Why did I buy this book? I am a middle-aged professor, comfortably situated, and needing neither to impress anyone, nor to make more money, nor to "take exams." But for me, it is a joy at any age to improve my mind.

This book is excellently designed for self-study.

The first part gives you a wide variety of standard techniques, explaining clearly the kind of memory task where each applies, e.g., sequential versus non-sequential. The second part allows you to practice and develop your new skills on 11 different academic subjects, which run the full gamut of humanities and sciences, such as might be encountered in high school or college.

One very effective feature: throughout both parts of the book, the author follows brief tutorial sections on the techniques--seldom longer than a page--with an exercise where you can solidify your grasp and get immediate feedback. I think when you see how well you are doing, you'll be strongly encouraged to continue. This is also an advantage over the well-known Memory Book by Lorayne and Lucas, which I once attempted to study; in that book, the chapters were fairly long, and at the end the authors might suggest you make up an exercise on your own to test the new technique. However, passing a test you made up yourself seems a little chintzy! Or maybe, my creativity was not up to the task. In any case, I gave up on that book after about 2 chapters, notwithstanding all the amusing anecdotes that fill it.

In the second half, I wanted to strengthen my grasp, so I did all the subjects outside my own strong area (physics, math). These are areas I normally have neither much interest nor aptitude, but the techniques came through with flying colors. Out of the 43 exercises I did, with 319 separate items of information, I missed only 10.5 items (and I graded myself conservatively). In other words, my score was 96.7% correct. Now I don't know how well I would have done w/o those techniques, but my memory is entirely mediocre--I am one of those unfortunates who turns the page on a book and sometimes cannot remember what he just read--and it is very doubtful that my usual "brute force" techniques, applied over a similar study time, would have netted me a retention score above 33-50%.

At first glance, techniques of memory play a role somewhat similar to that of glasses on a near-sighted person: they do not enhance his natural biologic capacity, but they give him "workarounds" using other factors at his disposal, in particular, visual and verbal associations built up with help of his own creativity. I was surprised and delighted, as I worked through the exercises, to discover in myself an ability to make creative mental associations I never knew I had. So in this sense, it seems that the techniques did change my brain for the better. I imagine that the techniques, if used often, may become more and more second nature and eventually even "first nature."

I am so glad I found this book: unlike many a self-help book, it did live up to its promises. Dr. Browning, thank you for making available such a readable and well-structured guide!

I think this is a great book for Junior and Senior High Students that have trouble rememboring information for big tests, such as final exams.

This book throughly presents sustainable real estate development. It answers the basic questions of how, what, when, why and who with text and photos illustrating numerous case studies.

It is written for a wide and concerned audience, composed of real estate professionals, financiers and designers. This book is not technical. It is a conceptual book and guides the reader toward sustainable solutions.

This subject is very large and this book is necessarily a summary, which includes recent projects.

This book does not "preach to the choir". It addresses difficult obstacles to the sustainable development paradigm and provides workable solutions.

What are the social, legal, medical and psychological implications of the fact that marriage is good for you? This collection of essays seeks to answer that question.

The social sciences have make it quite clear that marriage confers a number of benefits on those who partake of it. Married people live longer, healthier and fuller lives than those who do not marry. How are the various professions, such as law, medicine and therapy, to respond to these facts?

A number of family experts, theologians, and social scientists here address these questions. The professions, they argue, have tended not to discuss such issues because marriage is often viewed as a strictly private and personal affair. But as we begin to understand the public nature of the institutions of marriage and family, the professions need to look more closely at some of the new findings concerning marriage.

For example, if marriage is indeed good for couples, good for children, and good for society, how should family law reconsider its role? What changes might business leaders make in the light of the new research? How should governments respond to the findings of the social sciences?

The 14 chapters in this book address these issues, and explore a number of related themes. The result is a new examination of marriage and its importance, especially in its social and public setting.

Several of the chapters alone are worth the price of the book. The chapter by David Popenoe and Barbara Dafoe Whitehead on "The Personal and Social Costs of Divorce" is a very fine summary of what the social sciences have been discovering over the past few decades. Their concluding remarks are worth repeating:

"It is clear that children are hurt by divorce, often seriously and much more than many adults seem to believe. And high rates of divorce create a social climate in which the kinds of intact families most likely to help children thrive are in ever shorter supply. Through its gradual corruption of a strong culture of marriage, childbearing, and child rearing, divorce may have negative consequences for society far greater than we now realize."

