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THE ABRAXAS MARVEL CIRCUS is a novel, published originally by Roc in 1990, written when I was making the transition from being a musician of the rock-n-roll variety to being a writer of the speculative fiction variety. This one was totally unlike any other book I'd written to that point: it was fantasy, first of all, when all the previous novels I'd written had been science fiction. It was contemporary, when all the previous novels had been set in a far future. And it was comic, when all the previous novels had been serious in intent (though possibly comical to those reading them).
It also contained more autobiographical elements than any previous work, though those are somewhat well-hidden and altered (and no, I'm not going to tell you what they were.) "ABRAXAS," for those who don't know, is an older form of "abracadabra." It's also the title of an album by Santana -- which means it also had a musical connection for me. ABRAXAS was the original working title. Megen, who was around five or six at the time I was writing this, had quite a vivid imagination, and she loved to tell us stories about a “Marvel Circus” that she had populated with all sorts of strange creatures, and which was run by a man called “Caleb Mundo.” So I borrowed a few names from her circus, and attached “MARVEL CIRCUS” to the title.
For the novel, I'd put together bit-mapped graphics for the novel (using the Mac's graphic capabilities). They were originally to appear in the novel at the end of chapters and the beginning of the sections, but John SIlbersack, who'd bought ABRAXAS, left Roc before the book went into production, and the new editor didn't want to "bother" with the graphics, so they were cut from the book. Shahid at Phoenix Pick has been good enough to restore them to the text…
For a good idea of what ABRAXAS is all about, here's the Library Journal's review of ABRAXAS: "A struggling rock 'n' roll singer, a funeral director with an irrepressible flair for comedy, a hermaphroditic flower vendor, and a dead genius become drawn into an other-worldly search for a lost book reputed to contain the secret of predicting all the futures of the world. An eclectic blend of the mystical, the pseudoscientific, and the manic, this fast-paced fantasy by the author of The Crystal Memory is highly recommended."
I'm really pleased the Phoenix Pick has reprinted ABRAXAS -- and I hope you'll enjoy it as well. Purchasing links for ABRAXAS can be found on the page for the book on the website.
It also contained more autobiographical elements than any previous work, though those are somewhat well-hidden and altered (and no, I'm not going to tell you what they were.) "ABRAXAS," for those who don't know, is an older form of "abracadabra." It's also the title of an album by Santana -- which means it also had a musical connection for me. ABRAXAS was the original working title. Megen, who was around five or six at the time I was writing this, had quite a vivid imagination, and she loved to tell us stories about a “Marvel Circus” that she had populated with all sorts of strange creatures, and which was run by a man called “Caleb Mundo.” So I borrowed a few names from her circus, and attached “MARVEL CIRCUS” to the title.
For the novel, I'd put together bit-mapped graphics for the novel (using the Mac's graphic capabilities). They were originally to appear in the novel at the end of chapters and the beginning of the sections, but John SIlbersack, who'd bought ABRAXAS, left Roc before the book went into production, and the new editor didn't want to "bother" with the graphics, so they were cut from the book. Shahid at Phoenix Pick has been good enough to restore them to the text…
For a good idea of what ABRAXAS is all about, here's the Library Journal's review of ABRAXAS: "A struggling rock 'n' roll singer, a funeral director with an irrepressible flair for comedy, a hermaphroditic flower vendor, and a dead genius become drawn into an other-worldly search for a lost book reputed to contain the secret of predicting all the futures of the world. An eclectic blend of the mystical, the pseudoscientific, and the manic, this fast-paced fantasy by the author of The Crystal Memory is highly recommended."
I'm really pleased the Phoenix Pick has reprinted ABRAXAS -- and I hope you'll enjoy it as well. Purchasing links for ABRAXAS can be found on the page for the book on the website.