Great read. Some of his shorter one off stories are fantastic. Amber, he just got lazy and left far too many loose ends, started hares, got lost playing d&d with the reader. And then sold the franchise to John Bettancourt which is a de facto admission of defeat.

But he definitely could, and did write amazing lyrical stuff when he chose to.

I think he wanted to write a Hemingway fishing story set in space and he kind of managed it (the doors of his face the lamps of his mouth) and he references poetry a lot which matches his original desires in writing.