César un gran noble del sur de Francia enloquecido tras asesinar a su propio hijo durante una batalla, vive con su esposa Bonne y su hija Flore refugiado en un castillo en ruinas, en un país devastado por las guerras entre Roger Trencavel y su señor feudal. A partir de estos personajes, Watson transporta al lector a una época en la que la imperaba el código del amor cortés y desarrolla una profunda reflexión sobre la melancolía, el amor y la locura, temas que no son exclusivos de la época histórica en la que se desarrolla la acción, sino que son universales.

"Slow Birds," by Ian Watson tells the story of a strangely idyllic world which is plagues by mysterious invaders. Dubbed "slow birds," because the cylindrical objects fly at the rate of only a few feet per minute, the artefacts are a complete mystery. Jason Babbidge's life is inexorably changed and linked to the slow birds when his brother, Daniel, climbs aboard a slowbird shortly before it disappears into the unknown. Watson's story deals with Jason's quest for his brother and later the revelation which comes to him as he climbs aboard a slow bird of his own.

"Slow Birds" was nominated for the 1983 Nebula for best novelette.

Another story collection from the prolific Watson (Salvage Rites, Evil Water, Slow Birds), this one comprising 12 tall tales published between 1985 and 1990. The longest piece here is brilliantly conceived: a company of Ushabti, tiny clay figurines placed in the sarcophagus of a pharaoh as his attendants, explore their sarcophagus-universe, then attempt to revive their dead master; what makes no stylistic or literary sense, and irredeemably flaws the story, is Watson's introduction of some investigating Egyptologists in the form of a play and, worse, chanting blank verse. Also noteworthy: the impressively imagined title yarn, which probes the strange consequences arising from deliberately distorted maps but all too soon meanders off into unfathomable byways; and a persuasive yarn that features the surrealist architect Gaudi. Elsewhere, three clumsily obvious metaphors (time travel and race hatred; rich vs. poor; a human chicken becomes chancellor of Oxford University) irritate rather than uplift; a jailer physically and psychically absorbs his prisoners; an English village hides odd goings-on; Sherlock Holmes ponders Cinderella, to astonishing effect; and an ayatollah's eyeball elicits only routine irony. Amazingly inventive – but too often inattentive or downright eccentric in the execution.

Every short story in this wonderfully varied collection has one thing in common: each features some alteration in history, some divergence from historical reality, which results in a world very different from the one we know today. As well as original stories specially commissioned from bestselling writers such as James Morrow, Stephen Baxter and Ken MacLeod, there are genre classics such as Kim Stanley Robinson’s story of how World War II atomic bomber the , having crashed on a training flight, is replaced by the with profoundly different consequences.