Reading – The Shop of Mechanical Insects

I was lucky enough to snag The Shop of the Mechanical Insects* chapbook from Subterranean Press (website) when it was released back in 2009. A limited edition of 500 pieces, this (extremely) short Ray Bradbury story is heavily illustrated by Dave McKean, and considering the price it goes for these days I’m happy I got this at the original $18 price.

Not All That Impressive

Chapbooks aren’t exactly the most impressive of books out there (see “chabook” at Wikipedia), but when this short-run book illustrated by McKean was announced I grabbed it because I am a fan of most of his artwork. Unfortunately, this particular book isn’t as attractive as most of McKean’s other works. Attractive design, decent art, but definitely not his best work and too heavy on the computer and not the line art I love seeing out of McKean. As an illustrated book it is merely okay and not at all awesome.

And Just an Okay Story

I am by no means a Ray Bradbury expert of fanatic. I’ve enjoyed some of his stories, but I’ve never gotten so heavily invested in reading Bradbury’s work that I can rattle off his works and chat about his stories for hours at a time. I strongly suspect that if I ever took the time to read more of his work I would enjoy it, but The Shop of the Mechanical Insects* is not the story that will convert me into a hardcore fan.

The story tells of mechanical insects that can be purchased. Now these machines are special; they’ll sing to you, feed you, clean you, and generally make your life easier. But in the story the buyer is after only a single spider . . . and telling you what the spider does would completely destroy the tale so I’ll just keep my mouth shut.

Yes, This is Not Recommended

Now I do love limited edition books. I can easily see myself becoming a publisher of limited edition chapbooks and hardcovers once I retire (retire? That’s an insane idea), but regardless of my love for limited edition books I cannot say that anyone should rush out and buy this.

The artwork and story are both simply okay and not great, and the prices people are asking today for the chapbook just isn’t worth it. And if I had had the chance to flip through the chapbook before buying it I’m not even sure if I would have spent the $18 that I did on the book.

I hate when something like this disappoints me, but after a couple of years with the book and a few reads and rereads I’m confident that in the end I can say this chapbook is not amazing. And seeing less-than-amazing work from Dave McKean always makes me sad.

For a few snaps of the book’s interior see this set at Flickr.