As a reader a generation behind I've bemoaned the huge huge list of all the authors I haven't caught up on yet (Moorcock, Vance, Ellison, Bradbury, ...); this essay definitely convinces me to go back and read several of Carter's books and stories. VanderMeer's enthusiasm for Carter's fictions is well balanced by honest criticism of the faults in her earlier work, and this is a very welcome level of detail for her work in one sitting.