asin: 0312869509 binding: Paperback list price: $19.99 USD amazon price: $14.39 USD

The Barrens and Others may be the collection that F. Paul Wilson fans have been waiting for. It consists of 12 previously published stories, and 2 previously unpublished works--a stage adaptation of "Pelts" and a teleplay called "Glim-Glim."

The collection runs the gamut from gory horror stories to bizarre supernatural tales, and in each piece, one thing is glaringly obvious--Wilson knows how to write people. From the sociopath in "Tenants" to the vigilante repairman in "A Day in the Life" (who also appeared in "The Tomb" and Legacies), Wilson's characters are painfully accurate and believable. Even when the plot line is flimsy, they carry the story. "Feelings," though a somewhat predictable bad-man-learns-lesson tale, boasts one of the best greedy-lawyer characters in print.

The Barrens and Others is a showcase for F. Paul Wilson's imagination, but the real hidden gems in this collection are actually the brief narratives that precede each story. Read in succession, they offer an anecdotal, autobiographical account of Wilson's writing career. --Mara Friedman