Author John Crowley has been praised by critics for his thoughtful, finely wrought works of science fiction and fantasy, which include the novels The Deep, Little, Big, Ægypt, Love and Sleep, and Damonomania. A successful television writer who has never pandered to popular tastes, Crowley infuses his genre writings with literary quality and "mind-catching philosophical musings," according to a Publishers Weekly reviewer of Damonomania. Suzanne Keen reported in Commonweal that Crowley's characters "are psychologically convincing, an accomplishment that makes the historical and fantastic elements of his [novel Love and Sleep] all the more thrilling." Whether his work visits far-off planets or local neighborhoods, some critics have suggested, Crowley always challenges the accepted perceptions of things and offers multi-layered mysteries for his characters--and his readers--to explore. As a Kirkus Reviews contributor explained it in a review of Damonomania, "Crowley's work is a taste well worth acquiring, but you...