 |
|
Vermilion Sands embodies the languid decay of a
tawdry dream. A desert resort designed to fulfill the most exotic whims of
the sated rich, it now moulders in sleazy dilapidation, a haven for the
remittance men of the artistic and literary world, and for the human lampreys
that prey upon them. It is a lair for malice and hate and envy — and the
more cancerous forms of madness; a place where sensitive pigments paint
portraits for their masters in a grotesque parody of art; where poets press the
buttons of mechanical versifiers; where sculptures grow like funguses, and
plants respond to music; where psychosensitive houses are driven mad by their
owners' neuroses; where love and affection, and even lust, are effete madrigals
played in a minor and discordant key.
From the dark recesses of a
superb imagination, J. G. Ballard has conjured up an elegant nightmare of
decadence, a portrait of a future Gomorrah where a Nero might play an automated
violin. |
|
|
| Prima Belladonna |
The Thousand Dreams of Stellavista |
Cry Hope, Cry Fury! |
| Venus Smiles |
Studio 5, the Stars |
The Cloud Sculptors of Coral D |
| Say Goodbye to the Wind |
The Screen Game |
|
| The Cape edition, published in 1973, added an
additional story "The Singing Statues" and reordered the contents. The text of
this edition has been used in all subsequent UK editions. |
|
|