Saturday, March 21, 2009

Aftershocks and Others: 19 Oddities-F. Paul Wilson

Aftershocks and Others: 19 Oddities
F. Paul Wilson
Forge, Mar 31 2009, $25.95
ISBN: 9780765312778

As the Contents and the subsequent “The Secret History of the World” shows there are two ways to catalogue AFTER SHOCKS AND OTHERS: 19 ODDITIES. First the Contents uses the standard to break down the entries by the year they were published with the earliest in 1990 and the latest in 2005. The Secret History uses the F. Paul; Wilson's classification system, which separates the tales by “The Past”, three distinct years before Year Zero, and of course “Year Zero” the “end of civilization as we know it”. The compilation is terrific with Repairman jack having an "Interlude at Duane's" where he deals his style (mindful of MacGyver) with a robbery. “Aftershock” is a Bram Stoker Award winner; yet, all the entries are super due to the key characters even in short form feeling developed to the point of understanding them as each deals with twisting plots. Fans will enjoy tales like “Offshore” in which Mr. Wilson extrapolates a segment of our current health system to a rationing of medical services in which money buys health and Frankenstein’s "Dreams" as he remembers his pre-monster life and personality. This is another winner as this great author displays his skills in short form with this super compilation.

Harriet Klausner

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