylor - A Passion For His Art
One always expects the unusual from Magic Realist writer and fantasist Bruce Taylor. There is a magical sense of transformation in his work, of invention and reinvention amidst perpetually shifting realities. Driven by a creativity that is both restless and complex, he takes the reader on extraordinary journeys.
I first met Bruce at a science fiction convention some years ago. It soon became evident that he was a writer of talent and integrity, to whom writing was an art. In our subsequent encounters and developing friendship, I learned that the art and the man were inseparable.
How Taylor defines this art through his work, and what he accomplishes might well give rise to open-ended discussion. The act of commitment implies a certain seriousness and intensity, yet his writing is always approachable. The range of imagery, quirky characters and dialogue, and the author's often biting and ironic sense of humour guarantee an engaging and challenging read. His fiction ranges from the wistfully imaginative ("Child, Looking at the Moon, Wondering"-- a favourite of mine), to the unequivocally bizarre ("Popcorn," "Of Thumbs and Rafters"). Elements of lost innocence and learning by example are subtly evident in these tales, yet they never interfere with one's appreciation of Taylor's story.
There is a resonance of many things in his writing: the works of Kafka and Lewis Carroll, the delight of the traditional fairy tale, the enigmatic tenets of Buddhism and the brilliant and visionary images of filmmaker Federico Fellini. The world is the well of inspiration from which he draws.
This layered approach was evident in his first story collection, The Final Trick of Funnyman and Other Stories, with its eccentric, magician-like title character, Funnyman. In his latest work, The Tails of Alleymanderous and Other Odd Tales, Taylor begins by delving into the human psyche with a succession of interrelated dreams, in which the separation of mind and physical reality at times grows perilously thin. While reminiscent of Carroll's White Rabbit, the talking cat Alleymanderous gradually assumes a more sinister air. In a variety of guises, he leads Taylor's protagonist though a series of ever-changing surroundings, constantly challenging the nature and value of life and dreams with koan-like exchanges. The mark of a true Magic Realist, Taylor's gift for symbolism and metaphor is evident, as is his passion for universal concepts: love, alienation, religion, politics, and the family dynamic. The accompanying stories prove equally satisfying.
Throughout his work, as in his life, one senses a continual quest for personal connection, for harmony, a way to still the torment of inner, eternally questing voices. His fiction is a series of epiphanies, symbolic and emotionally powerful, tempered by gentleness and wisdom. In the time I've known him, his style has matured into a pure and evocative prose, like a flawless crystal focused on a picture that is both vivid and moving. Bruce Taylor is, above all, a master of the inner landscape, and the emotions, aspirations and frailties that mark the human condition. In concert with the conjuring of his trickster character Funnyman, his work is an effort at both entertaining and keeping the beast at bay.
So if you happen upon him at some literary or science fiction event in his persona of Mr. Magic Realism, complete with white tux and top hat, do introduce yourself. Like his characters Alleymanderous and Funnyman, or Alice's White Rabbit, he will not disappoint.
And welcome to the world of Bruce Taylor.
About Mary E. Choo
Mary Choo's poems, stories and articles have appeared in or been accepted by a wide variety of speculative and literary magazines, anthologies and various online publications in Canada, the U.S. and abroad. Her work has been on the preliminary ballot of the Nebula and Bram Stoker Awards (poetry), and the final ballot of the Aurora Awards, as well as being nominated for the SFPA Rhysling Award. Her poetry collection, Dream Tribes (Gnometree West Books, 2004), received critical acclaim, and she has more recently been published in Dreams and Nightmares, ChiZine and Lone Star Stories. Her overall style could best be described as Canadian Gothic. She has a passion for dense, literate prose and Imagist Poetry, and considers the harvest moon, pelicans, and the music of Brahms to be among her muses. Mary currently lives in the historic city of New Westminster in the Lower Mainland area of British Columbia, in a not-so-gracefully-aging house.
The river and mountain view, however, is spectacular.
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