James Nicoll Reviews

J. G. Ballard’s 1975 High-Rise is a thrilling tale of modern lifestyles.

Recently divorced doctor and lecturer Robert Laing is persuaded by his sister to sell his Chelsea home and move into a very modern tower block. Forty floors tall, the edifice offers the inhabitants of its thousand apartments every amenity a late-20^th century British person could want. If humans could build a modern-day urban Eden, it would look like Laing’s new home.

This modern-day Eden goes as well as the mythological Eden.

[Pet lovers may want to stop reading at this point.]

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1971’s Vermilion Sands is a collection of short stories by J. G. Ballard. All share the same setting: vacation resort Vermilion Sands.

Vermilion Sands’ precise location is unclear. Perhaps it is somewhere in the American desert or perhaps it is not too far from Mediterranean. Equally unclear is when the action takes place, except that it is a time that features mutant women and flying stingrays. Wherever and whenever it is, the idle rich flock to Vermilion Sands. Close on their heels come those who would profit off the rich.

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