This is an odd collection of an early novel (Gray Matters) together with three shorter pieces that never had very wide exposure (or at least a reprint). If you are fascinated by the diversity of Hjortsberg work and want to read everything he wrote, I would certainly recommend this volume. It is pretty much science fiction, however, so don't expect a noir mystery masterpiece such as Falling Angel. My part-by-part review follows.

Symbiography *** 1/2 - Other than Gray Matters, this is the longest and most substantial piece in the book. A dream artist (he captures his dreams and turns them into products that can be sold like Hollywood movies) goes for the ultimate in reality by implanting receptors in a Nomad - the less than civilized woods-roaming remnant of the part of the human race that doesn't live in domed cities or underground. This is a nice idea that Hjortsberg could have done more with--the ending is a big abrupt, but it's a good story, nevertheless.

Homecoming *** - Originally written to accompany illustrations that never materialized, this brief story of short vignettes is entertaining but hardly original. It's too short to say anything much about it that doesn't give it away.

The Clone Who Ran for Congress *** - In the future, professional sports teams are made up of genetically engineered clones and this story (originally published in Sports Illustrated!) concerns a new design and its designer's experiences with his charges as he brings them up in a private school in preparation for their careers--until the Olympics intervenes. This is a lot of fun and has a nice twist, but isn't exactly Hjortsberg at his best.

Gray Matters (repeating my review from the standalone version of the novel) **** - This is the fourth book by Hjortsberg that I have read, and I realize they are all quite different. Falling Angel is mystery/horror noir; Manana is also a mystery and quite noirish as well, but Falling Angel deserves a genre of its own, so Manana is still quite different. Nevermore is--well, I read that long before I started reviewing everything I read on LibraryThing, so all I can remember is that it wasn't like Falling Angel and I didn't like it that much. Gray Matters, his second novel, from 1971, is science fiction. After a slightly slow start, it draws you in and doesn't let go for its 159 pages. God, how I love short books! It takes place in the near future, when everyone's brains have been removed and placed in a depository where they are tended by machines. The story focuses on a few of the brains--a movie star, an astronaut, a boy killed in a plane crash, and a sculptor, who find various ways to escape the confines of their daily lives--which, guided by the machines and other brains acting as auditors, are supposed to be striving for obedience and perfection so they can move up the hierarchy and eventually be reborn. But that makes it sound like a rather philosophical treatise rather than a book filled with action and sex, which tend to dominate. While it isn't completely satisfying, it is all very entertaining and has some great moments. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys far out science fiction (or brain in a vat stories!) (Hjortsberg made some minor updates to the version in this volume, such as changing the references to the use of tapes as storage devices. He didn't however fix the biggest mistake, where he says that a machine can be programmed to win at tic-tac-toe every time if given the first move. As anyone who has played the game knows, it can't be won by either side unless the other makes a mistake.) ( )