- Publisher : Belanger Books LLC
- Publication date : August 3, 2025
- Language : English
- Print length : 510 pages
- ISBN-10 : 3633644946
- ISBN-13 : 978-3633644940
- Author : Edward Bryant
- Edited by : Jean-Phillipe Gervais
On The Road To Cinnabar – The Complete Works of Edward Bryant Volume One is made up mostly of Bryant’s “Cinnabar” stories of a lone city somewhere in the distant future after most of the rest of civilization has disappeared. Surrounded by desert with only hints (a rusting elevated railway line) that anything outside of the city still exists. The residents of Cinnabar are nearly immortal and have progressed science to the point that it is almost magical. Time also operates differently with the center of the city moving forward in time more quickly than the outskirts.
Most of the stories in this book came from the 1970’s and 80’s and they do have a little bit of a dated feel, but they are still well worth the time to read. The individual Cinnabar stories seem a little disjointed and sometimes confusing, but as you read through the entire collection, it forms a more coherent narrative. Kind of like Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles, the separate stories come together to create a large whole.
The stories later in the volume are not from the Cinnabar Sequence. As unique stories, I enjoyed most of these better than any one of the earlier stories. Near the end of the book are several essays from Bryant about his good friend, Harlan Ellison. It was interesting to hear about their relationship, but each of these narratives cover much of the same ground. I know this is a “Complete Works,” but I felt it didn’t need all of these fairly repetitious accounts.
Edward Bryant was a talented, witty writer. His stories usually have a humorous bent and take a different sort of look at the world, and humanity… and sharks and dinosaurs and giant ants. There are a few slow spots, but overall I highly recommend this volume and plan to move on to volume two.
Matt Truxaw’s newest book is Monster, which released on 1/12/2026. This urban fantasy, horror, thriller will keep you turning the pages.
He is also the author of the hard science fiction thrillers: “Plastiphobia/Plastivore” and “Anthrophobia: A Teacher’s Tale”
You can find them all on Amazon in Paperback, Hardback, Kindle and/or free to read with Kindle Unlimited.
When you read any of them, he would really appreciate a review/rating on Amazon or your favorite book seller/book reader site.
More about Matt:
He was born in Orange County California many years ago and he still lives there. He has been reading books for most of those years and writing up book reviews for the last few years. He gets MANY of his books out of the library/Libby so expect a lot of old science fiction classics book reviews and other science related reviews in addition to newer books he comes across.
If you want to be ‘in-the-loop’ on these and other works, you can follow his author’s page on Amazon or his Facebook page.
For more reviews and articles by Matt here on Amazing Stories (Click here).
Monster: A Novel by Matt Truxaw
