S̶e̶a̶n̶’s Reviews > The Complete Short Stories: Volume 2 > Status Update

At Pinewood Studios an arsonist has partially destroyed the sets for the $100 million budget science-fiction films The Revenge of R2D2 and C3PO Meets E.T..

But was he on the wrong track, like the whole of the medical profession? The ECT treatments and sensory deprivation, the partial lobotomies and hallucinatory drugs all seemed to miss the point. It was always best to take the mad on their own terms.

The fugues came so swiftly, time poured in a torrent from the cracked glass of their lives.

As we enter the 1970s, Ballard cranks up his transgressive proclivities. 'The 60 Minute Zoom' is a fine example.

Subjects were required to construct the optimum auto-disaster victim by placing a replica of Reagan's head on the unretouched photographs of crash fatalities. In 82 percent of cases massive rear-end collisions were selected with a preference for expressed faecal matter and rectal haemorrhages.

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