Publisher's Weekly
Olson and Silva have admirably fulfilled their aim to compile an anthology of stories ''both horrific and germane to the contemporary city experience.'' These 17 tales will turn the spotlight on fears of city newcomers and strike familiar chords with lifelong urbanites who have watched their cities ''become a sprawling nightmare.'' William Relling Jr. depicts the horrors of the inner-city school system in ''The Injuries That They Themselves Procure Must Be Their Schoolmasters,'' Elizabeth Massie does the same quite well in ''Lock Her Room.'' Lois Tilton offers a ray of hope in her tale, ''Changing Neighborhoods,'' while Charles L. Grant proposes a sinister supernatural cause for a neighborhood's downward slide in ''Make a Wish upon the Moon.'' The cast of Gary L. Raisor's subway scenario, ''Hell Train,'' will tingle the spine of the most jaded New Yorker. While senseless murder, the drug menace, homelessness and economic polarity are given their horrific due, not all is bleak--Charles de Lint's hero in ''Tallulah'' makes love to his city and leaves the reader with a feeling of hope. The editors aptly claim that ''if you have your favorite or most loathed part of any city, you'll probably find it here.''