M. John Harrison. 2002. Light London: Gollancz. 320 pp.

A virtuoso hallucination on quantum mechanics in which a kind of literary version of the wave function collapses in multiple times and places, endlessly repeating with extaordinary baroque trills and embellishments. A hugely satisfying substitute for those who can never grasp the mathematics of quantum mechanics. Themes and variations; the characters are not real, instead they (and by implication, we) each are fragments of a theme varying across universes and times which are ultimately a single reality. Along the journey it seemed the task of bringing such a book to a conclusion would be beyond anyone, but no, a masterful ending.