Short collection of Smith’s short fiction centred mainly around his Instrumentality universe. I have to say, Smith’s style is not my style, so much so that I couldn’t even finish the novella included, The Dead Lady of Clown Town. I like his subject matter (the stories are based on or inspired by some classic works and ideas, such as Rimbaud’s The Drunken Boat, Dante’s Inferno and Joan of Arc), but the execution leaves much to be desired. Smith’s writing is it’s own little world, sparse on details, big on sleight of hand and obscure in content (at least to me). And the themes and plots can be pretty repetitive: too many legal trials, hybrid animal underclasses and self mythologising. Smith likes to include songs about his characters whose deeds have attained myth status, but it’s just bad poetry. But the last story, A Planet Named Shayol, is a gem. A horror scifi take on Dante’s Inferno that is creepy and vivid.