Customer Reviews

Five Star Science Fiction/Fantasy - Different Kinds of Dead and Other Tales

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This fourteen story suspense anthology from short story grandmaster Ed Gorman runs the gamut in terms of sub-genres to include Americana historical, western, science fiction, horror and of course contemporary. With one exception (written in 1968), the other thirteen contributions were published in an assortment of books or magazines so have never been contained within one compilation before. The tales are all well written and in spite of the relative size, each grips the audience who will not be able to guess what comes next. Because of the wide array of settings (past, present, and future), fans of a specialized genre will probably want to pass although those readers will miss out on a strong collection. Those readers who appreciate variety will especially enjoy Mr. Gorman's latest, but will ask the author-editor one question: when next?

Harriet Klausner

One of the best, "under the radar" writers this country has to
offer, gives us another gem of a collection, all over the place-
if you love to read, strap yourself in and enoy these choice nuggets before bedtime. Great to get these stories all in one
book.

Ed Gorman is the most underrated writer of the last 20 years.
Although admired by writers like Dean Koontz, Gorman's work is leagues apart from the formula and routine of ultra commercial stuff of King's clones.He is an extraordinarily prolific romancist but his best work can be found in the short story form.
Although Gorman is an american original his influences can be traced.
His deceptively simple style is a highly original blend of
Bradbury's poetry and nostalgia, Rod Serling's Twilight Zone humanism, King's local colour, the raw nihilistic energy of classic hardboiled writers like Dashiell Hammet and Mickey Spillaine and the "Gorman touch". His plots are tight but his real strenght resides in his masterful characterizations; Gorman's characters are common people "trying to strike a kind of weary bargain with the world", in his own words.
All Gorman's collections are uniformly excellent but I think that Moonchasers and Other Stories is the most eccletic and representative of his short works.The title novella is a little masterpiece of nostalgia, not unlike Bradbury's short works of 40`s and 50`s and King's novella The Body.
Ed Gorman is a master of the form and deserves a major audience.