Heroes and Villains
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
Tales of adventure and suspense:
- Five stage magicians set out to topple Hitler in 1934
- A middle-aged lawyer finds himself battling new, predatory species
- A hate-filled demagogue threatens the peaceful existence of the cats and dogs at the city dump
- A secret agent in 1963 Egypt must stop a madman bent on world domination
The four long pieces in this volume show Lewis Shiner writing "hard edged, often political genre fiction at its finest," as Publishers Weekly said about his Collected Stories. These are some of the most accessible stories Shiner has ever written, featuring, as he says in his introduction, "car chases, ticking clocks, and things blowing up in slow motion." At the same time, all four stories deal with the abuse of power in a way that has never been more timely.
For those new to Shiner's work, Heroes and Villains is an ideal starting point, offering the complex characters and moral issues of his acclaimed novels in condensed and action-packed form. For Shiner's many fans, who include George R. R. Martin, Jonathan Lethem, and Karen Joy Fowler, no further incentive is required.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Common folk rising to depose despots with unchecked power is the theme running through Shiner's compilation of three action-packed novellas and one short story. In the strongest work, the precisely plotted alternate history "Black Sun," five stage magicians form an intricate plan to take down Adolf Hitler in 1934 Germany. Led by Ernest Adler (aka the Amazing Adonini), a hypnotist, an escape artist, an impersonator, and an illusionist prey on Hitler and his henchmen's belief in the occult. The far-fetched plot is made plausible by sustained suspense and single-minded characters. In "The Next," frumpy lawyer Tom Davis and reporter Susan Altman investigate a killing in modern Los Angeles and discover a cabal of predatory mutant bloodsuckers. The allegorical "Doglandia" focuses on Bruno, a Rottweiler, who teaches other dogs to fear cats and starts a war at a city dump; corgi Toby and cat spy Rita manipulate Bruno with false flattery and rouse resistance from the ranks. The atmospheric James Bond esque thriller "Doctor Helios" has a CIA agent confronting Chinese and Russian spies who are plotting to destroy the Aswan Dam in 1963 Egypt. High adventure, exotic locales, and beautiful women all triumph. Shiner (Collected Stories) merges well-researched and detailed historical elements with cinematic action and crisp writing.
