Author: Stormont, Lan (Robb, Frank Morse)
Title: Tan Ming: A Fantasy by Lan Stormont
Description: New York, Exposition Press, 1955. First Edition. Hardcover. Octavo, 8 1/4" x 5 1/2." pp. 471. Original illustrated dust jacket in protective mylar. Mild wear to edges, top and bottom spine of DJ; some mild sunning to rear cover. Black cloth boards with gilt lettering to spine. Binding sound. Interior pages very clean and unmarked. Excellent copy. The Canadian inventor and entrepreneur Frank Morse Robb authored Tan Ming under the pseudonymn Lan Stormont (Wikipedia). The novel follows a display artist in a department store who falls in love with a mannequin he names Sheba. Through a magical spell, Sheba comes to life as Tan Ming. The story takes place in a "world gone mad with abuse of atomic power" (rear flap). At once fantasy and satire, the author "wields a powerful pen when he writes of the strange land laid waste by atomic blasts..in this bizarre world there is no science, no clocks, no calendars" (rear flap). Near Fine in Very Good Dustjacket .

Keywords: Science Fiction, Post Modernism, Nuclear Fiction, Satire, Lars and the Real Girl, Mannekin Fantasy