Equally important is the article, "The Health Benefits of Marriage" by Linda Waite. She provides a helpful overview of the available evidence which tells us that married people do indeed live longer, healthier and happier lives than do non-marrieds. Singleness, cohabitation and other relationships simply do not compare with that of marriage.

The implications of these truths are spelled out in the remainder of the book. Legal changes, for example, seem to be in order if it is true that easy divorce has such bad ramifications for children, adults and the broader community. A return to some kind of concept of fault in divorce laws is one possibility. Covenant marriage is another. But societies must make marriage more secure while making divorce more difficult.

Likewise, in education we need to do more to spread the message that marriage is a valuable social good, as well as a benefit to individuals. And the negative impact of divorce also needs to be made known. Just as society has cut down smoking, drink driving and other harmful behaviours by education campaigns, such an approach is needed here as well.

In the same vein, counselors and therapists need to reassess their approach to marital difficulties. Instead of simply blessing a quick divorce, more work needs to be done on getting couples to work through their difficulties, and reinforcing the ideal of marriage. And marriage educators need to restore the social dimension of marriage, instead of treating it in such a highly individualised manner. Marriage is much more than a private, individual affair, and this needs to be kept at the forefront of any counselling.

Indeed, on every front we need to affirm the goodness and usefulness of marriage and family, while pointing out the negative results of divorce and family breakdown. Individuals and societies both need to hear this message.

As John Witte concludes in his article on the goods and goals of marriage: "Stable marriages and families are essential to the survival, flourishing, and happiness of the greater commonwealths of church, state, and civil society. And a breakdown of marriage and the family will eventually have devastating consequences on these larger social institutions."

We now know this truth conclusively, with a wealth of social science research to back it up. The next step is to act accordingly. This book helps us to do just that.

This is the second edition of a book which was out of print for several decades. Considering how important process metaphysics is to so many branches of philosophy, including environmental ethics, it is, as Dr. Myers describes it, exceedingly timely that the second edition be published recently. Process metaphysics is hardly a casual read, and this book is intended strictly for the serious student/lover of philosophy. The volumes of American pragmatic philosophy line shelf upon shelf in the library, but this one volume takes the most important works of the most important philosophers and binds them all in one volume. Dewey, James, Peirce, Whitehead, Hartshorne, and others are revealed in their original text. Especially helpful are the historical backgrounds and suggestions for further readings both by and about these philosophers that are included in each section. A must for the American process philosopher!

This was a good read, but of average originality -- needed more work, plus an additional 300 words. Characters were not too well delineated either. It also contained much less humorous viewpoints, so I was not too entertained, and thus subtracted one point. Yet the ending was uplifting, so all is forgiven. Please write more frequently and larger books, Bill! People who liked this story will like James Herbert's "The Others" much better. (BTW, Herbert's novel has nothing at all to do with that lame ghostie movie by the same title.)

Bill Spencer is a master of prose and storytelling. I have had the pleasure of sitting with him, sharing a couple of Cokes and talk about the struggling of just trying to get published and gain an ounce of recognition. Bill writes for the love of it. And if you ever met the man you would find him sheer pleasure. He is an open, honest human being that expels his wit onto the page.

Irrational Fears is only another fine work by Bill. I happen to work in the Criminal Justice field and have an understanding how drug and alcohol abuse programs work. He obviously draws from some strong source to write this book, and throws a bit of demonic rage into the mix. It's a great book filled with things you'd never expect. Read it.

Rivalling "Resume With Monsters," William Browning Spencer's newest novel, though brief, skewers much of the new-age mumbo-jumbo of recovery programs while giving a nod to the traditional tough love approach of AA.

The hapless and sometimes hopeless residents of Hurley Memorial Hospital's detox unit include a paranoid possible former spy, an aspiring poet and nihilist 18-year-old beauty, and Jack Lowry, narrator and ex-college professor. Together they battle a hostile counselor, a drug-controlled group of recovery guerrillas called The Clear, and something slimy and tentacled straight from the pages of Lovecraft. Add a man-eating toilet and a telekinetic zombie and you have "Irrational Fears."

Spencer's trademarked blend of horror and humor recalls the Jonathan Carroll of "Outside the Dog Museum" and Joe Lansdale's (also a Texan) Hap and Leonard series. The characters come alive through sparkling and honest dialogue. They are quirky but not cliched, and nearly everyone of them is someone you might meet but probably wouldn't like.

