AVENTINE

Published in 1982, this is the Del Rey Books paperback edition of Aventine (© Lee Killough/Del Rey Books – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only).

Originally published in 1981 in hardback, Aventine is a collection of short stories written by American sci fi/fantasy author Lee Killough (b. 1942) that are all set in the sumptuous, hedonistic resort whose name is the present book's title. Located on a faraway planet, this outwardly idyllic, peaceful community is home to all manner of talented artists, gifted musicians, skilful inventors, celebrated actors, super-wealthy magnates, and other rarefied sophisticates. But just as Eden contained the serpent, so too does Aventine contain intrinsic, inherent evil, and madness. Here is this book's official blurb:

Aventine – A haven for the rich, the powerful, the famous…and the deadly.

Aventine – A resort for the superrich and the supersophisticated on a bucolic planet at the crossroads of the civilized galaxy, where lifestyle and living quarters are limited only by imagination; where furniture changes shape and color to match the owner's mood; where the statuary moves and the stones sing; where split personalities live without pressure to become normal…

Aventine – Where beautiful women and twisted artists can get away with murder.

Aventine is one of the most engrossing theme-sharing collections of short stories that I have ever read. Like so many of my classic science fiction and fantasy novels, short story collections, and anthologies, I purchased it during my university student years during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and have read it many times since then.

Formerly working full-time as a veterinary radiographer before retiring in 2000 and concentrating thereafter upon her successful writing career, Lee Killough is also known for her vampire-themed Bloodwalk trilogy, her Brill and Maxwell trilogy, and a number of other novels.