It's difficult to easily categorize these dark works of fantasy: they are short stories written by such notables as Ray Bradbury, Michael Bishop, Nina Kiriki Hoffman and others, blending literature and art and all based on the strange kinetic sculpture Crowded After Hours by Lisa Snellings. Dark carnival stories probe the limits of humanity.

Strange Attraction is a fascinating anthology that combines quality writing, art and binding into a unique synthesis. This showcase volume presents memorable and highly recommended work by Michael Bishop, Ray Bradbury, Ed Bryant, Richard lee Byers, Nancy A. Collins, Jack Dann & Janeen Webb, Charles de Lint, James Dorr, Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Alexandra Elizabeth Honigsberg, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Brad Linaweaver, Jason Miller, Fred Olin Ray, Robert J. Sawyer, Darrell Schweitzer, John Shirley, S.P. Somtow, Chet Williamson, David N. Wilson, and Gene Wolfe.

Strange Attraction is a fascinating anthology that combines quality writing, art and binding into a unique synthesis. This showcase volume presents memorable and highly recommended work by Michael Bishop, Ray Bradbury, Ed Bryant, Richard lee Byers, Nancy A. Collins, Jack Dann & Janeen Webb, Charles de Lint, James Dorr, Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Alexandra Elizabeth Honigsberg, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Brad Linaweaver, Jason Miller, Fred Olin Ray, Robert J. Sawyer, Darrell Schweitzer, John Shirley, S.P. Somtow, Chet Williamson, David N. Wilson, and Gene Wolfe.

As an international law student, I am much interested in the process generating international rules, especially international customary rules. And also, as a political science student, I have recognized the limitation to explain the customary process only through the discipline of international law. This book is in answer to such a consciousness of mine completely and in detail. In my thought, this book will be a masterpiece in the interdisciplinary approach between international law and international relations.

Specifically, this book contains plentiful precedent studies and deals with various issues relating to its subject. Hence I could learn much from this book. And the conclusion it reached as to the basis of the binding force of customary international law is held to be persuasive enough to make scholars in both disciplines understood clearly.

If you are to study international law or international relations or both in the new century and in the global society, you cannot help getting and reading this writing.

The first Michael Byers book I ever read was his debut collection of short stories, THE COAST OF GOOD INTENTIONS, a treasure trove of delicate stories about the Pacific Northwest (where I was born, raised and continue to live). I met him briefly at a book fair the year it was published, 1998, and was fascinated by his approach to writing, his quiet intentions, and his tale of agents and "book people" already nagging him to write a novel. It's now 2003 and that novel is finally here, LONG FOR THIS WORLD, a compassionate and heartfelt book about middle-class existence in dot.com Seattle in the 1990s, centering on medical ethics and the lengths to which we will go for the ones we love.

Dr. Henry Ross is a geneticist living in Seattle with his loving family. Day after day he studies Hickman syndrome, a heinous medical condition that causes rapid aging and premature death in children. His wife, Ilse, is going through a midlife crisis, wondering why she shifted from doctoring the elderly to hospital administration. Their children are developing lives of their own --- Sandra with basketball and Darren with young love. Dr. Ross has stumbled upon a possible cure for the syndrome he has studied his whole life and weighs the ethics of performing it on one of his young patients. It could be a gold mine --- not only for the medical profession, but also for the financial well-being of the Ross family. However, he could also lose his license and face monumental legal troubles.

What makes this story so interesting is not the plot per se. That's not to say the plot isn't important or moving. It does indeed make the reader want to move from chapter to chapter to more fully understand Dr. Ross's dilemma and see what will happen to his young patient. What makes the story so intriguing is the characters themselves. They are as real as your next-door neighbors or your co-worker in the cubicle next to you. The reader lives in the Ross house, learns of their struggles and their happiness, understands their concerns, cheers them on when they do well, and empathizes with them when they don't. Some story lines are more involving than others (Henry and Ilse have stronger story lines and more vibrant personalities then their children do), but ultimately the novel is about family --- what it takes to keep this unit together and the relationships strong and healthy.

Byers, however, writes with such fluidity that the story sometimes flows too smoothly, like a river without ripples. It certainly moves forward to its destination and it's a pleasant ride, but LONG FOR THIS WORLD could sometimes benefit from more ripples and bends in the river.

--- Reviewed by Jonathan Shipley

I haven't been moved enough by a book to post a review on Amazon for several year, but "Long for this World" hit me in just quite the right way.

Other posters have already summarized the plot. Suffice it to say that these characters are so finely and lovingly drawn as to stun you. I can think of only a few novels from recent memory where the characters have truly stayed with me - Ford's "The Sportswriter" and "Independence Day," as well as "The Corrections" come to mind, and just a few others.

I would simply ask that anyone who loves the pleasures of a fine novel - please read this book.

