East Bay Express: Stacy Carlson Explores the Wonderful.
Oakland Tribune: Author Wanders ‘Among the Wonderful’ in PT Barnum’s World.
Nice Press for Among the Wonderful
August 23rd, 2011Among the Wonderful featured at Swankety Swank Boutique, August 19
August 18th, 2011
Thanks, Oprah.
July 14th, 2011O, The Oprah Magazine features Among the Wonderful in the Reading Room section of its August issue.
“The great strength of this book is Carlson’s evocation of time and place. Who knew 19th-century taxidermy could be so interesting?”
Glad you liked it, Oprah!
AMONG THE WONDERFUL is an IndieNext Pick for August
July 11th, 2011Thank you IndieBound and the indie booksellers who nominated Among the Wonderful.
Here’s a link to the preview.
Event announced at WORD Books, Brooklyn.
July 5th, 2011Diesel Oakland to host East Bay publication party!
June 21st, 2011Bay Area readers save the date: August 11 @ 7pm.
See Diesel’s website for more information.
Publishers Weekly reviews Among the Wonderful
April 25th, 2011“Set against the outlandish arrival of showman P.T. Barnum in 1840s Manhattan, Carlson’s bighearted debut follows two employees of Barnum’s–a giantess and a taxidermist–as they struggle to break free of their personal and emotional shackles. Ana Swift, eight feet tall and resigned to being a spectacle, moves into the fifth floor of the museum Barnum’s bought and slowly learns that wild characters reside both inside and outside of the museum’s walls. Meanwhile, Emile Guillaudeu, a taxidermist who has worked at the museum since long before Barnum’s arrival, is disturbed by the recent death of his wife and the changes going on at the museum. As each ventures beyond their comfort zones, they find a larger physical and emotional world waiting to challenge them. Carlson beautifully evokes 1840s Manhattan–from the teeming downtown to the wilds of undeveloped northern Manhattan. The acrobats, bearded lady, Australian tribesman, Native Americans, and myriad of bizarre animals offer a constant source of fascination and surprise, and while Carlson rightfully revels in the oddities and curiosities, she also creates emotionally resonant characters who, despite being freakishly tall or joined at the hip, are driven by desires, fears, and that familiar need for human connection.”
Among the Wonderful Featured at NCIBA Spring Gathering
March 12th, 2011Among the Wonderful (Steerforth Press, Aug. 2, 2011) was one of fifteen forthcoming books featured at the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association spring gathering on April 3, 2011, in San Francisco.
Advance Praise for Among the Wonderful
March 8th, 2011“A vivid and fascinating piece of literary Americana, Among the Wonderful brings nineteenth century New York brilliantly to life on the page. Carlson’s sure-handed debut is chock full of big themes and characters who will stick with you long after you set the book down.”
- Jonathan Evison, author of West of Here.
“What a pleasure it was to enter Phineas T. Barnum’s fabled American museum, accompanied by tour guide extraordinaire Stacy Carlson. AMONG THE WONDERFUL is a smart, big-hearted novel about the desires, difficulties, hopes and fears of the museum’s remarkable residents. I enjoyed every page.”
- Karl Iagnemma, author of On the Nature of Human Romantic Interaction and The Expeditions.
“Making the odd ordinary and the ordinary odd is the business of this novel, and in that sense, Among the Wonderful transcends the limits of storytelling and plunges confidently into the realm of ideas. Is objective inquiry into the natural world possible for mere mortals? Are we part of nature, or outcasts, condemned to despise and feel threatened by anything we don’t recognize? Why is the freakish so perversely fascinating, and what constitutes the limit of the ordinary? These questions arise…through the increasing desperation of the characters’ interactions as they struggle to stay afloat in a leaky, fragile and ultimately doomed enterprise. Stacy’s ability to render this hallucinogenic scene in realistic detail is really something of a marvel in itself.”
– Valerie Martin, Orange Prize-winning author of Property.
Among the Wonderful is Headed to Press
January 26th, 2011Among the Wonderful is a novel by Stacy Carlson, forthcoming from Steerforth Press on August 2, 2011. It’s a story of art and deception, anomaly and community, and science and magic in an era when a culture of imaginative speculation gave way to the modern age. At PT Barnum’s American Museum, the exhibits climb out of their cabinets and walk among visitors who had paid to call them wonderful.
