Quick takes and capsule reviews from the dark suspense master himself, Ed Gorman!

Haffner Press’ THE WORLDS OF JACK WILLIAMSON is a massive, handsomely made book that is a centennial tribute to the writer Arthur C. Clarke put on a level with both Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein. The book is also a tribute to science fiction and fantasy as well, because by the time he passed away at age 98 in 2006, Williamson’s history was the field’s history.

He did everything from the Gernsbackian “scientifiction” of the 1930s to comic strips to juveniles to adult novels that set standards for decades to come. Here you’ll find one of his swashbuckling “Legion of Space” tales; “Afterlife,” an example of his more thoughtful and elegant work; and, my favorite, the short novel version of “Darker Than You Think,” a stunning dark fantasy later turned into the novel of the same name – one that’s as strange and compelling as it was back in the 1940s.

With essays on aspects of Williamson’s work, and appreciations by Fredrik Pohl and James Gunn, this book is a graduate course in the history of science fiction. And a great read as well.

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Five Star’s CRUCIFIXION RIVER is the first time Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini have collaborated on a Western. A powerful story of a confrontation at a stage station where passengers are holed up because of an impending storm, the short novel is told in brief segements by various travelers.

This has the deep emotional truth of a classic Ernest Haycox piece and yet is is enriched and improved by the superb talents of Muller and Pronzini. Revenge was never so chilling. And don’t just take my word for it: The short novel won the Spur for best Western story this year.

Several other stories ranging from traditional Westerns to appearances by Sharon McCone and the Nameless Detective fill out this fine collection that needs to be in every library, home and public alike.

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Juno Books’ HOUSE OF WHISPERS by Margaret Locke is more proof that the publisher has its own special take on supernatural and urban fantasy. This is a haunted-house whodunit that works on both counts: The special effects are creepy; the mystery’s a good one.

Locke can write. The prose is nimble; the people real. With all the same old, same old going on in mass-market supernatural fantasy these days, it’s refreshing to hear a new and different voice and to get caught up in wry tale ably told.  –Ed Gorman

Buy it at Amazon.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF MARCIA MULLER:
• THE EVER-RUNNING MAN by Marcia Muller

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF BILL PRONZINI:
• SNOWBOUND / GAMES by Bill Pronzini

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF JACK WILLIAMSON:
• THE STONEHENGE GATE by Jack Williamson