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The Situation

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The Situation

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The Situation

Illustrated by Eric Orchard

Edited by

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Published on January 25, 2012

The Situation by Jeff VanderMeer and Eric Orchard
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The Situation by Jeff VanderMeer and Eric Orchard

Experience the familiar perils of office politics in a world eerily different from our own in The Situation,” an original comic story created by Jeff VanderMeer and Eric Orchard.

The Situation” is based on a short story by Jeff VanderMeer which Margo Lanagan called darkly hilarious and Kevin Brockmeier a work of surreal humor, bemused sadness, and meticulous artifice…as if the workplace novels of Sinclair Lewis and Joshua Ferris had been inverted, shaken, and diced until they came out looking like a Terry Gilliam creation.” The original short story can be read online in its entirety courtesy of WIREDs GeekDad and in Jeff’s collection, The Third Bear, available from Tachyon Books. For more of this special brand of weirdness, check out Ann and Jeff VanderMeer’s anthology The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories, available in eBook and UK editions now and US print editions on May 8, 2012.

About the Author

Jeff VanderMeer

Author

Jeff VanderMeer is the author of Hummingbird Salamander; the Borne novels (Borne, The Strange Bird, and Dead Astronauts); and the Southern Reach series (Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance), the first volume of which won the Nebula Award and Shirley Jackson Award and was adapted into a movie by Paramount. He has spoken at MIT, Columbia, Yale, and Vanderbilt, and gave the 2024 John Hersey Memorial Address at the Key West Literary Seminar. Environmental nonfiction by VanderMeer has appeared in Time, The Nation, Current Affairs, and Esquire, among others. VanderMeer founded the Sunshine State Biodiversity Group nonprofit in 2023. Forthcoming work includes Absolution, a fourth Southern Reach novel. Wikipedia | Author Page | Goodreads

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stevenhalter
13 years ago

Wow.

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13 years ago

What an intriguing and strange little story. It looks like Dr. Seuss mated with Spawn.

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JeffV
13 years ago

Thanks! There’s also a download of the story it’s based on at the link I’m providing here.
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2008/03/the-situation-j/

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melamela
13 years ago

Thank you! I’ll share them with my students. They’re fourteen years old and they’re learning different way to read and publish ebooks. :)
I have appreciated “Greensleeves” and “Secret Lives” too. ;)

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seth e.
13 years ago

This is a very exciting project. It looks great!

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13 years ago

The artwork is astoundingly well-meshed to the story.

You been bioneering, haven’t you?

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Shooz
13 years ago

This is refreshingly different. Thoroughly enjoying it :)

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Smithee Zombie Hunter
13 years ago

I like the style of art very much!

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Ashes
13 years ago

I read the whole thing. It was lovely, and the artwork was wonderful. You are amazing.

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Appreantis
13 years ago

That was gross.

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Ollie Elliott
13 years ago

I absolutely love this. An atmosphere and setting I’ve never experienced before in any medium as well as a fantastically unique story. Keep up the great work guys!

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jeffvan
13 years ago

thanks for the kind words! jeffv

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13 years ago

Still the best description I’ve seen yet of the situation, and all the more so with the pictures!

Thanks for getting there ahead of us and making some maps, Jeff.

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Steve Gerland
13 years ago

I think I used to work at that place…

But seriously, this is a wonderful tale. And the art is amazing!

Really like it.

Steve

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Jane
9 years ago

The Manager is so delightful I can barely speak! Thank you Jeff Vandermeer and Eric Orchard for this piece of beauty.