Synopsis
Count and Countess Axel delay the arrival of an angry horde by breaking flowers from the garden of time, setting time back a while each time. But the garden is dying.
History
First publication: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February 1962
Review
This is very much a fantasy. I can see other writers making a whole fantasy world out of this. But Ballard only writes what is necessary, making a point about entropy and possibly about the simple mobs of modern humanity destroying the class and culture of our world. He does this in a very poetic and surreal manner. Recommended.
Videos
We have the story in these editions:
Billennium, paperback, Berkley, 1962-00-00
Chronopolis and Other Stories, hardcover, G. Putnam’s Sons, 1971-09-00
The Complete Short Stories, hardcover, Flamingo, 2001-11-00
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February 1962, edited by Robert P. Mills, magazine, Mercury Press, 1962-02-00
