Chronopolis
This collection of stories from Ballard's early years displays him in full command of his considerable literary gifts. Ballard excels in the short form and this book contains some of his very best; most notably, The Drowned Giant and The Garden of Time. His vivid, visual and original imagination are coupled with a jade cool narrative style, resulting in a uniquely strange body of work. Chronopolis and Other Stories contains none of the excesses for which Ballard has been damned and praised, just sixteen fine short stories; two or three of which are among the best you'll ever read.