Synopses & Reviews
Here are seven stories from a master of the art. Viktor Chemayev is the Philip Marlowe of Russian detectives, a sad-eyed, heavy drinking romantic who refuses to stay beat. In the title novella of this extraordinary collection, he goes head-to-head with an Irish assassin in the depths of a Moscow nightclub in an attempt to win back his true love, who has been sold to the Beelzebub-like king of the Moscow underworld.
Lucius Shepard is known for his dark, unpredictable vision, and in this assemblage of some of his best writing he takes us from Moscow to Africa; from the mountains of Iraq, where Specialist Charlie N. Wilson encounters a very different sort of enemy, to Central America, where a bloody-handed colonel meets his doom via lizards. In these seven tales Shepard's imagination spans the globe and, like an American Gabriel Garcia Marquez, refuses to be restricted by mere reality.
Review
"Shepard's mastery of technique, surrealism and sheer spectacle blazes forth, but beneath the razzle-dazzle lies nothing much." Kirkus Reviews
About the Author
Shepard has twice won the World Fantasy Award. He has won the Hugo, Nebula and Locus Awards for science fiction writing several times in addition to the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.