Heatseeker

John Shirley has several short storiy collections. This is his first, and one of my favorite collections by any author. To call these stories "Splatterpunk" is a bit of a misnomer. The stories are often brutal, but not in the masturbatorial, silly way many authors are limited to. Heatseeker has science fiction, horror, cyberpunk, genre-bending oddities like a Quill Tripstickler story... it is truly a great sampling of the styles and substance of John Shirley's work. Gritty, smart, and sharp enough to cut a lasting place as a favorite of everyone I knoow that has read it.

Perfect starting point for those looking for where splatterpunk got its attitude. A dozen stories, polished like diamonds, cutting through the bull like a laser through warm butter. Like Hemingway on crank, Fitzgerald on bad acid, Shirley's heroes learn to kill with all the moronic glee of a gangster trying out his first machine gun