As part of my standalone review for Skull City, I wrote: "Having a history of heroin addiction prepares Larson for the story’s most harrowing, mind-bending episodes. Shepard appears to be suggesting that continual use of hard drugs rewires one’s perception so completely that reality, so-called, becomes as pliable and elastic as Silly Putty."
This quote serves to underscore a critically important point about any reader approaching the writing of this American author who traveled the globe: Lucius Shepard (1943-2014) doesn't merely depict porous realities but assumes a reader is capable of inhabiting those realities.
Skull City one of four novellas included in this collection--Kalamantan, Colonel Rutherford's Colt, and Louisiana Breakdown are the other three. To provide a taste of what will be encountered in this fine collection, recently published by Subterranean Press, I'll say a few more words about my personal favorite, Skull City.
In this incredible tale, the narrator, Larson, crosses over from everyday New York City into Skull City via a particular type of music. As noted above, his years of injecting heroin steel him for the hellish world he will be forced to face head on.
Of course, a reader need not have experiences with hard drugs to enjoy this bizarre saga, but what is helpful is being practiced in making the transition to another level of reality--anything from working with one's dreams to shifting to, for example, the world created by J.R.R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings or Frank Herbert in Dune.
If all this resonates, you are in for a special treat with Crows and Silences.
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