One of Spencer's most brilliant devices is the blend of dream, DTs, and supernatural events that keep both readers and characters guessing as to what is real and what exists only the mind of the recovering alcoholic Lowry. We are drwn into the most surreal occurrences through Lowry's clear and natural voice, and while 1st-person narration takes some of the suspense out of a horror novel, Spencer manages to make us care about the secondary and even tertiary characters enough that we are pulled along to the end. And we want to know what he'll come up with next. Highly recommended.

Harry Gainesborough was a successful writer of children's books until the death of his daughter. Now an obsessed fan who is convinced the worlds Harry created are real has gotten hold of his last novel, and attempts to enlist Harry's help in saving the world. So begins a hallucinatory journey that turns quest fiction on its head.
Not quite as good as 'Resume with Monsters', 'Zod Wallop' is still a fascinating read. Spencer has a great writing style, one I would compare to Neil Gaiman's. I just think the plot could have been a little tighter.

I read William Browning Spencer's "Resume with Monsters" and was quite impressed. Here is an author who knows how to combine quirky plots, horrific elements, and great character development into a seamless blend of grand entertainment. Why this guy is not sitting on the bestseller's list is a mystery of the highest order. Several of his books are not even in print anymore, another crime that needs a remedy as quickly as possible. Fortunately, public libraries often save the day when one looks for out of print material. His books are magical in that once read, they stay with you forever. This may be due in part to Spencer's habit of pouring himself into his stories. The familiarity shown in both "Zod Wallop" and "Resume with Monsters" with psychological problems and the difficulties of coping in modern society give hints into the author's knowledge about such unpleasant incidents.

Harry Gainesborough wrote a book called Zod Wallop after the death of his daughter Amy. The tragedy of his daughter's demise sent Harry into a tailspin, requiring a short stay in a mental asylum. A psychologist in the institution recommended Harry continue writing as a means of therapy, so Harry continued to work on Zod Wallop during his hospital stay. But the book he wrote while incarcerated took on a much grimmer, more dangerous tone than your everyday children's story. The characters in the land of Zod Wallop began to resemble some of the other patients and doctors in the ward. There are characters that bear a striking resemblance to Harry's literary agent. The problem comes when there are real life people who resemble the evil characters in the book because Zod Wallop is more than a book; it has the potential to become reality.

Harry is now out of the hospital and living alone in an isolated cabin. Amy's death still troubles him greatly, but he manages to get through each day until a triumvirate of patients from the mental institution arrives on his doorstep. Led by the over exuberant Raymond Story, this gang of miscreants includes Rene, a troubled but beautiful young girl; Emily, Raymond's new wife and a total invalid; and Allan, a man plagued with fits of violent rage. Joined by Lord Arbus, a monkey, the group tries to involve Harry in their quest to go to Florida where a showdown with the evil Lord Draining awaits. As Harry and his literary agent take part in Raymond's seemingly delusional odyssey, reality starts to warp on an increasingly disturbing level.

There is a perfectly (well, maybe) rational explanation for the strange encounters endured by Harry and his friends. Two executives from rival pharmaceutical companies take a significant interest in these escaped asylum inmates. The reasons are best left unsaid here, but it is safe to say that it involves something both men want very badly for research and development. As it turns out, Harry and his friends shared something special, albeit slightly sinister, during their residence at the hospital. As the executives take up the hunt, they too end up becoming a part of the fantasy of Zod Wallop.

I enjoy how Spencer deftly blended reality with the looming world of Zod Wallop. The reader never knows what is coming down the pipeline in this book. One minute everything seems to be going great, the next minute brings an attack by a Ralewing. A mundane trip to a convenience store turns into a mind-blowing experience with the full force of Harry's past. The conclusion of the story witnesses startling revelations, total immersion in the world of Zod Wallop, and closure for Harry and his ex-wife.

Spencer's book is a real hoot. This guy has a phenomenal imagination along with the ability to write engaging prose. Again, it is difficult to imagine why he is not considered a preeminent author. Both "Resume with Monsters" and "Zod Wallop" is enough to place Spencer head and shoulders above most of the drivel passed off on the public today. For those seeking a whimsical romp through the realms of unreality, Spencer is the man.

