Beastmarks

My father actually published this book when I was a kid. Its cover, and pen-and-ink interior illustrations have been burned into my brain ever since my young eyes first encountered them, so it was quite surreal to read it for the very first time nearly forty years later.

I was struck by the quality of writing, and by the expansive array of settings in this short and sweet collection of SFF. Aliens from other dimensions, dragons, cyberpunk tech, AIs and robots - oh, and in one of the short stories Sherlock Holmes meets the poet Basho! Wacky, but it totally works, as do the other six stories in this volume that strain the imagination and push the boundaries literary convention. Attanasio uses outrageous concepts and mind-bending prose paint you seven very different pictures that are related by this book's theme of consciousnesses trespassing in unusual ways. Reading this was like a psychedelic experience - trippy, philosophical and fun.