Mehitobel Wilson, Carpe Noctem #15:

This collection of stark, shockingly good work is a must, period. If you like prettiness, stay away. If you want genius, come kneel, take, read: this is mad beauty and staggering perceptiveness. Many of the stories herein are available in anthologies released over the past few years, but unless you're a rabid Shirley completist who has always been successful, you won't have read all of the fourteen reprints, and certainly not the two original stories. If you're new to Shirley, I'll sum him up for you as quickly as I can: he wrote the seminal cyberpunk novel, City Come a Walkin', for starters, and yeah, he's the guy who co-wrote The Crow screenplay with David Schow. If Dave Schow's fiction is a badass one-eyed punk assassin hyped on adrenaline and kicking shit in the street, Shirley's is (in this collection) the brooding sober elder punk on the porch, generally being the strong silent type but always verging on delivering a death blow without warning. Worship, but wear protective gear.

(fly back)