A collections of anecdotes, reviews and essays, written with the humour and warmth one associates with Brian Aldiss. 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 writings. The contents include a letter to Salvador Dali, Mary Shelley and Frankenstein, the work of Philip K. Dick, Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, James Blish, Culture: Is it worth losing your balls for?and the differences between US and UK fantasy.