Ganglion and Other Stories by Wayne Wightman ISBN: ISBN -13: 978-1-892391-00-1 ISBN -10: 1892391007 Published: 1995 Available Format(s): Hardcover (sold out) , Limited Hardcover, Special Edition (sold out) “‘Ganglion’ is like an all-star classic issue of Galaxy in book form. Not that there’s anything old-fashioned about Wightman’s stories. It’s simply that he writes in the grand tradition of Dick, Sheckley, Tenn, and mid-period Silverberg. Modern angsts and ironies are embodied in SF parables laced with that brand of humor best characterized by ‘the bubble of blood at the end of the laugh.’ And when an understated change of pace is needed, Wightman is eminently capable of delivering a delicate Sturgeon-esque love story, such as “The Face at the End of the Mind,” or a spooky Leiber-esque “Life on Earth.” One motif that spans the stories is a kind of “body anxiety” verging on disgust, a potent archetypal source mostly for horror fiction. Wightman’s characters have a tendency to mutate, to lose body parts, and contain aliens within. But it’s all in a day’s work for the Missouri-born Wightman, who has a stand-in character say, ‘I grew up in Missouri, see, so weirdness doesn’t affect me like it does most normal people.’” —Asimov’s Science Fiction
