The first thing you see about this book is its cover, which consists of three bands, the paper in differing colors -- blue, green, brown -- with all sort of images, like a sea serpent, a crowned money, a giant asleep in the hills and more are printed. You have to pull off the outer bands to see all the pictures. I think most if not all the images are at least alluded somewhere in the essays.
And a loose collection of essays they are, hitting on the entertainment value of literature, why genre is still in the ghetto, writing for children, the effect of reading Norse myths while a child, the town where he grew up, criticism of His Dark Materials, The Road, American Flagg! and other works, discussion of Sherlock Holmes, how he writes (two essays on the genesis of two different novels), and more.
Lots of good stuff. Good style, too.
