Creatures of the Night

Two of Gaiman’s short horror stories rendered in a classic literary mode get illustrated in stately fashion by Zulli. In “The Price,” a mysterious black cat takes up residence in a writer’s country home, and the writer’s attentions turn to solving the mysteries the cat poses. As a bystander to an outlandish but frightening event, the writer faces his own place in the universe as a plaything of the fantastic. In the second story, “The Daughter of Owls,” which has a period setting and feeling of a Grimm Brothers tale, a baby perceived by townspeople as evil is dealt with, but the real evil lurks within the folk who live there. The first story is as much a character study as anything else, while the second is an almost feminist revision of the cautionary ancient tales that have survived through generations and become sanitized. Zulli (Puma Blues) gives Gaiman’s words precise pacing and a strong gothic sense of foreboding, the defining characteristic of his ornate and evocative illustrations. (Nov.)