The inevitable comparison that Zod Wallop brings to mind is to Jonathan Carroll's The Land of Laughs. Both novels revolve around a children's book that is directly affecting the lives of the other characters. The approach that the two authors take to the subject is quite different--Carroll, even in his first novel, drifts around the fantastic, never quite making it real, preferring to define his characters by the world of which we know. Spencer embraces the fantastic, so much so that it is hard sometimes to tell where the "real" world and the fantastic world come together. If one thinks of this balance between the real and the fantastic as a see-saw, in Carroll's world the heavier child is the real world, and vice versa in Spencer.

Harry Gainsborough wrote books for his daughter, Amy. His books were so good that they were published and became well-loved children's books across the world. But when his daughter drowns in a freak accident, he enters into a depression so severe that his agent checks him into a psychiatric ward. In the hospital, the therapist suggests that he write another book--hoping that the creative process will lift him out of despair. Instead, the book that he writes, Zod Wallop, is a bleak, dark novel--the kind of children's book that the Wicked Witch of the West would have written.

Zod Wallop is also Harry Gainsborough's most popular novel, more popular even than Bocky and the Moon Weasels or The Bathtub Wars. Children the world over love Zod Wallop, but none more so than Raymond Story, who read it while a patient at the Harwood Psychiatric Hospital. Raymond, who almost drowned when he was 8, sees his near-death experience as a link to the author of Zod Wallop. Raymond, who when he came across the first draft of Zod Wallop, destroyed the dark, original version that Harry had written. Or had he just hidden the book?

Lastly, William Browning Spencer's Zod Wallop is about the drug, Ecknazine, administered by Marlin Tate to a group of patients at the Harwood Psychiatric who had extremely rich imaginative lives. The goal of Tate's experiment was to enable telepathic communication, but the drug did something else, something much more strange than telepathy. The drug enabled Zod Wallop to come to life.

Spencer's novel is a complex knot of these three stories, moving at a reckless pace towards the conclusion. Zod Wallop is not a predictable book--it steadfastly refuses to toe the line of any one genre, going through thriller, fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mainstream in the course of its pages. I would not call it slipstream either, because it doesn't have a singular consistency of vision. The point is that it works, and in straight comparison to The Land of Laughs, it works better, because it works towards a resolution--one much more rewarding than Carroll's first effort. Spencer still has some honing before his prose is as sharp as Carroll's, specifically the Carroll of Bones of the Moon or After Silence, but Zod Wallop shows that he has the imagination and skills to be in the same league.

"Dead Men Do Tell Tales", ISBN 0-385-47968-9 (P/C), Doubleday 1994 is a 280 page narrative by writers William R. Maples, Ph.D. & forceful journalist S.E. Regional correspondent "Miami Herald" Michael Browning who, together, detail the "Strange and Fascinating Cases of a Forensic Anthropologist."

We are furnished 16 chapters which cover Maples' upbringing in Dallas, his majoring in English with minor in biology at Univ. of Texas with studies under mentor Tom McKern. In time, Maples became curator-in-charge of the Human Identification Laboratory at the Florida Museum of Natural History & was a former Pres. of the Amer. Board of Foren. Anthropology and is diplomate - FAAFS.

The book is not a teaching text nor is it especially easy to read with that expectation. Maples gives us a background of how and why he got into forensics, a fairly detailed review of his personal involvement with several world-class high-profile cases, and then closes with some not inconsiderable rancor and acridity directed toward law enforcement and medical doctors. I think Maples' credentials and his "time served" qualifies him to provide constructive analysis: - but hostile criticisms do peregrinate throughout the book, admixed with bountiful self-adulations where we are wont to reflecting a bit more on the inner satisfactions of one's life work and less on brackishness, and one's own indispensability.

The book has many good features and certainly the author has rubbed shoulders with some of the best (Dr. Michael Baden, Bill Bass, Tom McKern, Ellis Kerley, etc.), and he does have a very commendable command of narrative prose with story-telling skills which makes for eceptionally delightful reading. Unquestionably, his personal involvement with the bones of "Elephant Man", Francisco Pizarro, Pres. Zachary Taylor, Tzar Nicholas II & family, etc., makes exceptionally attractive reading material.

I found the table of contents, 9 pages of index and the 61 superb x-ray & photographic illustrations in this medium 6" x 9" format commendable, then wished I had the H/C edition. This book ranks high on my recommended list.

