Wait a while before turning out the lights after reading one of the 25 superb stories in this anthology. Here are tales by leading distaff writers, such as Margaret Atwood, Patricia Highsmith, Daphne du Maurier, Doris Lessing, Ursula K. Le Guin, and of course Shirley Jackson. You'll have quick and leisurely "reads" - some stories are three to twelve pages long; others are longer. ("The Virgin in the Rose Bower or the Tragedy of Glen Mawr Manor" by Joyce Carol Oates runs to 167 pages.) You won't know whether to chuckle or be puzzled by Susan Sontag's short parable,"The Dummy." Ruth Rendell's"The Dreadful Day of Judgement" is the perfect story to read aloud on Halloween. Every writing style, every plot is different in this brilliant collection of dark stories by female masters of the tale.