'Slam' is a fantastic book, criminally under-rated and deserves a wider audience, even a filmic adaptation. Imagine the energy of the flim Kids, mixed with the speculative sci-fi of J.G Ballard and the quirky humanism of say Jim Jarmusch, and you might be close. No book written in the last 15 years creates a better fratured suburban Utopia than Shiner's 'Slam'. Burn your Moody Ricks, because Shiner's 'Slam' is the real thing.

This is about architecture and skateboarding, and lust, and about just being out of prison and trying to reenter society that is different from the one you left. He was in for tax evasion, and now has a job looking after twentysome cats that have inherited a fortune, which a lot of people are after. It is pretty cool and hard to explain. It all comes together in the end. If you like Lewis Shiner you should like this one.

****

I LOVE Joe Landsdale. I came across this book by accident about 10 years ago. Now that I know that it has been out of print for some time, I feel almost like one of the chosen ones. I feel lucky. I certainly recommend it to the fan of macabre short stories, if you can get it (ha, ha, na, na). Good luck.

This book transcends the normal run of the mill sci fi. it tells a story that reads like a great film, with concepts no filmmaker can portray about the inter relations of humans, and what we do to each other. its also a story that involves time travel, albeit in a strange manner. if you can find this book you should get it.

It's a pity this slender tome is out of print. It certainly deserves being republished, hopefully by one of the major publishers based in New York City. Shiner's strengths in examining the human condition are abundantly evident here. Although known primarily as a writer of science fiction and fantasy, there are many tales in this collection which don't neatly fit into either category. One of the most notable examples is his homage to rock and roll in "Jeff Beck", one of his finest tales of short fiction. Yet there are memorable tales such as "Mystery Train" in which Elvis Presley sees a glimpse of his future and "Steam Engine Time", with its fascinating mix of 19th Century Western and rock and roll, and "Gold", a memorable fantasy about buried treasure and legendary pirate Jean Lafitte. Here's hoping that this fine short story collection shall be published again soon in a larger printing; it certainly deserves a wide readership.

This book is about possiblities that challenge our most basic assumptions, set forth promising new realities and offer hope for the future. Each story deals with desperate people embroiled in conflict, who choose to turn away from violence or war,who realize that humans & other races can learn to live in peace. The eighteen stories are written by some of science fictions brightest talents.

A well-written character-oriented sci-fi, rock & roll novel This is a great read for science fiction fans and rock and roll fans alike. A compelling story of a man's search for meaning in his life (and sorting out his relationship with his late father) set against a background of "Twilight Zone-ish" in nature. This is a highly enjoyable novel. If you're a music fan, don't let the sci-fi tag steer you away from this, and vice versa. I've read this twice, and plan to read it again!

This is a great read for science fiction fans and rock and roll fans alike. A compelling story of a man's search for meaning in his life (and sorting out his realtionship with his late father) set against a background of journeying back through time to meet with rock icons like Hnedrix and Morrison, who represent various parts of Ray's (the main character's) psyche. Shiner's knowledge of rock history is excellent and the plot device used to send our hero back in time is less techno-oriented and more "Twilight Zone-ish" in nautre. This is a highly enjoyable novel. If you're a music fan, don't let the sci-fi tag steer you away from this, and vice versa.

Lewis Shiner is BRILLIANT. If U're a music fan, U'll love GLIMPSES. Shiner balances his narrator's personal life & problems (dead father, crumbling marriage, lost feeling, new love in his life) with the music that gives meaning 2 it all 4 him. Perhaps most impressive R the glimpses of famous rock & roll stars -- The Beatles, Brian Wilson, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix -- Shiner gets U up close 2 all these greats, & HE DOESN'T BLOW THE IMPORTANT DETAILS. U'll feel like U've MET these people, & every moment of Bing close 2 them rings true. U'll B there when their music is created, C where it comes from, & know what it means -- 2 all music fans. Hallucinatory, vivid, brilliant -- would make a heckuva movie. Shiner's got the music in him. U will LOVE this book. Clearly, the greatest rock and roll novel EVER.

