Shadows, Not Substantial: Tales of Ghosts, Mystery, Speculation, and the Uncanny

These are but shadows, not substantial. - Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, 4:1

From the ancient Roman Empire to the Golden Age of Hollywood, from dried-up riverbeds in the Florida of the 1970s to research labs in the China of the day after tomorrow, and from plague-stricken planets of the future to ghost-haunted houses of today, the short stories in this collection will take you to the dark places your imagination doesn't want you to go.

These are some of the weird tales, traditional ghost stories, crime stories, and flights of fancy, fantasy and science fiction that you will encounter in this book:

* Two boys go exploring on a late summer day and discover secrets they never intended to find.
* A hurricane party in a haunted apartment building goes terribly awry.
* Those who cross a bridge at dusk have no idea what lies beneath their feet.
* Another year, another pandemic, only this virus features a variant with alarming symptoms.
* An invention of Promethean proportions causes the roads of time and space to diverge.
* Two lovers embark on an ill-fated crime spree.
* A high school reunion illustrates a reason some people don't want to revisit the past.

So, dim the lights, draw the shades, and gather round the fire. Prepare to enter a world of ghosts and shape-shifters, spirits and plague carriers, murderers and bandits, mad scientists and spies, witches and legionaries, time travelers and space pirates, carnivorous houses and burning giraffes ...

Wait a minute. What? Burning giraffes?