based in part on the philosopher Richard Montague. Unlike Montague, who was strangled, he dies in a knife fight in a bar at age 29. Montague was murdered in his own home at the age of 40 in Los Angeles, though it was almost certainly from a sexual partner or partners he brought home from a bar. The chimeric creature from Marr's nightmares makes its first appearance here in Delany's body of work. It appears on the cover of Phallos and a statue modeled after it appears in Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders. Marr collaborates with a "well-known" science fiction writer named Aranlyde, who is described as having "some particular cachet among more intellectual SF readers". A character "Muels Aranlyde" appears in Delany's Empire Star; the name is an anagram of "Samuel R. Delany". Delany discusses some of the background behind the novel in "The Phil Leggiere Interview: Reading The Mad Man", which appears in his essay collection Shorter Views. Notes References 1994 American novels 1994 fantasy novels American erotic novels Novels by Samuel Delany Novels with gay themes Novels about HIV/AIDS American magic realism novels Novels set in New York City Fiction set in the 1980s 1990s LGBT novels