Modern Japanese are also depicted as corrupt and malevolent. A powerful anti-Japanese tirade introduced as an journey story. In this wild fantasy, the lavish use of nuclear weapons has caused distortions in the space-time continuum which bounce the characters from era to period. This impact is used primarily to create numerous incongruities after the manner of Aldiss’s postpsychedelic warfare novel Barefoot in the Head . The Danube, blocked by a bomb, creates a European inland sea. The subtitle is a pun referring both to the nature of the plot and to the fact that the characters burst into track at intervals.
Municipal Archives, City Clerk
A spouse’s sickness, the failure of the hunt, or a spoiled crop are all believed to be the work of witches-a witch could not even be aware of his or her powers, like the girl accused of causing her co-wife sickness merely by way of unfriendly ideas. A couple stands accused of adultery each deny the cost and conform to the chief’s suggestion they be tried by Benge, a ritual poison fed to a chicken-whether the rooster lives or dies determines their guilt. When the Benge trial shows that adultery was committed, the pair confesses.
