We devotees of SF enjoy its diversity of opinion, the bustle of bright and dark, the clash of progress and entropy, the clamour of theories about the past, the future, the ever-present present, everything. In this fascinating collection of essays, one of the world's pre-eminent SF writers explores a wide range of SF and fantasy writers and writing. Contents: Acknowledgements Introduction Thanks for drowning the ocelot 'A robot tended your remains...' Between privy and universe: Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) The immanent will returns - 2 A whole new can of worms Science fiction's mother figure Sturgeon: The cruelty of the gods The downward journey: Orwell's 1984 Peep Culture: it is worth losing your balls for? Wells and the leopard lady The adjectives of Erich Zann: A tale of horror Jekyll One hump or two Kafka's Sister Campbell's Soup Some early men in the moon Kaliyuga, or Utopia at a bad time The Atheists Tragedy revisited The pale shadow of science Decadence and Development The Veiled World A Personal Parabola Index