The bigger luminaries of the cyberpunk world are quick to include Shiner as one of their own, and this is the book which makes the cut. An entertaining novel in and of itself, it obviously has a lot of cyberpunk staples which have gotten pretty trite. One of the most interesting themes of the book parallels one of the character's journey through a Jungian archetypical legend that hearkens back to high school English class.

This exceptional early cyberpunk novel should be in print. Shiner offers a spellbinding look at the early human exploration of Mars that is replete with dense, lyrical prose. Stylistically, Shiner draws more from Sterling's than Gibson's work in his realistic depiction of space travel. Anyone interested in cyberpunk fiction should regard "Frontera" as part of their essential reading.

Shiner has either been or known a struggling musician, I'm sure, because he has captured what it's really like for someone who's trying to get their music in front of audiences. Vivid descriptions of life on the road, conflicts and personality clashes within any group of people who are together too much, power struggles between the Living Legend and the New Blood. Definitely worth checking out if you are a music fan and want a peek behind the scenes!

I enjoyed this book very much. I'm not a musician myself, but I always dreamed of being one. This book provided me with the opportunity to live Laurie Moss' life! There were also loads of references that I smugly enjoyed "getting" - if you love rock and roll, and are in your thirties - this is for you. Being a woman, I of course wanted more relationship stuff, but maybe in your sequel, Mr. Shiner? Please, I love Skip - and I want to know all about him!!!

Well, Lewis Shiner has done it again. A superb, underrated writer who
first made his name writing great cyberpunk science fiction, Shiner
has written a thoughtful, revealing look at a young
singer-songwriter's struggle to make a name for herself in the music
business. It is a poignant, mesmering tale about a would be Ani
DiFranco. His crisp prose is literally music to my ears - sweet and
clear - his words eloquently reveal his rock and roll musicians as
living people, not as one-dimensional cartoons. Along with his
previous novel "Glimpses", Shiner has written some of the
best fiction pertaining to rock and roll. Before you read a novel
written by any other author on rock and roll, please take a look at
Shiner's work first.

Here's a quiz for trivia fans. Identify the following:

Ray Slater. Dan Sloane. John Talbot.

Give up? Ardent Lansdale fans may recognize the Slater moniker, but I'd bet most of you are hard pressed to come up with anything on the other two. Here's the answer: each is a fictional private detective, created by Joe R. Lansdale, Lewis Shiner, or both. All starred in early attempts by the authors to write hard boiled mysteries, and all first appeared in Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine in the late seventies and early eighties.

Private Eye Action As You Like It (the title is based on an in-joke between Lansdale and Shiner) presents eight stories featuring these characters-three Slater tales by Lansdale, three Sloane adventures from Shiner, and two collaborative efforts starring Talbot. Typical of the men's action-adventure genre, they bear titles like "Long Gone, Forever," "One Blonde, Well Dead," "Deep Without Pity," "The Killing Season," and "Black as the Night". None of the stories are particularly stellar, but all are well written and entertaining, notable for the insight they provide into each writer's professional development and evolution of their particular voices. All the stories contain flashes of the author they become-Lansdale, in naming a character Eclipse, "on account of he's so big he blocks out the sun," and Shiner in his already polished prose.

From the tenor of their editorial remarks, I sensed both authors look back on these stories with a measure of disdain and affection. This is to be expected, but the disdain is probably not justified. Sometimes clumsy, sometimes amateurish, the stories represent the best work they could do at that stage in their careers, and as such are nothing to be ashamed about. So, in the final analysis, I'd have to say the collection is interesting primarily for its historical perspective, secondarily for the entertaining author's notes filled with insight and good natured ribbing between the two friends (Shiner's piece, "Can You Run With It?" is particularly funny). As such, the book is primarily for Lansdale and Shiner completists, not for casual readers. Even so, those unfamiliar with either author will find things to like.