A Slice of the Dark and Other Stories

September 26, 2022
Heuler (The Splendid City) serves up a full spread of eerie treats in this fantastical collection of 16 speculative shorts. In the title story, a piece of cake leads a man to discover that the world is full of lurking shadows that only he can see. For a second course, there’s soup: “Bone Broth” follows a waitress who learns her boss is digging up giant bones from the empty lot next door. These tales veer capably from a Brothers Grimm fairy tale vibe (“The Living Wood”) to suburban fabulism (“Do Not Open”) to deeply philosophical horror-fantasy (“Ghost Mice”), with Heuler’s matter-of-fact style grounding each story in a reality readers can recognize—until the creeping feeling that nothing is quite as it should be sets in. Heuler fans won’t even mind the reprints: “The Restoration,” about a woman tasked with seeding animals and plants throughout a climate-destroyed world; “The Constant Lover,” in which a murder doesn’t quite stick the first time; and the bittersweet flash story “Unraveling” are all worth another visit. This deliciously unsettling collection will leave readers craving just one more bite. Agent: Christine Cohen, Virginia Kidd Agency.