He's one of my favorite authors, though he hasn't really been mentioned in this blog yet, probably because this is his first new book of 2005.

This is a collection of stories, and it really reminded me quite strongly of Jeff Vandermeer's work. That's probably because I've only read Vandermeer's stories, and they're mostly just weird little mind-bending combinations of fantasy, sci-fi, and horror. Mieville's stories definitely tend towards the horrific (and just plain gross), and many of them are quite chilling.

I really enjoyed "Jack", about Jack Half-a-Prayer, the robber-hero mentioned (but deceased, apparently) in Mieville's Perdido Street Station (and also Iron Council, I think). I also liked "The Tain", which won the Locus Award for Best Novella recently.

Mieville is often cited as the best example of the "New Weird" "movement" in modern SF/F, and if you haven't read his work before these stories might be a good place to start, as it gives you a good idea of his style, but they're more easily digested than his long novels.