Memoranda
By Jeffrey Ford
Author of the World Fantasy Award-winning New York Times Notable novel.
Once, Cley held a position of respect and fear in Master Drachton Below’s cruel autocracy. As physiognomist, Cley practiced a sanctioned, twisted science that condemned men and women to death for the size of their foreheads or thrust of their chins.
Yet Cley emerged from the ruins of the Well-Built City a better man, dedicated to healing the physical ills of the simpler agrarian society he has chosen to join.
Below’s great evil, however, has never abated – and he was not destroyed when his dark social experiment exploded…
Cley is walking through the market, trying to sell his sinister green veil; the veil that had once masked the face of his old lover.
This lover Cley had deformed during his time working under Below.
Deformed her with his scalpels in his obsessive belief that he could increase a woman’s virtue by changing her outer appearance.
Now, while he is browsing the market, chatting to friends, a great, silvery bird with a wingspan five feet across comes down and shouts out a message before exploding before everyone.
The message was that Cley’s worst nightmare was beginning…
A mysterious disease is spreading and Cley can only assume it is his old master’s doing.
With the help of his horse, Quismal, and dog, Wood, Cley finds a demon by the name of Misrix who is willing to help bring down Drachton Below.
But will they act in time?
Memoranda takes us to a shadow purgatory of surreal horrors and striking moral ambiguities.
Praise for Jeffrey Ford
“Jeffrey Ford is a fascinatingly unconventional writer.” – Locus
“A modern allegory in the manner of Franz Kafka.” The New York Times
“Seriously, logically, stunningly surreal: a compact, richly-textured, enthralling fantasy debut.” Kirkus Review
Jeffrey Ford is an American author who writes fantasy, science fiction and mystery. He is the author of nine novels – The Shadow Year, The Drowned Life, Vanitas, The Physiognomy, Memoranda, The Beyond, The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque, The Cosmology of the Wider World and The Girl in the Glass. His stories and novels have been translated into over 20 different languages worldwide. Ford has been a recipient of the Nebula Award, The Fountain Award, The Grand Prix de L’Imaginaire, The Edgar Allan Poe Award, and the World Fantasy Award. He lives in New Jersey, where he teaches Writing and Literature at Brookdale Community College.
