Speculative fiction is by definition in the vanguard of contemporary writing, and particularly suited to the short story form. This fifth volume of Strange Tales from Tartarus includes seventeen new stories by eight British and nine North American authors, some well-known and others up-and-coming in the field. As in previous volumes in this series, a wide range of literary strange fiction is represented here, from the science fiction of Charles Wilkinson’s ‘The Investigation of Innocence’, to the historical fantasy-horror of Elise Forier Edie’s ‘You Go Back’, to the stream-of-consciousness, psychological weirdness of Andrew Apter’s ‘The Man Who Loved Flies’ to the evocative sleight of hand that is Mark Valentine’s ‘Yes, I Knew the Venusian Commodore’.
These are, by any measure, superb short stories, and it is hoped that Strange Tales V will further the cause of contemporary speculative fiction and help introduce it to a wider audience.