Spook City

In this anthology featuring Liverpudlian horror writers' stories of their hometown, first-time editor Mackenzie attempts to draw deeply from a shallow well, with uneven and frustrating results. Clive Barker's three stories include “The Forbidden,” about the unnerving relationship between residents of a tenement housing project and a local urban legend. Ramsey Campbell contributes five stories and one autobiographical essay; perhaps the best is “The Man in the Underpass,” which depicts the heart-wrenching results of a neglected child's sexual curiosity. Peter Atkins's four stories, however, lack the ambition and nuance of the rest. Liverpool is rarely used as more than a backdrop, and does not serve to unify the collection. Most of these stories are reprints that PS readers will have seen elsewhere, leaving this unsatisfying effort without a market. (Sept.)