Beast of the Heartland and other stories - Softcover

Shepard, Lucius

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1568581262 ISBN 13: 9781568581262

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 1999

Synopsis

"Brings to mind the best work of Graham Greene, Robert Stone, and Ward Just."--Wall Street Journal

The fiction of Lucius Shepard has more to do with Joseph Conrad than Isaac Asimov. Fascinated by deception and decay, and generally labeled a cyberpunk writer, his work transcends the limits of genre fiction. Beast of the Heartland contains seven tales that explore the dark side where science fiction meets horror. Headed by the award-winning "Barnacle Bill the Spacer," a story of high-space mutiny, the book includes "A Little Night Music," a gothic tale of insanity; "All the Perfumes of Araby," where an adventurer in the Middle East links up with an ancient entity; "Human History," a postapocalyptic chiller; "Sports in America," a noir tale in the Chandler tradition; "The Sun Spider," a mini space opera; and the title story--an ingenious picture of a battered boxer on the decline.

About this title

Review:

If you're already familiar with Lucius Shepard, you won't need any encouragement to pick up Beast of the Heartland, a collection of short works that leads with the Hugo-winning novella "Barnacle Bill the Spacer." In addition to the Hugo, Shepard has bagged the Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Award (twice), and when he came into sci-fi and fantasy back in the '80s, he won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer. All this acclaim just confirms the obvious--Shepard is an artist of extraordinary skill. He draws from the forms of both sci-fi and horror, but he ultimately surpasses them with his dark, compact, literary style.

The seven stories in this collection are solid Shepard. "Barnacle Bill the Spacer" is in fine company with a few other real gems: "A Little Night Music," the creepy tale of a music reviewer writing up some jazz zombies; "All the Perfumes of Araby," a mystic, Middle Eastern opium trip; and "The Sun Spider," a dark take on classic SF. The collection is rounded out by "Human History" and "Sports in America," but the best-of may have to go to the title piece, "Beast of the Heartland," a moving portrait of a boxer on the outs. --Paul Hughes

About the Author:

Lucius Shepard twice won the World Fantasy Award. He also 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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 1568581262
• ISBN 13: 9781568581262
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 300