Throughout the years, lighthouses have served as backdrops for dark, gothic tales of solitary, sea-based horror. If you like a good chilling read and you like lighthouses and the sea, this collection of 17 tales was assembled just for you. Though well-read readers in the genre will have already read Ray Bradbury's The Fog Horn which inspired the movie, Beast From 50,000 Fathoms, the rest of the tales will be new to even the old connoisseur of tales of dark suspense.

The editors take us on a world-wide tour which includes St. Cecilia on the southern coast of England and its keeper slowly going mad from the flowing water that surrounds him. We visit the Isle of the Wise Virgin lighthouse in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to hear a tale about why one doesn't steal from the dead. On a remote island in the Scottish Hebrides, four men and one woman trapped in their lighthouse fight off waves of monsters straight from H.P. Lovecraft while on the coast of Guiana, lighthouse keepers struggle against giant rats. Ghosts, monsters, murder and madness ... they're all here.

Nowadays with the advent of technology, lighthouses are falling into disrepair and neglect, but these 17 tales will keep the wonder and mystery alive when the wind outside is blowing the surf up.

I found several of the short stories to be very entertaining reading. The stories revolve around the darker side of lighthouses.

This book is an excellent collection of short stories with a sinister bent. Unfortunately, some are not up to par with the rest but most are well worth your time. The story about disfigured Air Force cadets with a hatred for truckers is worth the price of the book alone as is the story "Mother Tucker".

"Stalkers" is a great collection of short stories with a very sinister streak. While some tales are not as good as others, the book overall is definitely worth reading time. In fact, the story about disfigured Air Force cadets who hate truckers and the tale, "Mother Tucker", are worth the price of the book alone.

Mostly well done; the others are noted as I come to them.

Bischoff, David: "The Sorcerer's Apprentice's Apprentice" Coarse, elderly Vincemole Whiteviper, apprentice to the dishonest adventurer Sir Harry Springraff, is narrating his memoirs to his own much-abused apprentice: how he lost what little fourteen-year-old innocence he had on a quest for a suspect wizard's treasury. The plan was for Vincey to seduce Relfalyn, the wizard's beautiful 18-year-old apprentice. Funny how things work out...The physical setting reminds me of an AD&D-based computer game.

de Lint, Charles: "Sign Here" Unusual style: entirely dialogue, without even "he/she said", 4 characters (2 appear only once), only 2 characters per scene. A stranger in a bar offered Peter enlightenment regarding the structure of the world - magic - if he'll sign over his soul. Peter's friend Robert employs unusual tactics to try to free him. The dialogue suffers from *too* much realism.

Friesner, Esther: "Homework" Parody by someone who's read the Evil Overlord checklist. Prince Gallantine is having trouble with his captor Morbidius, who's finally wised up. Then Morby's nine-year-old nephew Andy, seeking to avoid his villain apprenticeship homework, turns up. :)

Helfers, John: "Blood and Scale" A wizard's apprentice, offered only death as an alternative, agrees to become the apprentice of the dragon who wiped out the rest of his party.

Hoyt, Sarah A.: "The Muses' Darling" Shakespeare, as a young struggling playwright, is an apprentice to the meteoric brilliance of Kit Marlowe. This story takes Marlowe's treatment of Faust as having a personal application. I also recommend Neil Gaiman's quite different treatment of Marlowe and Shakespeare in _Sandman_, a subplot starting with "Men of Good Fortune" in _The Doll's House_.

Huff, Tanya: "When the Student Is Ready" Oddly enough, *this*, rather than de Lint's contribution, is an urban fantasy set in Canada (Toronto, not Ottawa, though). Sixteen-year-old Isabel has been encountering a mysterious street person a lot lately - but is it just poverty and homelessness that seems to cloak him in invisibility? (Even complete with smart-aleck talking crow.)

Levine, David D.: "Zauberschrift" is the complex, legalistic Latin in which spells are written, instructions for the immensely powerful but mindless daemons (spirits) forming the basis of a wizard's magic. (The author's note says he based this story on his first summer job; he must have been a programmer. The analogy between the magic system and programming is interesting without being heavy-handed.) The protagonist quit his wizard apprenticeship when he inherited the family dye business on the deaths of his father and older brothers, but his native village has asked for his help after his old master's death. The weather spells that have protected the village for years have been corrupted, and no affordable wizard can be brought in to fix the problem.

Lindskold, Jane: "Final Exam" Narrated by Danny Bancroft, whose Talent killed his mother to save his life at birth. When his family spoiled him as a child, he felt undeserving, because he could remember what happened. Since this manifested partly as bullying, he landed in counseling - with a Talented counselor who may ape Nero Wolfe's body language, but not the rest of his style. (After all, imagine Wolfe as a counselor.) But Danny's been coasting as an endless undergraduate, and with his dangerous abilities, if he fails the senior magicians' test, his magic will be sealed.

