Three Moments of an Explosion: Stories
China Miéville
02 June 2016
9781447235002Synopsis
The multi-award-winning China Miéville has been called 'the equal of David Mitchell or Zadie Smith' (Scotland on Sunday), a writer whose 'inventiveness and precision is awesome' (Independent), and who writes with 'an imagination of immense power' (Guardian).
In these twenty-eight short stories, glistening icebergs float above urban horizons; a burning stag runs wild through the city; the ruins of industry emerge unsteadily from the sea; and the abandoned generations in a decayed space-elevator look not up at the stars but down at the Earth. Ranging from portraits of childhood to chilling ghost stories, from dystopian visions to poignant evocations of uncanny love, with beautiful prose and melancholy wit, Three Moments of an Explosion is a breath-taking collection that poses searching questions of what it is to be human in an unquiet world. It is a humane and unsentimental investigation of our society, our world, and ourselves.
You can't talk about Miéville without using the word "brilliant" . . . The writing, never less than excellent, takes many tones throughout the 28 stories, some showy, some not. Pastiche, when present, is so skilful that it can go unnoticed. Subjects of real weight are handled with unobtrusive ease but never glibly nor diminished by facetiousness . . . Fascinating, full of suggestion and implication, and beautiful.Ursula K. Le Guin, Guardian
If anyone doubted whether China Miéville had imagination to burn, proof of his indefatigable creative restlessness is to be found in this collection of short stories . . . This is a bumper collection overflowing with new visions of our beautiful, terrible world.Claire Allfree, Metro
Miéville . . . is gifted with an incomparable visionary imagination. In tale after tale in Three Moments of an Explosion you'll find a conceit so unusual, so disturbing, so arresting, that it takes your breath away.James Lovegrove, Financial Times
