The Sinners of Erspia

Rating:
Summary: Bizarre and decadent
Review: This is the real deal, folks. A vivid and visceral odyssey to some of the most imaginative and visionary scenery in modern science fiction. It's sort of leading along the route of Bayley's short-stories from the late eighties to mid-nineties, like "Cling to the Curvature!" and "Love in Backspace" in particular. It's like an excessive version of Ian Watson's GARDENS OF DELIGHT and some of the more outre material in the back catalog of Philip Jose Farmer, merged with Rudy Rucker and the decadent writers of the late 19th century, like Mirbeau and later, Bataille.

It has some problems in it and cannot quite be ranked with some of BJBs early work - Bayley has always stated that his characters are there more to set off the scenery than to exist as "real" individuals, and while this is more thought-out in that sense, it is still, shall we say, problematic. And there is at least one point in the narrative that relies completely on incredible coincidence. But regardless of that, the unadulterated reveling in the bizarre scenery is constantly startling and at points reaches such a feverish pitch that it's impossible not to be impressed by the rare gift of idea-driven science fiction imagination working in full gear in these days of stoic platitudes.