New Arrivals, Old Encounters: 12 Stories

This short story collection from the late 70's is made up of...well, it's hard to explain. When I described a few of the stories to my sister, she suggested "bizzaro" fiction as its closest modern relative. Perhaps people who have read a lot of classic science fiction wouldn't be as lost as I am. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it; every so once in a while I enjoy having my head explode. Aldiss deals with heavy stuff here, usually God (machines that are gods, people looking through cracks in reality to see the face of God, even a story that might be narrated by God himself) and thought (the question of whether or not people actually think, telepathic races and what happens to them when they encounter humans, humans who make machines or immortals do all their thinking for them). Since I happen to like both God and Thought, I did enjoy most of these stories. I skipped two which just didn't grab me, and though it's unusual for me to skip stories in a collection, I think it's largely symptomatic of my general rush during the new year's season. I think this is a collection that would hold up to plenty of re-reading, though I usually don't reread books either.