The nine eccentric, label-defying selections (three written with James P. Blaylock) in Powers's outstanding first story collection offer the same literary pleasures as this World Fantasy Award–winner's novels (Declare
, etc.). The eerily atmospheric "Pat Moore," in which numerous Pat Moores collide (some male, some female, some living, some ghosts), is far from your conventional ghost story. "Through and Through" is a brilliant study of a disillusioned priest and his penitents within the confessional. The reader hopes that Bernard Wilkins of "The Better Boy" can keep the worms away from his prize tomato plant, that he can preserve his beloved "inventor pants" and, finally, just stay alive. In "Night Moves," perhaps the volume's finest entry, memories and dreams pervade the hero's life, with a colorful subsidiary cast. These are subtle, suggestive tales for the connoisseur of imaginative fiction. Agent, Russ Galen. (Sept.)