For nearly a century the science of forensics has grown from a barely understood art to a marvel of modern science. From development of finger printing in the early 1900's, to DNA gene matching of today, forensic pathology and anthropology have blossomed into the law's best weapons against criminals that stalk our world. In 'Dead Men Do Tell Tales' we enter the world of Dr. William Maples, PhD of the C A Pound Human Identification Center in Gainesville, Florida-an often brutal and ghoulish realm of dismembered corpses, hastily torched cremains of hapless victims or those dumped in septic tanks to rot and putrify in the other detritus of man's remains. Dr. Maples' own study is the field of forensic anthropology-the study of the human skeleton, and this man's expertise in that field has cemented my interest in amateur study of forensics.

Told in the first person, Maples comes across as brilliant and personable, if a little supremely confident in his own abilities as an investigator. And like Stephen Hawking's 'A Brief History of Time', isn't afraid to admit when he has erred. Where the book shines, aside from its plethora of information, is in the presentation of that information-Maples never uses terms that he doesn't explain, knowing full well that the book is going to be read more by laymen like me than a peer within the profession. So do not expect detailed treatises on anatomy, pathology or pages of chemical breakdowns. Instead, Maples presents an easy to understand work that is surprising in its level of detail, and a credit to himself and his co-author, Michael Browning, for making it understandable.

Though it is a book on anthropology, one cannot write about one subject without at least touch on the pathology end, since the two are intimately related. After explaining his own origins from his birth in Dallas, Texas, his schooling and odd jobs he held in order to pay for his college-mostly that of riding shot gun in an ambulance while working for a mortuary as they sped from accident to accident, trying to scoop business away from competing funeral homes. He majored in English, but took a course on anthropology on a lark at the suggestion of his university counsellor. In so doing he met Tom McKern, who impressed Maples with his skill as a teacher, mentoring himself to the older professor.

Past the first chapter we enter Maples' job, past his trapping baboons in Africa in 1960s to his eventual relocation as Gainesville and the C A Pound offices there. Florida, he describes, is a living organism with highways making up its arterial system, and a place where criminals, like blood cells, pass through, dumping their often mutilated cargo of human debris. In many ways I believe he softened the blow in his descriptions of finding the body of man in a septic tank where it had been for over a decade or that of three murdered drug dealers near a golf course who had been executed by fellow criminals then unceremoniously tossed into a pit to be buried. Mere words cannot describe these gruesome atrocities, but he makes it clear that while it doesn't bother him anymore, it does turn even the hardest cop green with nausea.

His affinity with tools, since they are so often used as murder weapons, has led him to collect quite an assortment of hatchets, crow bars, hammers, saws-and could often be found in the hardware department at Sears looking at tools, trying to find the right one that matches the damaged bone. His expertise in this field enabled him to study John Merrick's remains-the Elephant Man of the 19th century, and even to Russia where he examined the skeletonized remains of Tsar Nicholas and his family, almost seventy years after they were murdered by Bolsheviks during the 1917 revolution. All of this experience-almost forty years before his death in 1999, has set Maples in his ways. He possesses a strong, passionate belief that there is true evil in the world, and that somehow the world is better off without certain murderers around. Though this is tempered by his own research into the most humane ways to execute someone.

'Dead Men Do Tell Tales' is a fascinating, enjoyable read-captivating in its insights in forensic pathology and anthropology in a language that everyone can understand. It gives the novice reader in the field a general understanding of the chemical changes our bodies go through as they decompose, the organs and other bodily system are rendered down in the earth-by insects and animals, and how evidence is gleaned off bones-chisel marks, bullet holes, little nicks and scratches that can tell the investigator what tool was used, and a little insight from Maples' point of view of the people who used them. It is a fascinating, engrossing book that anyone with a reasonably strong stomach should be able to enjoy. A fitting testimony to a highly skilled man who is sadly no longer with us. Thank you, Dr. Maples.

Dead Men do Tell Tales is a great book. It is very elequent, and puts the reader at ease, even when talking about the murder of children. It gives great insite into the world of the forensic anthropologist. The discovery of Czar Nicolas II and his family is especially well told. Dr. Maples is very good at making the reader feel like they are at the site of the grave and being the first one to dig up the bones. His argument about Alexi and Anastasia still being alive is very true. Another great story is the elephant man, Joseph Merrick. His description of the bone growths are very lifelike. When he talks about the hairs in the plaster cast of Merricks body, it brings shivers to the body. This is the best book I have ever read

Darrell Schweitzer's blurb for this book reads, "If Woody Allen had ever written a Cthulhu Mythos novel, it might have come out like this." Pithy, short, moderately funny, interesting, and entirely wrong. Yes, there are Cthulhu references here, and yes, Spencer can write with humor, but this is not "Everything You Always Wanted to Know about the Necrinomicon (But Were Afraid to Ask)." If we must resort to comparing Spencer to other writers, Resume with Monsters owes the most to Philip K. Dick rather than H.P. Lovecraft.

