1960's Science Fiction. This is a strange book, Delaney has taken mythology and 60's pop culture and twisted them into a future world of mutants, interspersed with fragments of his life — diary entries from Venice and the Greek Islands as he is writing TEI and quotes from sources ranging from James Joyce to Billy the Kid.

The result is a haunting, confusing take on the tale of Orpheus and the Underworld. Definitely worth a re-read one day. ( )

This is the only book by Delany that I've ever cared for & I love it. He blends SF & mythology, a post-apocalyptic world filled with wonders & monsters. Our hero journeys through this world, discovering more about it, himself & the human race. He shows mankind's greatest failures & achievements through the eyes of something else. A very interesting read & re-read.I read it again & although the words are very familiar after all these years, still they move me in different ways & make me think of different things. Certainly a classic. ( )

Where Logic Meets Dream ( )

Very much enjoyed this book. Truly improved an otherwise daunting cross-country bus trip. ( )

Dude. Like, wooah. I mean far out man.

Yes it is 1967 and, seemingly, everyone is a bell-end. This book is so steeped in the utter dross of the nineteen sixties that it is almost impossible to have any sort of objective opinion on it. It is a time piece. A fragment of a best forgotten time. Like so many books that try for the cutting edge it hasn't aged well.

That said though, that doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing. Sometimes it is interesting to read things like this. To see a fragment of a new thought before it collapses under it's own silliness. The book can be forgiven many crimes because it is so slim. This means it can be read through in a couple of hours. It is laughable as science but has it's moments as fiction and surely as a work of the imagination that is the real truth.

It is hard to be mean about such a lovable preposterous train wreck of a thing. At the end you are willing it to all come together, and it tries, but when it fails you don't get too cross about it. I'm not sure it's position as a mini-classic is safe but it is quite a fun read.