<p>Jeffrey Thomas is renowned for his novels and tales set in Punktown, a terrifying, crime-riddled city of the future, where humans and aliens mix in every sense of the word, with often horrific results.</p><p> </p><p>Including two stories set in Punktown, this volume features works long and short that are among Thomas’s most intimate and intense weird tales. “Saigon Dep Lam” is a poignant Christmas story set in Vietnam, a city which Thomas has visited often. Art takes a central role in “Mr. Faun” and “Drawing No. 8,” both of which suggest that paintings may be quite a bit more than what you see on the canvas.</p><p> </p><p>This book also includes several unpublished stories. “The Temple of Ugghiutu” is a Lovecraftian tale that bears relations to Thomas’s Punktown novel <em>Monstrocity.</em> The distinctively titled “riaH gnoL” hints at the disturbing psychosis of a young woman employed by an arcade. “Good Will toward Men” makes us wonder about the real differences between heaven and hell.</p>
