303 pages
English language
Published Dec. 3, 2005 by Del Rey/Ballentine Books.
What William Gibson did for science fiction, China Mieville has done for fantasy, shattering old paradigms with fiercely imaginative works of startling, often shocking, intensity. Now from this brilliant young writer comes a groundbreaking collection of stories, many of them previously unavailable in the United States, and including four never-before-published tales--one set in Mieville's signature fantasy world of New Crobuzon. Among the fourteen superb fictions are"Jack"--Following the events of his acclaimed novel Perdido Street Station, this tale of twisted attachment and horrific revenge traces the rise and fall of the Remade Robin Hood known as Jack Half-a-Prayer. "Familiar"--Spurned by its creator, a sorceress's familiar embarks on a strange and unsettling odyssey of self-discovery in a coming-of-age story like no other.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Have you ever come to the end of a short story and flipped the page back and forth wondering if there is a page missing?
As always, China Miéville manages to be captivating. Especially The Tain manages to evoke a dirty, disturbing sense of horror and defeat, in a post apocalypse like none I've ever seen.
This is a great collection of stories, most roughly falling into a similar theme: there's something a bit terrible beyond the world that few notice or can see.
However, within this theme, all of them are very different stories told in different ways, but all in the style of a Miéville story.
Daaaark.
