This book was a disappointment. Despite a couple of high points Chapelle came across as a poor man's [a:Ray Bradbury|1630|Ray Bradbury|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1445955959p2/1630.jpg]. The [a:Carl Linnaeus|660225|Carl Linnaeus|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1398435775p2/660225.jpg] story was outstanding, "Bacarole" and "The Snow that is Nothing in the Triangle" were excellent as well.

"Duet" would have gone from primarily maudlin to profound if Chapelle had just gone the extra mile and made the relationship a more explicitly homosexual one. I think he was trying to be enigmatic about the relationship, or maybe I'm just reading more into it and it was truly intended to be just maudlin. As it is he plays it safe.

I didn't like "Weird Tales" and more particularly "The Adder" but I have a personal bias against this sort of Lovecraftian fiction.

I absolutely hated "Alma." I know what Chapelle was trying to do but it still made me cringe. I felt similarly but to a lesser extent about "Ladies from Lapland." Chapelle just couldn't resist the pun. "After Revelation" was particularly weak as well, not horrible, just uninspired.

The rest were good but not great; the sort of thing that would fit in well in a Twilight Zone episode. Chapelle is somewhat like [a:Charles Beaumont|246684|Charles Beaumont|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1306872680p2/246684.jpg] in that he is largely a "What if?" sort of story teller. "What if the Necronomicon were real?" That sort of thing.

Overall the stories were clever but forgettable and Chapelle's prose isn't as inspired as Bradbury's. ( )