I have utterly no idea how to rate this one, because (in my current migraining state,) I'm not sure if this little volume is absolutely brilliant, but I just don't quite get the joke, or if it's the dumbest thing I've ever read and I'm standing in the street shouting: “You guys! Nekkid Emporer dudes!”

I'm not entirely clear on plot, except that it's some paper from some dead guy, and there are onions. And a sturgeon. Reading this felt a little bit like going for a drink with a co-worker and running into one of his frat brothers. For a few minutes you think it's going to be three people chatting at a bar, but then they start ordering PBR and shots of Jack, and suddenly you're sitting in between two drunk, old, former football players who are laughing and wheezing uncontrollably and saying things like: “Remember that girl? After the... you know, with the THING?!” “F*CK ME, the THING!” “And remember when you, that time, you know!” “HAHAHAHA I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT THE TIME!!! Dude, why aren't you laughing, this is some funny SHIT!” Whereupon I reply: “Oh yeah, of course, the time, with the thing, at that place... yeah. Haha. Funny shit.”

Exactly like that. ( )

William Ashbless is perhaps best known to modern readers through the recent editing of his works by Tim Powers and James Blaylock. (A situation he deplores, as his notes throughout this novella attest.) It is, however, refreshing to have a recent work by the great man himself made available, even if it must be edited by his former protoges. In this short piece, he revisits some of the themes of his earlier works, although this time in prose, and in a futuristic setting that contrasts with his previous preferences for fantastical historic settings.

I do hope that Ashbless can settle his feuds with his publishers and editors so that more work of this nature can be made available to his fans. ( )