Jeff VanderMeer
Author of Annihilation
About the Author
Jeffrey Scott VanderMeer was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania on July 7, 1968. He is an editor, writer, teacher, and publisher. He is the founding editor and publisher of the Ministry of Whimsy Press. He is the author of several books including City of Saints, Madmen, Finch, and The Southern Reach show more Trilogy. His novel Annihilation won the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 2014. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Helsinki, Finland, 2006. Copyright © Johan Anglemark, 2006 (image use requires permission of Johan Anglemark)
Series
Works by Jeff VanderMeer
The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories (2011) — Editor; Introduction; Contributor — 827 copies
The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric and Discredited Diseases (2003) — Editor; Introduction — 770 copies
The Steampunk Bible: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Imaginary Airships, Corsets and Goggles, Mad Scientists, and… (2011) 670 copies
The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities: Exhibits, Oddities, Images, and Stories from Top Authors and Artists (2011) — Editor — 432 copies
Wonderbook (Revised and Expanded): The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction (2018) 274 copies
The Steampunk User's Manual: An Illustrated Practical and Whimsical Guide to Creating Retro-futurist Dreams (2014) 106 copies
Dead Astronauts: A Novel (Borne, 2) 65 copies
Leena Krohn: Collected Fiction 20 copies
Fixing Hanover 8 copies
Bliss 7 copies
The Cage 5 copies
Ambergris Appendix 4 copies
A Peculiar Peril Sneak Peek 3 copies
Secret Life [short story] 3 copies
King Squid 3 copies
Leviathan : Into the Gray — Editor — 3 copies
Polluto: The Anti-pop Culture Journal - Issue One: Post-natal Depression and the Mysterons (2008) 3 copies
Quin's Shanghai Circus 3 copies
Mahout 3 copies
The Farmer's Cat 3 copies
Three Days in a Border Town 3 copies
The Goat Variations 3 copies
The Secret Life Of Dave Driscoll 2 copies
Shark God vs Octopus God 2 copies
The Narrator 2 copies
The Book of Frog 2 copies
The Secret Life of Shane Hamill 2 copies
The Magician 2 copies
Ghost in the Machine 2 copies
The Bone Carver's Tale 2 copies
Predecessor 2 copies
The Third Bear (short story) 2 copies
Lost (short story) 2 copies
Collected Fiction Part 1: The Novels 2 copies
A New Face In Hell 2 copies
The Transformation Of Martin Lake 2 copies
In The Hours After Death 2 copies
The Quickening (short story) 2 copies
Aceitação - eBook 1 copy
Aniquilação - eBook 1 copy
Autoridade - eBook 1 copy
Nicola 1 copy
Appendix 1 copy
Man Who Had No Eyes 1 copy
Corpse Mouth And Spore Nose 1 copy
The General Who Is Dead 1 copy
The Goat Variations Redux 1 copy
Learning To Leave the Flesh 1 copy
X's Notes 1 copy
The Ambergris Glossary 1 copy
Appoggiatura (short story) 1 copy
The Release Of Belacqua 1 copy
“Bang-Whimper” 1 copy
The Strange Case Of X 1 copy
Detectives And Cadavers 1 copy
Shadrach 1 copy
Associated Works
American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny from the 1940s to Now (2009) — Contributor — 268 copies
Lost Transmissions: The Secret History of Science Fiction and Fantasy (2019) — Foreword — 125 copies
Nebula Awards 30: SFWA's Choices For The Best Science Fiction And Fantasy Of The Year (Nebula Awards Showcase) (1980) — Contributor — 86 copies
Halo: Evolutions Volume II: Essential Tales of the Halo Universe: 2 (2010) — Contributor — 75 copies
ParaSpheres: Extending Beyond the Spheres of Literary and Genre Fiction: Fabulist and New Wave Fabulist Stories (2006) — Contributor — 59 copies
More Human Than Human: Stories of Androids, Robots, and Manufactured Humanity (2017) — Contributor — 50 copies
In the Shadow of the Towers: Speculative Fiction in a Post-9/11 World (2015) — Contributor — 37 copies
Mixed Up: Cocktail Recipes (and Flash Fiction) for the Discerning Drinker (and Reader) (2017) — Cover artist — 25 copies
Nemonymous 1: A Megazanthus for Parthenogenic Fiction and Late Labelling (2007) — Contributor — 5 copies
Tin Cans — Editor, some editions — 3 copies
Clarkesworld: Issue 018 (March 2008) — Interviewer — 2 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- VanderMeer, Jeffrey Scott
- Birthdate
- 1968-07-07
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, USA
- Places of residence
- Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, USA
Fiji Islands
Tallahassee, Florida, USA
Ithaca, New York, USA
Gainesville, Florida, USA - Education
- University of Florida
- Occupations
- publisher (Ministry of Whimsy Press)
editor
writer
author - Relationships
- VanderMeer, Ann (wife)
- Awards and honors
- Florida Individual Writers' Fellowship
Rhysling Award (Best Short Poem, 1994)
Locus Award Finalist (Editor | 2017) - Agent
- Sally Harding
- Short biography
- Jeff VanderMeer (born July 7, 1968) is an American author, editor, and literary critic. Initially associated with the New Weird literary genre, VanderMeer crossed over into mainstream success with his bestselling Southern Reach Trilogy. The trilogy's first novel, Annihilation, won the Nebula and Shirley Jackson Awards, and was adapted into a Hollywood film by director Alex Garland. Among VanderMeer's other novels are Shriek: An Afterword and Borne. He has also edited with his wife Ann VanderMeer such influential and award-winning anthologies as The New Weird, The Weird, and The Big Book of Science Fiction.
