Ballard’s obsessive and weird stories intrigue me. He works by creating a mood through dark imagery. Much has been made about Ballard’s empty swimming pools with the leaves at the bottom, but I will always associate Ballard with the word rictus, an obscure word meaning the opening of the mouth as in pain.

This collection of Ballard Stories has one of the best titles in all of Speculative fiction, although the story Passport to Eternity is not one of the stronger ones in the book. Passport to Eternity, the story has some of the most remarkable sciencefictional flashes of genius as any of his stories. There are the spores of a least a dozen good short stories in it, yet it falls flat at the end when Ballard fails to follow through on these dazzling concepts.

I found that the shorter stories are the best. Ballard has short-shorts that have a nice impact, like Track 12, where the recording of the sound of a kiss is a motive for murder.

The story Escapement is about a reoccurring slice of time. (an escapement is the part of a clock that allows it to tick). The final line is: “This is a merry-go-round. And you’re driving.” – The best line in the book.

I liked The Thousand Dreams of Stellavista, which is about a plastic and reconfigurable house that has a computer in it that captures the personalities of those that live in it. The house becomes almost sentient as it plays out the emotions that it has stored.

Ballard’s flaws are that he is sometimes too dark and brooding and this overwhelms the story causing the plot to stutter and die. His images are haunting. His ideas are far beyond the ordinary and deserve to be followed. His stories stay with you despite the flaws.

Read Passport to Eternity if you can find it. It is genius.

Another Ballard word that I hardly ever see outside of his books is Vermilion: The dark pink tissue that makes up the lip, the color of lips.