John Shirley, Living Shadows

Living Shadows

John Shirley

Prime, May 2007, $14.95

ISBN: 080955786X

The introduction to this fine collection, "The Author Gnaws his Knuckles: A Brief Foreword" describes the essence of this anthology quite succinctly. There are two sections with the first "A Few Blocks Down, Around the Corner" filled with suspense but contain no fantasy elements; the second "Through a Laser Scanner Darkly" crosses the paranormal or surreal realm. The twelve tales that make up section one are filled with suspense, mostly psychological, with a wide range of subjects including love hurts and Mr. Shirley's version of War and Peace (don't panic, this is a short story collection). The contributions range from the 1980s to new releases. These are all solid, suspense-filled thrillers that start off seemingly as normal life that spins into walks on the darkest of mean streets. The second segment of eight tales also range from 1980s to new releases, but have a supernatural twist to them. This reader especially enjoyed "Blind Eye" (though I read it recently in the Poe's Lighthouse anthology) co-authored with Edgar Allen Poe. Fans of John Shirley will surely know how good he has been and still is with this twenty short stories collection.

Harriet Klausner