The Future Is Ours

Ed Hoch, edited by Steve Steinbock. Wildside, $14.95 trade paper (238p) ISBN 978-1-4794-0730-9

Billed as 29 tales of the fantastic, this eclectic collection will surprise readers who know Hoch (1930%E2%80%932008) only from his hundreds of short mysteries. Hoch holds the record of appearing in every issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine for an astonishing span of 34 years. Steinbock, with the cooperation of Hoch's widow, pored through Hoch's personal archive to ferret out stories from such often overlooked sources as Fantastic Universe, Weird Worlds, Original Science Fiction Stories, The Magazine of Horror, and even Real Western Stories. The selections range in tone from the playful "Zoo" to the dark and suspenseful "Dracula 1944." The latter story examines the work of a vampire in a Nazi concentration camp during WWII. Not every story is a winner, but the percentage is high, and any fan or collector of Hoch material will find a treasure trove in this welcome compilation. (Dec.)

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