The main character is Philip (what a giveaway, eh?) who works at Ralph's One-Day Resumes in Austin, Texas. He moved there to find his girlfriend Amelia, who ran away from the high-tech company Micromeg that they had both worked at previously because of an accident which Philip crazily attributes to the workings of the Great Old Ones. Amelia attributes insanity to Philip, likely brought on by his obsession with the characters of H.P. Lovecraft, and manifested in the magnum opus of a novel that Philip is constantly revising entitled The Despicable Quest. Philip claims that the novel is the only thing keeping Yog-Sothoth at bay.

Is Resume with Monsters funny? Yes, but it is in its incongruities, the warped reality of what Philip sees and how others react. The strength of the novel is wrapped up in the ambiguity of Philip--we recognize him as an unreliable narrator, but, as in Philip K. Dick's novel, the question is not whether to trust the narrator, but how much one can trust the world. Spencer handles this well, and there are quite a few plot twists to make things interesting, including having Philip's consciousness flung back in time to relive the Micromeg incident, the zombie co-workers, and a management recruitment program straight out of Dilbert (well, if Scott Adams worked for Nyarlathotep, Inc.). Resume with Monsters is not as well done as Spencer's latest, Zod Wallop, but is well worth checking out, especially for fans of both Dick and Lovecraft.

Anyone who has read much of Lovecraft and his "family" of writers (August Derleth, Lin CArter, Henry Kuttner, Robert Bloch, etc.) is very familiar with the formulaic plot of "inherit/discover something, cross-reference with Abbie Hazred's 'Who's Who of Bad-Moods-With-Tentacles', and end by going mad and die gibbering in an asylum or becoming 'liquiescent horror,'" to the point that it becomes very difficult to surprise the reader any more with the denoument. Mr Spencer, though, has taken the familiar concepts and beasties of the vaunted Cthulhu mythos and woven them into an engaging, truly enjoyable tale. And he does an excellant job of utilizing the old mainstays, such as Yog-Sothoth and ghouls among others, in a way that re-introduces them, rather than re-hashes them. He also does quite well in showing interaction between society at large and one who has come to accept the "truth" of the Old Ones. And while the reading is light, even campy at times (especially the epilogue), it is one of the most intriguing mythos tales I have read. It is this type of writing that is going to keep the mythos fresh and alive.

H.P. Lovecraft always intended his Cthulu mythos to live through other authors' pens. If Lovecraft were alive today he would certainly find William Spencer Browning's treatment most entertaining. In "Resume with Monsters," Browning artfully welds together the infinite horrors of Lovecraft's Old Ones with the modern banalities of life in the corporate world. The result is a book loaded with hilarious dialogue, humorous scenes, and a good deal of light horror.

Philip has a big problem. He sees monsters at work, behind every filing cabinet, around every corner, in the eyes of his fellow co-workers, and in motivational pamphlets handed out in his paycheck envelope. In order to maintain his slipping sanity, Philip spends his free time constantly rewriting his sprawling 2000 page book called "The Despicable Quest," a Lovecraftian tome full of references to Azathoth, Yog-Sathoth, and other unpleasant beings from beyond space and time. Philip is aware that spouting off about monsters from dimensions beyond our own tends to alarm people, which brings in Lily, an aging psychologist who promises Philip she can help him through his troubles.

Philip probably would not have many problems with his demons if he gave up trying to save his ex-girlfriend Amelia. Philip's relentless quest to expose the monsters coupled with the undying devotion to his book infuriated Amelia, spurring a rancorous split. When she moves to Texas Philip follows her, desperate to convince Amelia that he once saved her from eternal doom when the two worked at MicroMeg, a giant international corporation (the details of which can be found in the section of the book hilariously entitled, "The Doom that Came to MicroMeg). Philip drifts from one low paying job to another, always on the lookout for the reemergence of the evil ones. Not only does Philip see potential evil at his own jobs, there seems to be something seriously astray at Pelidyne, a big company where Amelia just started a new job. It looks like Philip will have to return once again into the belly of the beast.

