Rough Beasts and Other Mutations

This book contains the following: Foreward: Blinded by Science Notes Toward a Definition of Tom Monteleone (by John DeChancie) 1) Present Perfect 2) A Spell For Jonathan 3) A Creature of Accident 4) The Curandeiro 5) Camera Obscura 6) Just in the Niche of Time 7) Mister Magister 8) Mister Magister (play version) 9) The Dancer in the Darkness 10) Taking the Night Train 11) Group Phenomena 12) The Way of the Cross 13) The White Man 14) Off to See the Wizard 15) Please Stand By 16) Get it Out 17) Changing of the Guard (w/ Robert Wayne McCoy) 18) It's in the Bag 19) The Prisoner's Tale This book contains some powerful work by Monteleone, who is a writer in the ranks of Bradbury and King. Most of the stories here are from the seventies and early eighties, when the genre magazines were plentiful. The last few stories come from the nineties, and drift away from the science fiction themes Monteleone started out using. The later stories are just as powerful, though, as Monteleone does not rely on a genre to flesh out believable characters and dive into the complexities of the mind. Among the best stories are "Present Perfect", a humorous tale which mocks bad writing; "Just in the Niche of Time", a time travel tale that makes you wonder what truly makes a person happy; "Mister Magister", a Twilight Zone styled story that Monteleone later expanded into the novel "The Magnificent Gallery" (and it's funny that he doesn't mention the novel in his introduction to the story...); "Off to See the Wizard", which appears to be an addition and an epilogue of sorts to his City stories, collected as a novel in "The Time Swept City" (although Monteleone doesn't mention this in the introduction to this one either... why the refusal to plug his novels to people who may not already be familiar with them?); and "Please Stand By" and It's in the Bag", two stories that mock television and reality shows.

This nineteen story collection contains strong tales that will excite readers of the horror and speculative fiction genres. The tales are all fun and fans of Thomas F. Monteleone as well any one who appreciates dark short thrillers will enjoy the collection.Perhaps as fascinating to fans of the writer is observing the evolution of the author from fantasy/science fiction into horror writer, with the why explained in the introduction to this tome. The nine stories from the mid to late 1970s and the two from the 1980s timeframe fit more within the dark science fiction or fantasy genres. The eight contributions from the 1990s correspond more to the horror genre, still dark of course. Regardless of genre match, ROUGHLY BEASTS AND OTHER MUTATIONS is a solid subway ride on the dark side.Harriet Klausner

Monteleone is a master of the short story. I love his variety of styles and great vocabulary. He is obviously very well-read and intelligent because there are so many cultiral, literary and historical references in his work. I will read ANYTHING I can find by this writer.