Dream Factories and Radio Pictures

With original essays introducing his mass-media-related stories, World Fantasy Award-winning author Howard Waldrop guides us through various audiovisual dreamscapes from the end of the nineteenth century into the far future. Along the way, he brings to life such heroes as Méliès, Proust, and the hallucinatory Alfred Jarry, defender of the oppressed and the "ordinary" bicycle; the great comedians of early film and television; and the android avatars of a world-famous duck, mouse, and dog. Any film buff will appreciate not only Waldrop's insights into the technical and social development of our dream factories and radio pictures, but also his fictional distortions, which capture the romantic spirit of his subjects better than cinéma vérité ever could.

Dream Factories and Radio Pictures includes previous published stories from such diverse magazines as PLAYBOY and OMNI:

"Fin de Cyclé"
"Flatfeet!"
"Occam's Ducks"
"Der Untergang des Abendlandesmenschen"
"Save a Place in the Lifeboat for Me"
"The Passing of the Western"
"The Effects of Alienation"
"All about Strange Monsters of the Recent Past"
"French Scenes"
"Heirs of the Perisphere"
"Hoover's Men"
"Mr. Goober's Show"

The collection also features many original essays and a never-before-published novelette: "Major Spacer in the 21st Century."