Roger Zelazny is a genial writer who sometimes manages to give old themes new twists to accomplish something bordering on the extraordinary. He does this in four instances in this collection of fifteen stories [The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth]—"Devil Car" in which the autos are self-mobile; "The Mortal Mountain" a long climb to the highest mountain in the near universe and well worth the struggle; "A Museum Piece" in which failed artists and cynical critics become living sculptures; and the best, "The Great Slow Kings," a truly funny piece that deals with dragons trying to discuss their contemporary problems over a span of centuries while the world moves on. Not all stars but O.K.

"Fiction: 'The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth and Other Stories'," in Kirkus Reviews (copyright © 1971 The Kirkus Service, Inc.), Vol. XXXIX, No. 8, April 15, 1971, p...