Spencer really has a grasp of Lovecraft's horrific intentions. His style does not reflect Lovecraft's ornate use of the English language, but many of the adventures Philip embarks on mirror a trip through a Lovecraft novel: the weird bending of time and space, the strange rituals of the Old Ones, and the feeling of helplessness one gets when confronting an evil beyond the comprehension of the human mind.

I suspect there is a lot of the author in this story. My copy has a painting on the front cover of a man who looks suspiciously like the picture of Browning on the back cover. The detailed descriptions of corporate stupidity and the shrieking mindlessness of working a low paying job tell me that the author spent many years working in the same type of jobs as Philip does in the novel. Anyone who has ever worked in a boring job with high pressure jerks as bosses will recognize and sympathize with Philip's plight. Ultimately, that is the greatest horror in "Resume with Monsters": the pressures of a job in today's world are worse than seeing monsters with dripping scales falling out of a time rip in the ceiling.

The comical aspects of the book abound throughout the story. Everything from Philip's confessions about the evil ones to the motivational pamphlets is gut bustingly funny. Be sure and pay attention to the group sessions during Philip's stay in the mental hospital. These scenes are some of the funniest in the book.

"Resume with Monsters" is essential reading for Lovecraft fans. Those who are unfamiliar with Lovecraft may want to read at least one collection of his stories before settling into this book because the references to particular entities are meaningless unless you understand the mythos. I am placing Spencer's book in my top five list of books read this year, and I hope you will too.

I really love W.B. Spencer's work -- I first found RESUME WITH MONSTERS, then ZOD WALLOP, then RETURN OF COUNT ELECTRIC, and IRRATIONAL FEARS is waiting to be read. MAYBE I'LL CALL ANNA is an interesting story from his early career and good in its own right. Definately a worthwhile read.

I have read all of Spencer's other books except for Irrational fears. "Maybe I'll Call Anna" was as fantastic as the others. It doesn't have any fantasy/horror elements like "Zod Wallop" or "Resume With Monsters" but it has genuine characters that come to life just like the other books and a killer plot that wont let you put the book down. If you like his other works read this one.

From these short stories I got the feeling that William Spencer is good game for taking the place of Ira Levin in popular fiction: Great premises, underdeveloped plot and characters, and plain jane prose.

The man CAN write, I'll admit to that. He drops ingenuous metaphors and literary references. But the stories hardly feel as a whole, just some witty tidbits tied together in a bundle.

Frankly, Spencer sets the trap for himself with his introuction, where he analyzes the state of short fiction as a playground for writers, where stories are used as prose exercises of preciousist writing, with little fun in the tale to tell. He admits by the end that some of his own stories can be held for having the same (un)qualities... but it seems they had a lot more of it than he expected.

So, this is my scorecard:

"The Entomologists at Obala" is, arguably, the most enjoyable of this stories. A minimalist reworking of Romeo and Juliet, with young lovers fighing through family feuds over exotic insect and aracnid species.

"Looking out for Eleanor" is a psychological suspense story, and the lenghtiest story in the book. That may be key to its success, for it allows the characters to develop their traits and the plot to move at a pleasurable pace.

Spencer adds three literary exercises in character description through metaphor: "The Wedding Photographer in Crisis", "Pep Talk" and "Snow". They may need to be read more than once to sink in, because they somehow feel flat.

There are also three tales I could envision featured in "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", exercises in twist ending: "Haunted by the Horror King", "The Return of Count Electric" and "Best Man". Sadly, by the time the twist came I was expecting it, and failed to shock me.

Lastly, there are "Graven Images", "A Child's Christmas in Florida" and "Daughter Doom", tales where several elements are left intentionally obscure, and which I found to be the most disappointing from the whole lot.

As I said, Spencer can write, and this book may keep you entertained as you read it. But you shouldn't be surprised if, like me, you finish it feeling nothing really happend while you were at it.

This guy is really funny and dark at the same time. His style flows and is really easy to read. I don't usually like stuff that's this 'normal' but I plan on reading everything this guy has. By normal I don't mean boring I mean there were no 'fantastic' elements in it like magic or monsters, just people and situations. I thought almost all the stories were very original but the last two were definitely the worst. I think I will like his novels even more than his short stories.