Geoff Ryman is - probably - my most favourite author, for various values of favourite (I have about ten values, so there are ten 'most favourite'). The Child Garden is one of those books I insist people read to the extent of buying them copies, and is also one of the maybe five books (Thinks: The Chymical Wedding, The Alexandria Quartet, Invisible Cities being three of them off the top of my head) that I would quote as having had a very immediate and cognate influence on the way that I choose to put words together. I am encouraged by the fact that you also think that Ryman is a great author. I haven't read the other books, but I'm going to make an effort to read them, now.