In his second novel, Steve Erickson creates a decaying world filled with leftover passions and poetic vision that established him as one of the most original and evocative American writers of his generation.

    Reading works by Joanna Russ, Ursula K. Le Guin, Marge Piercy, and Samuel R. Delany as indicative texts in the intertext of utopian science fiction, Tom Moylan originated the concept of the critical utopia as both a periodizing and conceptual tool for capturing the creative and critical capabilities of the utopian imagination and utopian agency. This Ralahine Classics edition includes the original text along with a new essay by Moylan (on Aldous Huxley's "Island") and a set of reflections on the book by leading utopian and science fiction scholars.

    Raised in the south, far from the festering streets of Khymir, his son Zorachus has become a Sharajnaghi Master of the Seventh Level.Convinced Zorachus is a living saint--- as well as the greatest wizard who has ever lived--- the head of his order sends him back to the city of his birth to thwart the Priests of Tchernobog.But Jhymir is maintained by Tchernobog himself as an argument against organic life, and as Zorachus discovers to his horror, it is far more convincing than he could ever have imagined...Most dark fantasies are just kidding around, but this razor-fanged specimen is the real deal, ferocious and uncompromising, a power-dive into Hell. Long a favorite of gamers because of its well-worked out magic system, it delivers a swift succession of ferocious set-pieces and a mad mob of astonishing villains, all interspersed with explicit sex and philosophical argument. If you want highly original sword-and-sorcery that takes no prisoners, look no further.Just be ready with the bandages.