Don't talk to strangers: the advice everyone hears and few heed. Now its menace has inspired acclaimed anthologist Michele Slung to seek a hauting variety of interpretations reminding us why we ignore this cousel at our peril. Intrigued as well by the slippery definition of "stranger," Slung has looked to such masters of lingering diconcertment as Patricia Highsmith, Ray Bradbury, Shirley Jackson, Mark Helprin, and Edith Wharton for memorable waking nightmares.