The corset & the jellyfish A conundrum of drabbles

Bantock (Griffin and Sabine) offers a whimsical collection doubling as a literary puzzle. A color illustration accompanies each of the one-page tales or "drabbles," beginning with the surreal title story about a woman trying on lingerie in a dressing room, where a jellyfish inexplicably shows up and tattoos a pair of circles on her arm and thigh. Often the stories draw on mythology or poetry. For example, "Pangur Ban" derives from a ninth-century Irish poem about a monk and his cat. In "A Cruel Contest," a girl offers to bed the first of three brothers who can manage to leap over the guardrail atop a tall building. In a playful introduction, Bantock claims he found the drabbles in a mysterious manuscript that might have been written by a "reclusive billionaire" named Hamilton Hasp (the central figure in his puzzle book The Egyptian Jukebox). Though some readers will likely find the puzzle element a head-scratcher, Bantock's fans will appreciate his fresh stylistic approach. This beguiles. (Nov.)

An engaging collection of 100-word stories accompanied by petroglyphic images. Bantock tells us in his introduction that the box containing these 100 stories, each 100 words long, and a group of petroglyphic images was "reportedly found in an attic, in North London" and sent to him by the bemused homeowner. The stories have no known author or key to their enigmatic content and images, so Bantock decides to publish them, hoping a reader can solve the puzzle posed in a note found in the box with the manuscript. It seems the idea is to find one word from each tale that will then create a final, 100-word story that belongs to the reader themselves. The whimsical, often humorous, tales are a mixture of SF, fantasy, mild horror, historical, mythological, and/or paranormal fiction, as well as simple vignettes of relatable lives. A woman trying on lingerie receives a tattoo from a passing jellyfish. A man places stars in space using his cabinet of curiosities. Angels are captured and bottled to make quality perfume. A group of 1903 settlers find a crashed starship. God's Uncle Albert once thought about creating sentient life, but eventually decided it was a bad idea. There are beach-going ghosts, an orangutan pilot from WWII, surrealists playing chess, and a girl who starts chewing her nails and can't stop until she's eaten herself. A woman cleverly thwarts a misogynistic tailgater trying to intimidate her. An accountant escapes the Great War via embezzlement. A court jester sacrifices himself for his beloved queen. A small clown appears in a fish tank. The Sandman, Leda and the Swan, and the infamous cat Pangur Ban make appearances. With each turn of the page, one never quite knows what to expect. The mischievous illustrations, saturated with color, only hint at something recognizable, usually a bit of an animal or plant. Even if the puzzle remains unsolved, readers will find themselves delighted, intrigued, and often moved by the love, pain, and wonder of these finely written drabbles. Spec Fic at its best: accessible and inventive, while remaining thoroughly extraordinary. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.