Mosiman takes good, if not all that original, ideas and wraps them in her own cocoons. Her stories move right along and are easy to read, but as a stylist--she isn't a stylist at all. Though clearly she thinks she is. Individual reviews of these four, rather consistent, stories follow.

Dark Reality - A man finds that reality just won't stop changing. Reminiscent of a lot of stories about finding things inexplicably changed in your hometown, and you're the only one who notices, but Mosiman adds a family element that turns this into a pretty effective horror story. (***)

McMurdo Sound - Madness in Antarctica. The setting is novel and the use of an old urban legend somewhat clever, but the story could use a little more atmosphere to provide more pleasure than just the plot basics are able to give it. (** 1/2)

Sparkle - A bad guy picks the wrong bed and breakfast to stop at on the way to his girlfriends' parents house for Christmas. Mosiman has a habit of writing sentences like, "Dark was coming on like a stealthy black cat creeping around a corner of the world." Hmm. Or, "This was a place where imagination could not perform to make comparisons to anything earthly and reality was warped beyond thought." Okay. And, "An iron bar went across his midsection and, thusly, he was held fast." Thusly? Despite this nonsense and some of the most overwritten passages I have ever had the--the--the--uh--uh--some of the most overwritten passages I have ever read, the premise of the story is still pretty satisfying and there is some enjoyment here. But it would be better at half the length and leaving just a little for the reader's imagination. (** 1/2)

Interview with a Psycho - An old man in a small Alabama town decides to confess a few things to a young woman collecting oral histories. This is the most effective, darkest story, most believable story in the book, and Mosiman's tendency to over-describe things is held somewhat in check, making for a much more memorable tale. (***) ( )