In this intriguing new novel (and series start) by Stefan Petrucha, the author of various Kolchak graphic novels, new Nancy Drew novels, and the excellent White Wolf-related Dark Ages: Assamite, young Harry Keller finds himself able to see the future. And the past. And the current. All represented as mobile streams in what he calls "A-time," a state of mind or a physical location to which he has somehow been led by his late father, a mathematician obsessed with beating Death since the staggering loss of his wife, Harry's mother.

Listen, I know you can't teach writing with a book. But you can advise prospective and beginning writers on the elements of writing According to You. As one of the contributors to the other great horror writer's companion, Mort Castle's classic On Writing Horror (WD Books), I know that—as in life—writing advice is often subjective. Just as many writers will tell you plot is most important as will say characters are.

In this first novel by Barbara J. Ferrenz, the writer's dilemma is laid bare for all to see. How does one spend many hours and lonely nights writing erotic horror (sex and murder!) and still maintain a marriage and all the family relationships expected of a suburban wife and mother? How does one travel to convention after convention, willfully (or seemingly) neglecting those relationships to hang with a group of strange but like-minded people?

Brian Hodge's newest novel, World of Hurt, has been described as "a gut-punch," and I will gleefully go along with that assessment—it's short, sharp as a stick in the eye, and hurts like hell the more you think about it.

Sometimes you're taken by surprise by a story collection which comes your way, offering you a chance to read work by someone whose voice you hadn't yet noticed. Sometimes you find yourself wishing you had noticed before. That's one of the joys of reviewing, by the way, coming upon new voices with things to say and a facility for saying them, or whispering them into your ears late at night, after you've turned out the light. Sometimes these whispers return to you because the author hit some cosmic bullseye you yourself have aimed at in your career. Sometimes it's because the whispers

This month's Classic Return is a "quiet" ghost story in what I call the California Gothic tradition. Do hunt this one down if quiet ghosts—or even loud ones—are your thing!

I've raved about Hodge's dark thrillers before in various places, and I'vetaken great pains to highlight his short story contributions to each andevery anthology I've reviewed. There is a reason, of course, and it isn'tthat he's a friend or that he pays me for every laudatory word.

The reason I love Brian Hodge's work is that the man can write! He canwrite and engage, and disturb, and shock, and sometimes plain amaze.

Recently, bestselling author Walter Mosley took a break from writing Easy Rawlins mysteries and tried his hand at science fiction. As you would expect, he's not likely to write simple-minded adventure stories. No, Walter Mosley uses speculative fiction's wide-open horizons to explore issues of class and race, knowing that as the future collides with our present, these will continue to ignite the most controversy and challenge us with their intrinsic difficulty.

 This thin little volume may not pack the punch of Stephen King's new On Writing , but then Tom Piccirilli isn't trying to write a memoir. His intent is to give the beginning writer a starting point, a pep talk, and a cautionary word of warning. Based on his real-world experience and knowledge, Mr. Piccirilli's blunt deconstruction of both the process and the business of writing is both entertaining and painful, but welcome for its clear-eyed approach.

Don't we all wish we could change the past? At least we wish for the chance to alter those moments in which entire lifetimes were irrevocably changed or snuffed out, somehow redirecting them back onto the right path. But what price would have to be paid? What entities entreated and appeased? And what consequences might result?

Don't let anyone tell you the small press isn't vibrant. At least in our field, where interesting chapbooks and independent anthologies are cropping up like tulips everywhere you look. I hope the "large" press is paying attention these days, because the quality of the writing and the packaging seems to be increasing exponentially. This chapbook, the second by Trey R. Barker in recent months, is a steal at the price and it will enhance your collection, too, thanks in part to the striking cover art by Mary Bullock.

You could be forgiven if, upon glancing at the muted cover art of Tell Me a Story, you made the assumption that the tale contained within was written expressly for children. While there is a bright-eyed childish quality about it (and this is meant in the very best sense), and while its form takes that of the fairy tale and/or the sleepy-time read-aloud-until-you-drop-off story, it is still not quite geared for children.

The first title in the new novella series by Necessary Evil Press is Kealan Patrick Burke's The Turtle Boy, itself a series beginning that introduces Timmy Quinn, a young boy whose life is about to change due to some subtle supernatural influences. The fact that the horror comes not from the supernatural, but from the familiar, doubles the impact.

While we writers sometimes complain that everything's been done, that all themes have been explored, all plots employed, we tend to forget that even similar themes can be filtered through different prisms and can therefore cast completely different images. Craig Wolf's Trespass and Tim Waggoner's Like Death share a thematic similarity—the concept that a serial killer's victims (or their essences) may lie in waiting for a chance to have their revenge.

(Occasionally I'm going to bring back a book I think may have been overlooked and give you the opportunity to hunt it down if you missed it. Maybe you'll have to find it on the Web, or a Half Price Bookstore. Maybe you'll have to borrow it from a friend. Either way, I hope you'll enjoy these steps backward in time.)

What would you do if you woke up and you weren't you? Your memories are your own, but the body you're wearing isn't. The face in the mirror, that of a stranger. And the apartment is no place you've ever been.

(Also available from Subterranean Press in a limited edition for $80.)

Forget The Da Vinci Code! If you want to plumb the depths of "secret history," then Tim Powers is your man. The World Fantasy Award-winning author of The Anubis Gates, The Stress of Her Regard, Declare, On Stranger Tides, and the Last Call trilogy (all of them classics in their own right) takes you to the mid-Eighties in this wild fantasy thriller.

(This month's Classic Return is one of the most important collections of the last few years. You may have to hunt to find it, but it's well worth the effort. And no, I'm not selling you my copy. This is what I had to say about it shortly after its release.)

Warning Note: there may be some slight SPOILERS in the following essay, so if you haven't read the novel, perhaps you should read only the first two paragraphs and the last paragraph, skipping the middle altogether.

In a world increasingly dependent on Internet and Web commerce, security is as important as it is fleeting. When Lois Gresh wants to scare you, she doesn't need supernatural creatures. Oh no, with the help of World Fantasy Award winner Robert Weinberg, this specialist in computer security and design scares you witless with her tale of Internet insecurity and government agents gone amok. In this taut thriller, all descriptions of hacking are dead-on, whether into computer files, an on-line bank, or a slightly futuristic auto. The Web is a shiny buffet dinner all spread out