Evocative stories of human loss and loneliness from the Dream Archipelago, a group of islands on a world sandwiched equatorially between two contesting super-powers. The main protagonists in each story come from one or the other of the super-powers and see the islands as places of mystery and escape; instead, they have to confront their own fears and inner conflicts.

Some of the stories have been revised slightly for the 1999 UK paperback release to update some of their more superficial features from their first appearances in the 1970s. ( )

A revelation, really, as it's so long since I recall reading anything of his (although I now remember that the Inverted World was another.) Very, very good, atmospheric, haunting, with a sense of not a word being wasted. Complex and disturbing yet also beautiful. ( )