Rule Dementia!

The six stories in English writer Crisp's (Blue on Blue) collection%E2%80%94which was first published in slightly different form in 2005%E2%80%94alternate between the comically absurd and the eerily unsettling. In "Jellyfish Joe," the survivor of a suicide cult starts a new religion that venerates a jellyfish as its godhead, which makes surprising sense within the context of its dogma. In "The Tao of Petite Beige," a student of Eastern philosophy is unnerved to discovered that, through celibacy, he has diverted his "essence" into a vivid erotic fantasy brought mystically into being. "The Haunted Bicycle" begins comically but turns gradually menacing as the main characters become aware of a darker dimension impinging on our own; similar notes are sounded in the grimmer tale "Zugzwang." Crisp narrates all of these stories in the first person, and the digressive and discursive thoughts of his main characters color the events that unfold with their neurotic or decaying minds. His stories will appeal to readers who like fantasies the teeter on the border between pleasant and discomfiting. (Oct.)