Isolation and Illusion: Collected Short Stories 1977-1997

Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous book!
Review: This is a simply stunning collection - and varied, as well; from the moody black-and-white illustrations of "Dance on a Razor's Edge" (subtitled "a ballet on the death of Yukio Mishima") to the colorful and hilarious rendition of de Bergerac's "Voyage to the Moon," to the gorgeous pencil-sketch drawings of the enigmatic title story (which features a beautiful angel-winged man wandering through a demolished cityscape), the book's a winner. There's also "Breakdown on Starship Remembrance," a space-faring tale of a kind of inside-out claustrophobia, and "Insomnia," which depicts a sleepless night so perfectly that you feel you've been through it [and which has a truly wonderful capper of an ending]. In fact, I think I enjoyed every tale in here - with the possible exception of the Lovecraft story; some things just don't work as well when illustrated, even by a really fine illustrator, and "From Beyond" is one of 'em. But, that aside, the collection's really fine...

Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous book!
Review: This is a simply stunning collection - and varied, as well; from the moody black-and-white illustrations of "Dance on a Razor's Edge" (subtitled "a ballet on the death of Yukio Mishima") to the colorful and hilarious rendition of de Bergerac's "Voyage to the Moon," to the gorgeous pencil-sketch drawings of the enigmatic title story (which features a beautiful angel-winged man wandering through a demolished cityscape), the book's a winner. There's also "Breakdown on Starship Remembrance," a space-faring tale of a kind of inside-out claustrophobia, and "Insomnia," which depicts a sleepless night so perfectly that you feel you've been through it [and which has a truly wonderful capper of an ending]. In fact, I think I enjoyed every tale in here - with the possible exception of the Lovecraft story; some things just don't work as well when illustrated, even by a really fine illustrator, and "From Beyond" is one of 'em. But, that aside, the collection's really fine...