Patton, Fiona: "What Has to Be Done" After the events of "The Svedali Foundlings" (_Assassin Fantastic_), Coll has begun his personal crusade to rid Cerchicava of the Trade (necromancy) in earnest, "apprenticing" himself to old Mona Masaccio, despite the fact that as a retired Death Mage, she considers him a traitorous fool, while she represents everything he hates. The latest series of mutilated corpses, however, interest them both, as they carry signs of non-standard organ collection - as though someone's trying something new.

Reichert, Mickey Zucker: "Flanking Maneuver" Amazingly unrealistic story of a young conscript - a blacksmith's apprentice - in a tribal war, and what happens after he meets the captured daughter of an enemy chieftain.

Smith, Dean Wesley: "The Last Garden in Time's Window" The narrator doesn't believe that his grandparents died from a gas stove leak in their trailer. Having just returned from their funeral, he doesn't care about the danger of using his half-learned magic. *Very* rushed.

Waggoner, Tim: "Till Voices Drown Us" Braided non-linear style, following Michael back to his childhood home to learn one last lesson from the great-aunt who taught him to bear his mediumistic powers, when one spirit shows him something disturbing he's never seen before.

West, Michelle: Camille, like all apprentices to "The Augustine Painters", is a foundling - one thread of the story follows her present, in which she faces her do-or-die test of mastery, her best friend apparently having come to grief only days before; the other follows the discovery of her talent. They aren't wizards, as such; in their art, they depict possible futures that, with hard work, may never happen. Not only is this cool - for instance, while they can work more quickly in pencil, they need color to identify strange people, places, and battle standards - but deeper mysteries are revealed even as the story unfolds.

I've never really thought of myself as a fan of the 'Western' genre, but soon found that this was not required in order to thoroughly enjoy "Hell On The Draw:Best Western stories by Loren D. Estleman". While each story is indeed rooted in the West, they are by no means your run of the mill 'shoot-em-ups.' Each one is completely different in mood and style, from lighthearted humor to dark twists of fate, from romance to a touch of the supernatural. The author fills each tale with people you'll find yourself wishing that you had known or vey glad that you didn't. The vividly described settings along with fine attention to historical details of events, people, equipment and weapons, pull you inside and make you feel as if you are there. Aside from the complete enjoyment of the stories themselves, this audio version features a variety of gifted voice talents well suited to the telling of these tales of the West.

The Confederate fighting man is the subject of these 11 very touching short stories written by the likes of F.Scott Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe. You don't have to be a Civil War fanatic or a Southerner to appreciate this book. You only have to love a well crafted story

With a hot collection of writers, Election Day 2084 is an innovative preview of future politics. While some stories are well-loved classics in their own rite (Hail to the Chief), others were refreshingly new. I especially enjoyed the tight scripting of On the Campaign Trial... a telling slice of present, or future, life in the fast lane

This horror anthology provides fans with the introductory story that seventeen reader favorites started their illustrious respective career (déjà vu with last month's MAGICAL BEGINNINGS). The contributions are fun to read if only to compare the opening gamut of a renowned author with their most recent work. Each tale provides an introduction that brings further focus on the writer. The collection is well done with delightful selections from a virtual who's who of the genre, but the quality varies though none are horrible. As with MAGICAL BEGINNINGS, HORRIBLE BEGINNINGS is more for the die-hard horror guru than the occasional horror reader.

Harriet Klausner

My first Issac Asimov book i read was puzzles of the black widows and after that I read the rest of the series and was hooked on Asimov's works. I like his style of writing and his different times his storys are set. The title Isaac Asimov Presents the Best Crime Stories of the 19th Century is a bit misleading as many of the stories are written by different authors. I still loved the book and recommend it to everyone.

I read and re-read this book in high school, and then loaned it to a chemistry teacher I liked. I never got it back, and have regretted it ever since, though it was around 1984. While I am sure my tastes have changed somewhat in the intervening 16 years, I remember that the stories were very novel and inspiring, from "hard sci-fi" type stories of someone left on earth after everyone else had evacuated it, to stories with metaphysical implications about the nature of reality. It must have fulfilled some teen fantasy for me about being left alone to do as I liked with the entire world as my plaything, a fantasy I rehashed for many years after I read the book. If you find this book in some used book store somewhere, buy it!! (And don't loan it out.)

This fantasy anthology provides fans with the introductory story that sixteen fan favorites started their illustrious respective career. The contributions are fun to read though the quality varies with none being atrocious, but not all sixteen being incredibly fantastic. With each tale, the author of that story furnishes an interesting introduction that includes insight and understanding into their career. Clearly not for the casual genre reader, the fascination is not just with each tale, albeit as engaging they are, but also to compare the MAGICAL BEGINNINGS with recent releases from a virtual who's who.

Harriet Klausner