Meet ‘Download Syndrome’: ‘Symptoms: 1. Constant talking with aid of cell phones and email; 2. near-zero memory retention; 3. dead-stare; 4. blithely confident attitude.’ Aylett points the finger and asks, ‘when the majority of the world population suffers the same condition, does it become the “new normal”?’
‘The Burnished Adventures of Injury Mouse’, the full text of ‘Voyage of the Iguana’, the last ever Beerlight story, ‘Specter’s Way’, ‘Horoscope’ and the closest thing Aylett has ever written to a traditional science-fiction story, ‘Bossanova’ (featuring a robot and two spaceships) are amongst the tales from beyond any existence you can possibly imagine.
Smithereens is Aylett’s most recent collection, one in which he outstrips his reputation – ‘He has made a career out of redefining the boundaries of science fiction – and sanity.’ (Barnes & Noble Spotlight Feature).