Dorman T. Shindler, "Des Moines Register" and "Dallas Morning News":

This new collection from one of the original purveyors of "cyberpunk" draws a distinct line between reality and fantasy. The first section ("This World") deals with men and women living on the lunatic fringe of society. The second half of the book ("That World") delves into the fantastic. Stories range from the crime noir of "Barbara," in which street punks roust a woman less stable than she looks; the middle-class angst of a writer's failing marriage in "What Would You Do For Love?"; and the surrealism of "Delia and the Dinner Party," in which a little girl gains the ability to "see" behind the emotional and sexual fronts that adults in her life construct. Switching from the street patois of gangbangers to the dull dinner conversation of the middle-aged, Shirley is deadly accurate in his portrayals of Americans in all walks of life. Black Butterflies is a tour-de-force collection highlighting his strengths as a story-teller and stylist without equal.

(fly back)