"What Is Last Drink Bird Head? That’s the catalyst editors Ann and Jeff VanderMeer provided to over 80 writers in creating this unique anthology, with all proceeds going to ProLiteracy.org. All each writer got was an email with "Last Drink Bird Head" in the subject line and the directions "Who or what is Last Drink Bird Head? Under 500 words." The result? Last Drink Bird Head is a blues musician, a performance artist, a type of alcohol, a town in Texas, and even a song sung by girl scouts in Antarctica. Famed designer John Coulthart did the interior, which features bobbing bird heads in the corners of the pages, so that the antho is also a flipbook."
(More info:
http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2009/09/24/last-drink-bird-head-for-charity-party-pre-orders-awards-and-more/ )
This a fantastic project. Guaranteed to be one of the coolest anthologies released this year. And all the money it makes is going to a great charity.
I offer a brief sample of my own contribution:
"The burbling music changed to indicate Bird Head's fortunes. The happy wandering song could be interrupted at any moment by the chirping aria when a siren tempted Bird Head over a cliff to land in a bed of razors. Or by a fast, minor march when a wandering hangman captured Bird Head and forced him along the crimson carpet to his portable gibbet."
In other news, my story "Court Scranto" appears in the most recent issue of Weird Tales magazine. (#353).
