Limbus, Inc.

This shared-world anthology about a mysterious metaphysical employment agency is uneven in execution but pleasingly consistent in tone. Benjamin Kane Ethridge’s “The Slaughter Man” is an old-school science fiction power fantasy about a slaughterhouse worker. In Brett J. Talley’s “The Sacrifice,” an ex-soldier sees a Lovecraftian horror. Joseph Nassise’s “One Job Too Many” is a competent time travel adventure about another ex-soldier. Anne C. Petty’s “We Employ” is a story of aliens and shades of moral truths. Jonathan Maberry’s “Strip Search,” easily the best of the five though the least connected to Limbus, is an engaging paranormal noir that’s funny and horrific in equal measure. Though missteps keep the anthology from being truly top-notch, the execution and intriguing theme leave the reader wanting more. (Apr.)