This is an extremely powerful and moving collection of short stories by Ed Gorman. Almost every single story incredibly well written and developed. If you ever have any doubts about Gorman or his writing, then just read this collection and your doubts will be left behind. As Bentley Little points out in his introduction, there is no theme for the collection but is instead a recurring motif: "beautiful young women who offer redemption to lost souls; emotionally barren middle-aged men bereft of their families." And as you read the stories, you will find those ideas repeating often. Gorman does a great job in making you feel for each character and experience the same sorrow that they are. Whatever you do, do not miss this collection. And while I found it near impossible to just copy the table of contents for my favorite stories, I did narrow my choices to the following.

"Yesterday's Dreams" - A retired cop helps someone in the neighborhood

"Dark Muse" - A lounge singer comes in to some talent

"Junior" - A son and his mother live high on the hog due to his father

"To Fit The Crime" - Fate can not be avoided

"Survival" - A futuristic story about doing what's best for society versus being humane ( )

Just got a great condition used paperback of this in the mail today from Amazon. I really enjoyed the couple of Ed Gorman shorts I've read so far, immense anticipation for this one!

* Update *

On the third story, and my hopes for great things are diminishing fast.

The first story is a 60-plus page novella about a blind girl with healing powers that goes absolutely nowhere. Strike one.

The second story starts with a lonely salesman driving at night in the midwest when he encounters a beautiful woman hitchhiking in the middle of nowhere. He picks her up. The radio says a man was murdered. She did it. And she's a ghost. He drops her off at the graveyard. The end. Seriously.

The third story starts with a lonely salesman driving in the day in the midwest when he encounters a beautiful woman hitchhiking in the middle of nowhere...

God damn it!

The writing is great, but these stories are seriously lacking so far in just about every other department. I'm going to keep reading on, but with lowered expectations.

* Update *

Whew. At the least the hitchiker in the third story wasn't a ghost. Another well written story, but completely predictable. More hard-boiled thriller than horror.

And I bravely soldier on...

The fourth story, RITE OF PASSAGE, is a Conan/Robert E. Howard-type sword and sworcery morality tale. Nicely written but not much else.

Fifth story, Masque, is less of a story and just a few pages of vignette...could be part of an interesting story, but it's not.

Sixth story, Dark Muse, is actually pretty good. More atmospheric noir than horror, it resonated with me. Good, not great.

* Update *

Finally, two very enjoyable stories back-to-back.

SYNANDRA is a futuristic time-travelling tales, and a quote from Philip K. Dick at the beginning couldn't make it any clearer as to it's source of inspiration. Not a lot happens, but it does have an intriguing mythos described and is an overall good read. Leaves you wanting more.

That's followed up by a 1800's western-ish tale, JUNIOR, that's a hell of a lot of fun. Was nice to read a short set in a similar timeframe as the last thing I wrote (ARBOREATUM) and see what someone else did with it. A wicked good revenge short.