Other Sides

Ironic twists and creeping dread are the common thread in this wide-ranging if somewhat uneven collection of weird fiction from Strantzas (Only the Living Are Lost). The 13 stories cover many contemporary sources of existential dread, seeking the strange and supernatural in everyday terrors. The most successful find unique ways to upend readers’ expectations by slowly building to horrific surprises, such as a deadly encounter with a botanist coven in “Witches Clutch” and a hotel literally made of nightmares in “The Somnambulists.” Other stories, including “The Nineteenth Step” and “Stemming the Tide,” are marred by underbaked plotting as they hurtle toward their unearned final twists, sacrificing character and story development in favor of unsettling imagery. Readers who come for quick scares will be gratified, but the tales that attempt to explore deeper issues like grief (“The Needle Song”) and trauma (“Not the Same Place”) don’t land the emotional punch Strantzas is aiming for due to clunky exposition. The result is a volume full of smart ideas and spooky settings that falls short of its lofty ambitions. (June)