To start with, let me say that Crossings is one of the best anthologies I have read recently. The stories are of a consistently high quality, and there is a nice variation of themes. Each story is a cross between genres, giving rise to the title. As there are only twelve stories in the book, I'll give each a short mention...

The anthology starts with Bottles by James S. Dorr, a tale with a relaxed pace that suits the narrative voice. We follow a reform school girl as she starts her new job as a maid to a mysterious old man in a house full of secrets. Just what is in the bottles, stacked shelf after shelf in the room kept locked? What of the old man's collection of vampire and witchcraft books? His preference for candles over electric lighting? His hatred of garlic? All is not what it seems...

Next comes Goodbye Lorelei... Hello Snow charasmatically written by Holly Wade Matter. It's a story of everyday discontent, magic and romance. Can Annie really change her dull life, like the old street woman says, or is it too much to hope for? A great story, and one of my favourites in this anthology.

The Long Arm of Crime is very different. Written by Kevin James Miller in that gangland style that seems so very popular at the moment, it tells the story of Sam, a clone and backstreet cyber-dealer. The big deal has come up, but betrayal is in the air.

The editor's contribution is the next story, Fingernails, an intense tale of voodoo and competition in the modelling world. Megan Powell takes us into the world of a love-sick photographer who gets to work alongside the model he adores. He finds she has some strange paranoias--or is she entirely correct in her fears? Can he set her mind at rest and win her over?

Jeffrey Turner's True Believers asks if true love can be diminished by time and reincarnation. If someone told you they loved you in a previous life... in sixteen previous lives, in fact, would you believe them? Would you believe that something was trying to keep you apart, before it was too late? This a a sweet story to bring out the romantic in you.

Vapors of Time by Stephen D. Rogers takes us to a future where you could be one of the lucky ones: a spaceship pilot or engineer, or another connected to the glorious industry. But more likely you'll be one of the underclass, looking at the launchpads from within the grime of Downwind city. Our narrator is in the security business, or more accurately, a clean up guy. On the trail of one of the upper class' messes, he stumbles into a deadly plot. It's a good story, but it seemed like it had been squashed into a smaller number of words than it really needed.

Maurice G. Broaddus' Morphean Affairs takes us back to the world of love. Can the bond two lovers share ever really be broken? Meeting in dreams is too fleeting a contact for Andrew, and he has the added problem of a wife to please. While certainly well written, I just couldn't feel for the characters in this story - it all felt a little soulless to me.

The next story, Visions in Midnight Blue by Barbara Davies, telling the tale of a seer and her assistant, and the latter's unrequited love, was very prettily constructed, but seemed essentially inconsequential. It's probably too literary for my more meaty tastes. Draw by James Viscosi is far more my sort of story, a sci-fi western cross. We follow the bounty hunter as he enters the radioactive town of Nugget in search of his quarry.

Laird Long's Remember Me Dead had a great basic idea: the theft and storage of memories for resale, but I'm afraid the story just didn't deliver, and was one of the poorer choices in the book.

Simon Says, by Debra Purdy Kong, is one of the longer stories, and sets a truly creepy scene. A temp starts a new job in a building soon to be demolished, and the reason why staff are in short supply soon becomes apparent: ghosts. The spirits of a father and son haunt the building, desperate for someone to help them - or is it all a ruse to get the building's tenants out? This story plays on the imagination well, and you feel for the staff, bewildered and scared. It's a pity the ending is quite so convoluted, with long stretches of explanation, but it's still a good scary story.

The final offering is The Storm by Sharon Hartley. Another tale set in the future - not too far off, though - it depicts a world irrevocably changed by global warming. The ice caps have melted, causing chaos in the oceans, and a giant storm wreaks havoc on the northern hemisphere. Refugees flee south, away from the encroaching ice and freezing temperatures brought by the storm. Janet is one of the refugees, sheltering in Florida. A township of sorts grows, with new people arriving, bringing with them hope and trouble. The story focusses on one new arrival in particular, and the connection he builds with Janet. It encompasses disaster, murder, and hope. A fitting end to a book covering many topics.

Crossings is a well put together anthology, and I hope these little tasters will encourage you to give it a look. It'll be worth your while.

Crossings is now available from Double Dragon Publishing ISBN: 1-55404-118-X. Check it out!