OK, I have to admit that I LOVED this book so much that I actually looked up Michael Byers in the Seattle phone book, found a good possibility and called the number! Lo and behold, I got the right Mrs. Byers. She was a bit taken aback, but was really very gracious to me. I felt somewhat like a stalker, and I've never done this before, but I just had to let Michael know how moved I was by his story. I wept openly while reading one particular part. I read a lot of books, and I rarely cry over them, but boy, did this story get to me. But it's not just touching/sad, it's funny and charming and smart too. What a great book!!! Thank you, Michael - and thank you Mrs. Byers for being nice to a devoted fan. I promise I won't call you again!

The real Kevin Kerney is back from the irreality of his previous case UNDER THE COLOR OF LAW. For the first time McGarrity splits the story between two cops: Chief Kevin Kerney of Santa Fe and his newly revealed son, Deputy Clayton Istee, 150 miles apart. New and old deaths are gradually interwoven in parallel to the reluctant yet beautifully described reconcilement of these two strangers. This is as much a Big Gamble for the two strong and silent men as are the casinos that figure in the scandalous plot. Maybe they will develop into a famous duo like Hillerman's Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. Clayton may be a needed addition in the series because, with an entire police department now at his beck, Chief Kerney will have a hard time doing his old lonesome investigations that made his reputation as a maverick lawman.

McGarrity's stories are not hidden clue mysteries a la Poirot; rather they are dogged police procedurals firmly driven by vivid local color. Here Kerney and Istee must tread carefully, from opposite ends, through personal, ethnic, and political, as well as gambling, sexual, and jurisdictional, minefields. It is McGarrity's ability to write believable plots and personalities that "feel real and right" that makes him a master, and this may be his best. It's curious how some publishers overly rely on spell checkers and miss homonyms; here Dutton drops occasional prepositions.

On a little traveled road in Lincoln County, New Mexico at the site of a burned down fruit stand, two bodies are found in the remaining rumble. One body is that of small time gambler Joseph John who recently struck it big on the reservation casino while the other corpse is that of Anne Marie Montoya, a woman who disappeared into thin air one decade ago.

The primary on the Montoya case is Santa Fe Police Chief Kevin Kerney and the man in charge of the Humphrey investigation is Deputy Sheriff Clayton Istee. Although the two men are father and son, neither knew about the relationship until recently. Clayton would prefer to forget about the relationship but when the two cases intersect in an unexpected manner, the two men are forced to work together and take a step closer to forming a relationship.

Like Tony Hillerman before him, Michael McGarrity puts the state of New Mexico on the map. His style is smooth, subtle and his storytelling abilities keep the reader in thrall, wondering what will happen next. THE BIG GAMBLE is no gamble at all for reader; it is a surefire winner for anyone who likes a fascinating police procedural.

Harriet Klausner

Michael McGarrity has written another great Kevin Kerney mystery. This time, Kerney is drawn into a case being worked by his newly discovered son, Clayton Istee. A fire that destroys an abandoned roadside fruit stand reveals two corpses-one new, one old, both murdered. The older victim turns out to be a "cold case" of Kerney's. McGarrity successfully braids the two cases together, allowing evidence to be discovered in a totally natural and believable way. He also does a great job of quietly describing the bundle of human contradictions that is modern New Mexico, and realistically portraying the tensions that exit between Native American, Hispanic and Anglo. I started reading this one late; which was a mistake because I literally couldn't put it down until I finished it! Good thing I didn't have to work the next day.
I also get the feeling that as McGarrity continues to write, Clayton Istee is going to come to the forefront of his New Mexico mysteries and Kerney will take a "back burner" position. While I find Istee an intriguing character, and worthy of being the focus of a great read, I hope Kevin Kerney continues to inhabit Michael McGarrity's fictional world.

"This I know: our lives in these towns are slowly improving": so begins Michael Byers's book of stories of seaside middle-class folk traveling and exploring their way through their misty days. The improvement is indeed slow, as characters feel their way to a deeper relationship to life, to people, to passion. Byers replicates authentic experience with a skilled eye for detail. Each story presents a captivating drama of human emotion that never delves into melodrama. So many short stories claim to explore "the ordinary" but wind up mired in the mundane, the bland, the mediocre; Byers's stories are richer, yet always approachable. An interesting collection of stories that provoke thought and reflection upon completion.

I bought this collection because Michael Byers was teaching my writing workshop at Oberlin College and I thought I should read his work while he was reading mine. Though I already had great respect for him as a teacher, I now have great respect for him as a writer. The prose is beautifully crafted and his characters are real and engaging. It's a cathartic read and I highly recommend it to anyone who thinks the art of the sentence is dead.

I have read an advance copy of this book, and I cannot find enough superlatives to describe it. Byers employs an understatement that is both simple and profound. His hands-off storytelling puts the reader in the middle of the emotional and psychological dramas that he creates. His characters are real, and we feel their thoughts as if they were our own.

Byers' star is undoubtedly on the rise. This debut is only the beginning of a long and promising writing career.