The Best of Lucius Shepard

This fine selection of some of the best short fiction by one of the most respected dark fantasy writers in the world will be a must purchase for aficionados of the genre. Among the stories included are “The Man Who Painted the Dragon Griaule,” wherein an artist devotes his life to the illumination of a dormant, mile-long dragon; “Salvador,” where a Vietnam-like conflict rages in a future Central America; “Jack's Decline,” the sly and gruesome tale of an elderly Jack the Ripper confronting Nazi Germany; “Radiant Green Star,” set in a future Southeast Asia replete with circuses, revenge and the last living American POW; and “Only Partially Here,” a harrowing tale of strange happenings in the pit left by the fall of the World Trade Center. Shepard is fantasy literature's Joseph Conrad or perhaps its Saul Bellow, a writer who never tires of staring directly into the abyss. (Aug.)