AustLit

'From the STINKING GENIUS responsible for Pryotechnicon: Being a True Account of Cyrano De Bergerac's Further Adventures Among The States and Empires of the Stars, by Himself (dec'd), comes a still-warm midden of fantastical short stories. The Author takes this opportunity to apologise for the feelings of inadequacy that will arise in those who encounter the exquisitudinal stories herein contained, or barely contained – glittering, lacy, plangent with ideas and pungent with wordplay, all touching on – sometimes delicately, sometimes with fists, sometimes with greasy intimacy – diverse curious and amusing notions, such as an endeavour by British colonials to terraform Hell (contrast with the story dealing with the late Carl Linnaeus's attempts to classify the species of Paradise); a planet wrapped in fabric where pirates boom and roar in galleoned steam irons; a look at what it will mean to be disabled in the future ... etc., etc. – a book to be handled with care, so close is its resemblance to a clutch of Faberge eggs, their Faberge chicks waiting to be hatched by the warmth of the Reader's startled regard.' (Publication summary)