Disorders of Magnitude

A Survey of Dark Fantasy

Rowman & Littlefield 2014

Hb, 320pp, illus, ind, bib, £52.95, ISBN 9781442235243

FORTEAN TIMES BOOKSHOP PRICE £52.95

Jason V Brock claims that Disorders of Magnitude is “an eclectic survey” of science fiction, fantasy and horror, and he’s not wrong. In this volume of collected essays, he sets out to discuss subjects as diverse as the history of SF fandom, the career of Ray Bradbury, body horror, surrealist art, the history of comics, horror magazines and the special effects of Ray Harryhausen. The book is made up of short articles, many of them published elsewhere, and includes interviews, introductions and broader personal musings.

Despite the wide range of topics covered, Brock’s main focus is on post-war American science fiction, particularly the work of the Californian writers known as ‘The Group’, which included Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Charles Beaumont and Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling. The Group, together with other Californian fans and writers, dominate the first half of the book. Even interviews with people outside The Group, such as low-budget movie legend Roger Corman, focus on the work of its members, such as Corman’s film version of Beaumont’s novel The Intruder.

The remaining articles in the book are something of a grab-bag, ranging from brief overviews of various periods in the history of fantastic fiction to interviews with people in the field. The breadth of Brock’s interests is revealed here: we get an interview with Bruce Campbell, another with Lovecraft scholar ST Joshi, a pair of conversations with Australian fantastic artists and so on.

This breadth is one of the things that makes Disorders of Magnitude somewhat unsatisfying. Other than that they’re broadly involved in the fantasy field, it’s hard to see what Bruce Campbell and ST Joshi have in common, or how both interviews would illuminate the same broad concepts. Similarly, Brock interviews Bluewater Productions’ Darren G Davis – that is, the publisher of his own comics – in what feels a little bit like an ad. It’s not obvious what role Bluewater, a small publisher best known for its political comics, plays in the overall history of speculative fiction. Articles like these make the collection feel less like “a survey of dark fantasy” and more like ‘Jason V Brock: Miscellaneous Articles’.

The strongest section of Disorders of Magnitude is undoubtedly the section on science-fiction writers in interwar and postwar California. Even here, however, the nature of the collection sometimes gets in the way. Because articles originally appeared separately, Brock often repeats the same information. If you didn’t know that William F Nolan created a number of sequels and ancillary works to his novel Logan’s Run, for instance, you will by the end of the book… It’s the same for many of the recurring figures. This made sense when articles were introducing these concepts for the first time, but it’s unnecessary here.

Brock’s references are often somewhat idiosyncratic. In a discussion of comic books, for example, he mentions comic publisher Dark Horse and cites two of its titles: The Mask and Age of Reptiles. Never mind citing slapstick comedy The Mask as an example of a comic with “adult themes”, are these really the first two Dark Horse titles that spring to mind, rather than, say, Hellboy or Usagi Yojimbo? (This section talks about the three largest US comics publishers – and also Bluewater.) Similarly, Brock cites Martin Scorsese in a discussion of how the serious cinema of the 1970s was abandoned by viewers seeking easier comedy and action, an odd choice considering Scorsese’s enduring critical and commercial success. At least, that’s what Brock seems to be saying, but it’s hard to tell among all the nested parentheses and em-dashes.

Disorders of Magnitude could have used a firmer editorial hand. There’s a lot of good material, particularly for readers interested in The Group and other writers of their era, but it’s unevenly presented and mixed in with bloggish rambling and Fandom 101 material. Collecting Brock’s various articles in a single volume is a good idea, but perhaps an exhaustive, high-priced hardcover is not the ideal format.

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