I've said many times before that Dan Simmons is one of my favorite writers, partly because he hops genres with ease, but mainly because he writes highly descriptive but never obfuscated prose, and because his ideas are usually quite fresh.

Summer Sketches is autobiography. In it, Simmons writes about the places he traveled to during Summer vacation (while he was a teacher), the notebooks he kept, and how the experiences of visiting various places had an impact on the settings and atmospheres of several of his stories and novels. The book is filled with reproductions of his notebooks, including wonderful hand-drawn sketches of various settings and people, as well as long-hand notes. These reproductions are accompanied by extensive anecdotes and relevant excerpts from Simmons' fiction. It's a rare and wonderful insight into the craft of writing, and it should give hope to writers with day jobs.

If you are a writer or a Simmons fan and I've piqued your interest, I must now apologize. You are going to have a hard time finding a copy of this book at a fair price. I believe there were only five thousand copies printed, most of which were signed by the author. I got mine through an Amazon partner for about $35, but there aren't a lot of copies available at prices that low (many resellers are looking to get over $100). It's a slim volume, but for me it was well worth the price.