Once again an Arkham House collection from Jim Turner's tenure (1996 this time) that is just outstanding by an author that I had never heard of before. He seems to be better known in the UK. The stories have a feel of an edgier Ray Bradbury. They run the gamut from straight fiction to science fiction to fantasy. In each case there is just enough genre to drive the author's ideas, meaning there might be a lot of scifi/fantasy, or in some cases, none at all. The theme of loneliness and lack of human connection is used over and over again.

Imagine using the hyper-old, all appliances and prosthesis, to talk about the issues of seniors. There is a story about Northern Ireland and another really disturbing story called Grownups where fat "Uncles" are needed during copulation for procreation (the hermaphroditic Uncles actually carry the baby to Cesarean-section birth). ( )

http://www.sfreader.com/read_review.asp?ID=103 ( )