Reminiscent of the best of Frederic Brown, Anthony Boucher, and Jonathan Carroll, Serbian writer Zoran Zivkovic’s latest book Steps Through the Mists (Atelier Polaris, 2003) traverses the unpredictable worlds of Fate. Five women of various ages, occupations, and mental states encounter their unique futures: a school girl journeys in others’ dreams; a woman in a straightjacket not only sees the future, but determines it as well; a middle-aged skier encounters a mysterious being who attempts to control her; a fraudulent fortune-teller who mistrusts her own abilities; and an old lady whose precious alarm clock breaks. Through five short stories, Zivkovic weaves these disparate elements into a masterpiece that can’t be laid down.

Steps Through the Mist is littered with scenes that question what is real and what is not. The endings are almost all shockers, but of the good kind. The surprise that puts everything into context or of the type that you hope the writer would go through with if they had the balls or the vision. Zivkovic has both in spades. And the talent. His writing is deceptively simple and beautifully elegant all at the same time. His translator Alice Copple-Tosic is to be congratulated. A poor translation often destroys an otherwise good book. Zivkovic has used Copple-Tosic on most of his English translated works with good reason, as evident with Steps Through the Mist which reads like it was originally written in English. The prose is flawless.

Zivkovic brings us into the minds of the women. We become familiar with each one’s fears, hopes, and neuroses. As each made her way through the mists to the future, I empathized with her plight. Their confusion, trepidation, and concerns became my own.

My complaints about this book are mainly cosmetic and most of them rise out of my experience as a bookseller and publisher. Though nicely packaged with good cover stock and quality paper, there is nothing on the outside of the book to tell you about it. On the cover is an attractive painting with the author and title. The back cover is black with a small moon and the publisher’s logo. If this book hadn’t been sent to me and if I weren’t already familiar with Zoran Zivkovic, I would have never picked this up, never mind read it. Sadly, these problems (along with the current lack of distribution) will most likely prevent Steps Through the Mist from getting the audience it deserves.

With this book, Zoran Zivkovic demonstrates why he is one of the great, although unheralded, masters of the contemporary fantasy. Steps Through the Mist is a must have for people who like their fiction a little surreal and a lot off center.

(This review originally appeared on RevolutionSF.)
Link: [http://www.revolutionsf.com/article.html?id=1798] ( )

I needed a book from the bottom shelf for my libraries winter reading club and I chose this one at random based solely on its cover. I didn't read what it was about, or who the author was, I barely even paid attention to the title until after I had finished reading it and I'm glad I did it this way.
I normally don't review the physical quality of a fiction book but in this case it was part of the overall appeal to me.
The cover is black on black with silver writing and the texture of half is softer, almost leathery with a black lamppost overlaid on it. The edges of the book are printed in black and inside on each page is the author’s signature in the spine so you see parts of it peeking out as you read.
The stories were fairly short with a common thread running through them, but each stood alone and had its own meaning. They are evocative, disquieting without being disturbing and thought provoking without being obvious, each one was just a subtle little gem that challenges how you see things. I am hoping this author has more works translated into English so I can read more by him. ( )