(pb;
1969: story anthology)
Overall review
Night Monsters is a standout
tale collection. Its stories are presented in an intuitive, theme-linked and
-progressive flow, the key elements of each story passed on─in altered form─to
the next story. Three of the four pieces are excellent, one of them good (it’s
chatty). Worth owning, this.
Stories
“The
Black Gondolier”: In Los Angeles, CA, a man recounts his friendship
with a conspiracy theorist (Daloway), who lives in mortal fear of oil─which may
possess a malevolent awareness. Creepy, atmospheric, entertaining, quirky and overly
chatty work.
“Midnight
in the Mirror World”: A man (Giles Nefandor) sees weird, multiple
figure reflections in his late-night mirror─is he being stalked? And if so, by
whom or what?
As
with his other works (e.g., Our Lady of Darkness, 1977), Leiber─in “Midnight”─abstract,
odd notions of unease palpable and believable. Excellent piece, one
of my favorite Leiber works thus far.
“I’m
Looking for Jeff”: A mysterious Veronica Lake look-alike─invisible to
some people─regularly visits Tomtoms, a bar, looking for Jeff. Clever, fun and
superb tale, would make a great Twilight Zone episode.
“The
Casket-Demon”: A notorious film star (Vividy Sheer) is repeatedly─and
by necessity, if she is to continue living─attacked by a demon, whose purpose
is to hunt and eventually kill those in her family.
“Casket-Demon”
is a unique, sly and full-of-twists story, one of the best stories I’ve read a
long time.
#
Night
Monsters was packaged as a reverse-bound “Ace Double” novel,
which means that if readers flip the book over and upside down, there was
another science fiction novel. Often, it was penned by another author. In this
case, it is Fritz Leiber’s The Green Millennium.
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