Published Works

Star Well

First Published October 1968

A small airless planetoid set deep in the heart of the Flammarion Rift. Due to its location, it is a minor hub of commerce within the Sashuite Empire, and though it is equipped with elegant dining rooms and casinos, luxury suites and expensive shops, Wu and Fabricant’s GUIDEBOOK claims that Star Well is a dull place to visit and that travellers should avoid layovers if they can.

But Wu and Fabricant had not been shown the secret basements, nor told the nature of the things stored there–if they had been, they might still have advised against layovers, but not because Star Well was dull.

When our hero Anthony Villiers and his Troggish friend Torve arrive on the scene, it soon becomes evident that the truth must out: that Star Well has reached the end of an era…

Masque World

First Published September 1969

YOU ARE INVITED to a ball given by Lord Semichastny at his estate on Delbalso

BE PREPARED FOR:

The Great Trog Chase, a marvel of bureaucratic befuddlement compounded by the appearance of an impostor rivaling Torve himself for Troggish charm, though not unpredictability;

The wonders of Peelgrunt at Xenokis Centre (the only place on Delbalso even mentioned by Wu and Fabricant);

A family of bourgeois con-artists keeping up appearances as interstellar rug salesmen;

The first intimations of the Universal Pantograph;

The Last Christion;

And the Monist Association’s Xochitl Sodality Night (who says middle-aged men are too old for green hars with feathers?), culminating in a citywide game of Wonders and Marvels well worth donning a mask to attend!

SF in Dimension

First Published December 1976

Twenty-two essays are gathered here, including second and third thoughts about Robert Heinlein’s stories.  These reconsiderations, reviews and speculations by Cory and me show the development of a new view of the nature of SF.  Ian Watson said, “The strong suit of this book is its urgent, but never dumbly optimistic, sense of what might be possible, what imaginative span SF might be able to encompass in the future.”

Transmutations

First Published September 1982

This collection of all my most left-handed pieces of writing was my belated way of addressing a friend who didn’t manage to survive the minefield of life in the late Twentieth Century. Like an elephant in the dark, it’s more than just a bunch of parts.

Following My Nose

First Published March 2025

Following My Nose is Alexei’s final work: a very personal journey into literary analysis and his own reflections. It discusses Alexei’s own journey, as well as works that influenced his own writing and on science fiction in general. Authors like A.E. van Vogt, Charles Dodgson (Lewis Caroll) and others have shaped both the genre as well as Alexei’s own art.

This work also discusses a broader critique of the genre and its impact on literature and culture, drawing heavily from his outstanding, Hugo-winning book, The World Beyond the Hill. It is what it says.