The Barrens and Others

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding mixed genre short story collection
Review: Anyone who's read a word of F. Paul Wilson's has probably read everything they can get their hands on. THE BARRENS AND OTHERS should be no exception. This collection covers just a few years in the writer's life and stuns with each entry. A DAY IN THE LIFE is the consumate Repairman Jack story. FACES will thrill you more than the last dozen serial killer novels you've read. PELTS, both in story and play form, may make you gibber. Wilson has written many a short story in past several years not covered in this collection. Let's hope it's not too long before we're graced with another.

Rating:
Summary: THE BARRENS is not to be missed!
Review: Anyone who's read a word of F. Paul Wilson's has probably read everything they can get their hands on. THE BARRENS AND OTHERS should be no exception. This collection covers just a few years in the writer's life and stuns with each entry. A DAY IN THE LIFE is the consumate Repairman Jack story. FACES will thrill you more than the last dozen serial killer novels you've read. PELTS, both in story and play form, may make you gibber. Wilson has written many a short story in past several years not covered in this collection. Let's hope it's not too long before we're graced with another.

Rating:
Summary: Not A Dud In The Bunch!
Review: Author F. Paul Wilson made a fan out of me with his stunningly original novel The Keep, a tale of Nazis facing Lovecraftian horror in a Romanian castle. I became a fan of his Repairman Jack character in The Tomb, a sequel to The Keep, and that led me to The Barrens and Others, where Jack makes a belated return in the story A Day In The Life. It's rare to find a really good short story collection, and this is Wilson's second; The first was the amazing collection Soft and Others.

The stories here include:
Feelings, where a greedy Lawyer learns empathy the hard way.
Tenants, which finds an escaped killer hiding out with an old man
and his VERY unusual boarders.
Faces, a different spin on the serial killer tale, concerning a
hideously deformed girl who kills beautiful people in a
truly gruesome manner. (These three stories all take place
in the town of Monroe, and tie in with Wilson's Adversary
Cycle, which began in The Keep.)
A Day In The Life features the return of Repairman Jack, and will
be a real treat for Jack's legions of fans. No
supernatural stuff, just straightforward action/adventure.
The Tenth Toe, a humorous take on black magic in the old west,
starring Doc Holiday and featuring Wyatt Earp.
Slasher is a crackerjack revenge yarn with a jaw-dropper of an
ending.
Definitive Therapy features DC Comic's Batman villain The Joker.
No Batman, no action, just The Joker and his new
shrink exploring the depths of madness in Arkham Asylum.
Wilson delivers another killer twist at the end.
Topsy is a short tale of gluttony revolving around a morbidly
obese man hospitalized after a fall at home. Any EC
Comics fan will see the end coming, but it's a fun read
nonetheless.
Rockabilly features Dick Tracy and his coolest rogues gallery
member, Mumbles. "Kz maz, kpr!!" Loads of fun, as Mumbles
tries to become the next Elvis.
Bob Dylan, Troy Johnson, and the Speed Queen is the tale of a
time-traveller who goes back to the sixties to "create"
some classic rock tunes. Sci-fi isn't my cup of tea, but
Wilson did a good job of holding my interest here.
Pelts is Wilson's goriest tale, which is clearly an anti-fur
screed, but also works as grand-guignol. There's some real
stomach-churners in this story...
Wilson also includes the scripts for the aborted stage
adaptation of Pelts (Which would have been a sight to
see!) and Glim-Glim, an alien-invasion tale that was
produced for the TV series Monsters. Wilson prefaces each
story with a short introduction, and these alone are
worth the purchase price. My only quibble with the book is
that it didn't include some of his other Repairman Jack
short stories, such as The Last Rakosh, which are almost
impossible to find.

Rating:
Summary: The man is a genius!
Review: F. Paul Wilson had me hooked after The Keep, and I just recently acquire this book. He is so clever and versatile, and all the stories are great. Some are supernatural, some a creepy, some are just unsettling because of its plausability, and Wilson never leaves you a way out. You get hooked and you get rocked. This man is a genius and a short story master in the tradition of Lovecraft, King, and Matheson.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding mixed genre short story collection
Review: I have mixed feelings about this collection. On one hand, I want to applaud the design, commentary and stories Wilson has gathered in this volume. One might be tempted to use it to teach a course on writing. Wilson provides unique insight into the processes that gave birth to these tales, including even a play and teleplay. He also disperses throughout the introductions his personal experiences with the entertainment community. I think it's both insightful and fascinating. The caliber of work presented is a testament to Wilson's success as a "NY Times Best Selling Author." His selections cover a variety of genres, providing a vast supply of fuel for the reader's imagination. However, on the other hand does the average reader want all this extra material? True, they could skip that material, even the play and teleplay. Are they then getting their moneys worth? I believe they are. Fans of Wilson's Repairman Jack are sure to find THE BARRENS AND OTHERS a wickedly entertaining literary adventure. It is an exceptional collection of short prose that deserves a place on the shelf of both the leisure reader and aspiring/professional writer.