“Great writers do two things at one and the same time: they bring us more fully into the world around us and they open worlds behind that visible, everyday one. They make us profoundly uncomfortable. I still approach these stories with a singular mix of anticipation and apprehension. No writer has ever made me more uncomfortable than David R. Bunch.” —James Sallis
“A mean treat. I’ve long felt [Bunch] was one of the most undersung and ill-known landmarks in sf…oh what intensity at the focus, what idiosyncrasy, what a one roaring diamond glimpse.” —James Tiptree, Jr., Letter to Ursula K. Le Guin
“This collection gives Bunch’s cybernetic vision of the future new life for a new generation of science-fiction readers. Almost a half-century after these stories were originally released, the thematic power of Bunch’s vision still resonates, the narrative equivalent of a new-metal alloy punch to the gut. A disturbing, stark, and deeply thought-provoking collection of stories chronicling humankind’s demise into heartless automatons. ” —Kirkus
“[Bunch’s] lasting influence stems in part from his grandiloquent and oft-absurd narratives, but more directly from his playful and impressionistic language…. A fascinating amalgam of existential reflection, social critique, and a boundless wonder at the foolish extremes to which men will turn in their quest for macho certainty.” —A.V. Club
“Jeff VanderMeer’s perceptive introduction, couched in Bunchian idiom, offers valuable insights. This is a steely view of a robot-dominated future.” —Publishers Weekly
“Bunch is possibly the most dangerous visionary of all those assembled here.” —Conceptual Fiction
“A writer whose work I admire vastly. And a writer who has, oddly enough, barely received the acclaim due to him.” —Harlan Ellison
QUICK VIEW
