'Here are the annals of Montarnis from the Dark Ages to the present, told as a series of short stories, with that form's characteristic twist -- novel, ironic, or terrifying -- at the end. Their style is decadent, both in their careful observation of literary artifice and the expression of a strange private sensibility.' -- Thomas Pyne, The Los Angeles Times

Virgil Burnett is an author-illustrator whose work has been widely published on this continent and in Europe. His recent projects include illustrations for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (The Folio Society: London, England) and work on a third novel. He was a member of the Fine Arts faculty of the University of Waterloo, and now spends part of each year working and travelling abroad. Other illustrated fictions by Burnett include Skiamachia and Towers at the Edge of a World.

Virgil Burnett's profile page

'... fifteen loosely interwoven tales centred on the ancient, walled town of Montarnis ... the stuff of which legends are made, simple human action embellished and distorted by passion and despair.'

Quill & Quire

'But the reader should beware ... Burnett has breathed life into his village of Montarnis, but poison runs in its veins; it is beautiful but pestilent.'

The South Bend Tribune

'Towers at the Edge of a World is a perverse mad dream of rebirth and renewal by a remarkably sensitive artist.'

Maclean's

'...it has something to say about husbands, wives, humour, places, and the various colours of sexuality.'

The New York Times