Twelve stories of dark futures and odd imaginings to catch your breath and unhinge your mind: these stories deliver what Marianne Moore called, "Imaginary gardens with real toads." Though "The Mountain and The Vortex," the novella that gives this collection its name, is a complex tale, intricately interlaced with historical allusions and genre-jumping subplots, it remains imminently readable. These are the works of a true storyteller.