Dogland

Dogland is a fantasy novel by Will Shetterly, a fantasy and comic book writer. Published in June 1997, it is the novel Shetterly is most proud of.[1] Dogland placed thirteenth in the annual Locus poll for best fantasy novel.[2] The story is based on his own childhood and a business that his parents owned called "Dog Land". In 2007 Shetterly published a sequel, The Gospel of the Knife.

This article is about the Will Shetterly novel. For the Tim Willocks young adult novel, see Doglands.
Not to be confused with Doggerland.
Dogland
First edition cover
AuthorWill Shetterly
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreFantasy novel
PublisherTor Books
Publication date
June 1997
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages445 pp
ISBN978-0-312-85171-2
OCLC36158703
813/.54 21
LC ClassPS3569.H458 D64 1997

Plot summary

The novel is told from the perspective of an adult called Christopher Nix who recounts the story of his family's move to Florida from New Orleans when he was four. The purpose of their move is so that his father can open a tourist attraction that exhibits every breed of dog recognized by the American Kennel Club. The story focuses on his father's "color-blind" approach to racial segregation and various controversies that occur in his life because of it.

Reception

Gahan Wilson praised the novel, saying "The strength and effectiveness of the book come from Shetterly's placing and playing [its] bizarre, occult figures against a very real and effectively stirring account of events very true to the horrendous sort of action which was really and truly going on at the time".[3] Paul Di Filippo similarly declared that Dogland "succeeds remarkably on a number of levels as mimetic autobiography . . . , as depiction of a fantastic midsummer dreamscape, and as Arthurian reenactment".[4] Kirkus Reviews described it as "Compelling, absorbing, hard-edged work, lit by glimpses of another, more fantastic reality".[5]

Footnotes
  1. "Brief biography of Will Shetterly". endicott-studio.com. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
  2. Science Fiction Awards Database
  3. "Books", Realms of Fantasy, October 1997, pp. 12-16 (parenthetical omitted)
  4. "On Books", Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, August 1998, pp. 135-36
  5. Kirkus review
gollark: School requires 1 or more and I didn't want to do subjects like history or art.
gollark: Bebras or the computing challenge?
gollark: Yes, I did 3 "languages" and it was very "good".
gollark: GCSE computer science is useless and bad too.
gollark: That's everything ever. It just happens to be particularly easy because at GCSE content is minimal.

References


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