Máscara (N.Ed.): Maska

Exquisitely refined, profound, and original, the stories collected in *The Mask* reveal Lem at the height of his powers. He is a writer of the highest order -- a cult figure worthy of a place in the pantheon of modern literature, transcending genres and labels. *Mask* brings together thirteen stories by the Polish science fiction master Stanislaw Lem, recovered for the *Los Aerolitos* collection. Written over the course of a lifetime and never before anthologized, these tales showcase Lem at his best: radical, visionary, irreverent, and fiercely intelligent -- the Lem of *Solaris* and *A Perfect Vacuum*. The volume offers immense diversity: from the humorous, grotesque alien-invasion parody "The Invasion from Aldebaran," through the feverish delirium of "The Rat in the Labyrinth" and the dark nightmare of "Mold and Darkness," to the collection's centerpiece -- the complex, philosophical title story "The Mask," which tells of an artificial intelligence seeking to escape its destiny and exercise its free will.