STEALING GOD AND OTHER STORIES

Unsettling alternate realities and weird occurrences abound in this set of short stories by accomplished SF author McAllister.

The 18 tales offered here effortlessly intermingle themes of spirituality, religion, biology, and the supernatural. The collection opens with “The Blue House,” about a mysterious old structure on a hill where a sirenlike young girl lingers. This is followed by similarly themed “La Signora,” set in a fishing village on the Ligurian coast of Italy; in it, the teenage son of an American naval man is tempted to go to sea on a very special evening, during which he encounters an astonishing sea monster. The title story is about a young man of Native American ancestry who, under the influence of his mentally ill mother, steals Indigenous objects and then experiences great tragedy. The collection closes with “Sun and Stone,” about a grotto in Assisi where St. Francis once prayed; there, visitors encounter a strange phenomenon involving resident lizards that leaves some terrified and others mesmerized. McAllister is masterful at conjuring intrigue, as in the opening sentence of the story “Sandy”: “Because she had four arms and a six-fingered hand on each arm, Sandy could look for four-leaf clovers faster than I could.” It’s a clever line loaded with strange facts and poses so many questions that one has little choice but to read on. At times, the tales’ skewed reality is difficult to stomach, with gruesome descriptions such as this one from “Don’t Ask” (co-authored by W.S. Adams): “I can see the pieces as I lift what was once her pelvis. Maxil-facial, below the brain, but brain destruction. I always wondered what her bones were like, under her skin.” McAllister’s prose is also fascinatingly textured—sometimes coldly scientific and at other times diving headlong into mythology and faith. The weird worlds that result are alarming, as in “Blue Fire,” in which a dying pope encounters a boy able to devour his own flesh and heal almost instantly—a startling and horrific caricature of religious belief.

The author’s fantastically dark imagination makes this unnerving collection difficult to put down.