Edmund Blair Leighton Alain Chartier painting

Edmund Blair Leighton Alain Chartier paintingEdmund Blair Leighton Off paintingFrancois Boucher The Marquise de Pompadour painting
A mere kind of twist and a slipping bend, easier to do than to describe, takes her not to Denver but to Strupsirts, a picturesque region of waterspouts and volcanoes, or to Djeyo where she can stay for rwo nights in a small hotel with a balcony overlooking the amber Sea of Somue. This new discovery—changing planes— enables Sita to visit bizarre societies and cultures that sometimes mirror our own and sometimes open doors into the alien.

Illustrated by Eric Beddows, Le Guin's account of her travels is by turns funny, disturbing, and thought provoking.