VanderMeer has been called "one of the most remarkable practitioners of the literary fantastic in America today," with The New Yorker naming him the "King of Weird Fiction". VanderMeer's fiction is noted for eluding genre classifications even as his works bring in themes and elements from genres such as postmodernism, ecofiction, the New Weird and post-apocalyptic fiction.
VanderMeer's writing has been described as "evocative" and containing "intellectual observations both profound and disturbing," and has been compared with the works of Jorge Luis Borges, Franz Kafka, and Henry David Thoreau.
Members
Discussions
Annihilation - page-turner or soporific? in Science Fiction Fans (March 5)
THE DEEP ONES: "The Cage" by Jeff VanderMeer in The Weird Tradition (March 2022)
Help Please! Predator: South China Sea by Jeff VanderMeer in Book talk (October 2019)
The Southern Reach in The Weird Tradition (April 2018)
Reviews
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
A fascinating book, but a very internal one. Annihilation is made up of journal entries kept by one member of a research team sent into the strange wilderness of "Area X." In contrast to the film, much of the content is taken up with the musings and observations of the narrator, her own thoughts, rather than what it happening around her. I can see hints of where the film got its ideas from, but they aren't spelled out. There's a lot there for the imagination. It's a book more for thinking rather than for action.… (more)
½
This is the first fiction I read by Jeff VanderMeer; I had read and enjoyed his writer's manual Booklife, and when I saw this book as the i09 book club choice earlier this year I figured it was worth a look. I'm glad I did.
In some ways, this book is a slight throwback. It's told entirely from inside the mind of the narrator, a biologist discovering a mysterious area along with a handful of other women chosen for their backgrounds and their skills. It's mostly narration, like books from good old-time adventure writers like Edgar Rice Burroughs or Robert E. Howard. Those stories tended to read like a newspaper account sometimes, but Annihilation reaches out and engages you right off the bat.
I highly recommend this novel for its depiction of a woman of science with attachment issues striving to understand how the place she explores is changing her, and questioning the nature of her mission and the people behind it.… (more)
In some ways, this book is a slight throwback. It's told entirely from inside the mind of the narrator, a biologist discovering a mysterious area along with a handful of other women chosen for their backgrounds and their skills. It's mostly narration, like books from good old-time adventure writers like Edgar Rice Burroughs or Robert E. Howard. Those stories tended to read like a newspaper account sometimes, but Annihilation reaches out and engages you right off the bat.
I highly recommend this novel for its depiction of a woman of science with attachment issues striving to understand how the place she explores is changing her, and questioning the nature of her mission and the people behind it.… (more)
It took a while to get into, but I think I liked it more than the first
I think I liked this the most of the three. It got in my head and made me feel slightly crazy, like maybe my world isn't quite real. Still, I was left unsatisfied. It's not that I want more pages per se, but more something I can't quite put my finger on
Lists
SFFCat 2015 (1)
5 Stars in '18 (1)
2021 (1)
Overdue Podcast (1)
Nebula Award (1)
Magic Realism (1)
Favourite Books (1)
io9 Book Club (1)
To Read - Horror (1)
Finished in 2021 (1)
Strange Cities (1)
Put a Bird On It (1)
Read These Too (2)
To Read (3)
Best Dystopias (2)
Metafiction (1)
Wishlist (1)
Ranking (1)
Awards
Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction (Nominee – Special Award - Professional – 2014)
The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities: Exhibits, Oddities, Images, and Stories from Top Authors and Artists (Nominee – Anthology – 2012)
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 149
- Also by
- 90
- Members
- 30,625
- Popularity
- #648
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 1,272
- ISBNs
- 426
- Languages
- 19
- Favorited
- 85
