sologdin

A mixed group here: some ghost stories, a couple post-apocalyptic, a dystopian, a couple standard horror, a paranoid spy thriller, a tech thriller, one Bas Lag, and a graphic short (that I didn't really understand).

Standard leftwing concerns generally. The three standouts are the lovecraftian items: a metatextualist's accounting of documents received by postal error concerning viae ferae (best villains ever? maybe.); a bildungsroman taken staight from Paracelsus; and a Borgesian fake encyclopedia entry. Good stuff.

The ghost stories, traditional horrors, and thriller items are kinda meh for me, but they are certainly well written.

The centerpiece is likely the concluding novella, which is an extended commentary on Wells' War of the Worlds, with a hint of I am Legend. Call it the anti-Wells, I suppose, insofar as the first person narrator arises from the invader/freed slave. It's reminiscent of The Matrix insofar as slaves are freed and then embark on their own retributory genocide.

Recommended for Mieville fans, people who're so vain they probably think "The Tain" is about them, and those who can properly enunciate yGudluh.