I flew through this collection in a couple of days, but I didn't really love it. It was more like eating a bag of chips.

Massie is capable of writing disturbing, powerful and moving stories, but many of these felt low-brow and comic-bookish. Here are some of the standouts:

"Stephen": A social worker forges a relationship with one of the more unusual patients in a youth rehabilitation center.

"In the Cow Pasture": Two sisters and a friend decide to dig a hole through to hell in their backyard.

"Brazo de Dios": A missionary finds her faith tested when she is abducted by a group of militants in South America.

"Products of the Past": New kids on the block learn that certain houses are best avoided.

"The Fear Report": A college student uses an unwitting and superstitious family as the subject of her study.

"Hot Orgy of the Caged Virgins": A tale of sexual experimentation among a group of backwoods teens.

"Fixtures of Matchstick Men and Joo:" At the height of the Vietnam War, a man and a teenaged girl gradually discover the sinister truth about the commune at which they've sought refuge.

The other stories run from "okay" to...not so okay, but the good thing is that they are all quick reads. This volume contains about twice as many stories as Massie's earlier collection, [b:Shadow Dreams|685592|Shadow Dreams|Elizabeth Massie|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1177180879s/685592.jpg|671965], but it isn't nearly as strong overall. I suggest seeking that one out first.

On a side note, this edition (like many small press books) is absolutely littered with typographical and formatting errors. Line breaks and punctuation occur (or don't occur) randomly, a character's name changes in the middle of a story and then back again, "Blessed Sleep" is mistitled "Blessed Sheep" and there are even a couple editor's notations left in the text. I don't understand why I can buy a cheap mass-market paperback that is flawless and pay $40 for a collector's edition that has a nice signature page but looks like it was typeset by a drunken monkey on drugs. ( )