Fantômes Et Farfafouilles

Not a big book, kind of a slim paperback. I was not expecting to open the table of contents to find that there were fifty stories in this book. Fredric Brown manages to do in less than a page what it takes most authors an entire novel to pull off. He gives you character development, excitement, drama, horror that will give you goosebumps and more.

There is a series of stories entitled Nightmare In (insert color here) Using nothing but a series of colors as his titles he invokes such horrific sadness that it is almost palpable. The best description of Alzheimer's is found within these pages. A man who watched his son drown because he can't swim only to find out that the water was only three feet deep. Brown is the master of brief fiction and the twist ending. Usually, if you hit me with too many twist ending in a row I will start to get annoyed and tired of them. Not with Mr. Brown.

Oh, and what's a geezenstack? You'd never believe me. It's the next to last story in the book and it ends on such a screamer of a note that it's impossible to describe without giving away it's impact to new readers.

\--Douglas Waltz