The Inner Landscape (1969)

A story by Peake, one by J.G. Ballard, and one by Brian Aldiss. Peake's story is wonderful -- vivid, frightening, suspenseful and completely weird. The unnamed protagonist is clearly Titus Groan, although not in continuity with the Gormenghast novels; it gives a little taste of the sort of places that series might have gone if Peake had been able to continue it. 4.5/5. Ballard's writing was terrible. I couldn't read more than a few pages of his before I had to stop. The sort of lazy construction that keeps the reader in the dark of things that all the characters know, probably thinking it creates suspense of mystery. And just generally awkward, amateurish prose. 0.5/5. Aldiss' story was good. A parallel universe plot, very much an ancestor of The Golden Compass and The Matrix. It felt a little unfinished and rambling, though, like he was testing things out for a novel. 3/5. ( )