Lesser Demons

Partridge (Slippin' into Darkness) mixes hard-boiled detective fiction and pulp action horror with a touch of spaghetti westerns in this collection of 10 unsubtle and occasionally unskilled stories (all but one reprinted). His images can slip into the absurd at the wrong moment, and his prose is often clumsy, but his tales of zombie sheriffs (“Lesser Demons”), murderous vultures (“Carrion”), a criminal who encounters his idealized doppelgänger (“Second Chance”), and gigantic radioactive mutants (“The Big Man”) have plenty of entertainment value. Considerable inventiveness, an uninhibited sense of the gruesome, and vigorous pacing make this a collection of B-movies for the printed page, and though Partridge never quite equals the wit and strangeness of Joe R. Lansdale, his work will easily appeal to Lansdale's audience. (May)