Mirrors in the Deluge

<p><em>Mirrors in the Deluge</em> is a collection of 32 unrelated stories that take elements from fantasy science fiction horror and other genres and give them a lateral shift. Like much of Rhys' work these quirky tales between them encompass parody pastiche and puns. The fun as ever starts with the title of each story - gently leading an unsuspecting reader into preconceived ideas and expectations; expectations that are soon spun around turned on their head (or other extremities) and pushed in an unexpected direction. Thus a saunter merely through the contents page is already a hugely entertaining experience and one more akin to savouring the hors d'oeuvres of a grand feast than consulting a list of shortcuts into a literary tome. In fact the gastronomic metaphor serves us well here; the courses on offer range from tantalising tuck to a gourmand's repast but never mere vittles - perhaps the way to enjoy this book is to digest one story three times a day (four if you're a halfling who needs second breakfast) rather than trying to gorge on all the available delights and delicacies at one sitting. To complete this gourmet's guide a tempting sampling of the stories must include: <em>The Soft Landing</em> a unique story told from the perspective of a photon; <em>Travels with my Antinomy</em> how do you solve a paradox when you're part of it?; <em>Vanity of Vanities</em> the internet achieves consciousness and takes over but with very different consequences than you might imagine; <em>The Fairy and the Dinosaur</em> in which a fairy can't find what she wants for her picnic in the goblin market is offered cloned prehistoric plums but turns to a time-travelling robot to go back to the age of the dinosaurs and eat an original plum. Other titles to tempt you include <em>The Martian Monocles</em> <em>The Prodigal Beard</em> <em>A Dame Abroad</em> <em>The Unkissed Artist Formerly Known as Frog</em> <em>The Goat That Gloated</em> <em>The Taste of Turtle Tears</em> <em>The Bones of Jones</em> and <em>The Haggis Eater</em>.</p>