 
WHAT is it: THE URBAN BIZARRE (Prime Books), is an anthology of city tales by the hottest new SF writers, pornographers, zinesters, and transgressive writers. It is edited by Nick Mamatas (Northern Gothic, Move Under Ground) and features the following works of genius: "Tuck" by Mike Hemmingson "Anxiety Branson, Social Security Hustler" by Charlie Anders "Amy" by Ann Sterzinger "Electric Complex" by KZ Perry "Ruby Tuesday" by Tsaurah Litzky "Dick for Eternity" by Jeff Somers "Blue Chuck Does Thrilltown" by Tim Pratt and Heather Shaw "The Last Clean Spot" by Ian Grey "Cue the Circus Music Fantastic" by Frank J. Marcopolos "A Dangerous Day" by Doug Texter "The Defragmentation of Thomas Crane" by Jeff Somers "Highway to Hell" by Mike Belfiore "Perhaps the Snail" by James Maxey "Long Island Iced Tea" by Mike Hemmingson These are stories too weird, too dark, and just plain too bizarre to be published elsewhere. Edited by the Bram Stoker Award-nominated author Nick Mamatas, the anthology is 14% Somers fiction. WHERE can you buy it: Lot's o' places, but online you can go to SHOCKLINES AMAZON WHY should you care: Because it contains TWO very wonderful Jeff Somers original short stories, fool! You won't find these stories online or in any other publication. Besides, I needs me some drinkin' money. 2/20/04: READING ACCOMPLISHED. At The Lucky Cat last night, the authors of the stories published in the new anthology THE URBAN BIZARRE rocked the house with some kick-ass readin'. Your Humble Editor, Ann Sterzinger, Frank Marcopolos, Mike Hemmingson, and Tsaurah Litzky read from the anthology or from other writings to an appreciative crowd, who bought seven copies of the book. I got to meet all these fine people, as well as our wise and benevolent editor, Nick Mamatas, and had a few drinks too in a fantastic bar--if in Brooklyn, kids, check out The Lucky Cat. Now, if you couldn't be there, shame on you--but make it up to me by buying a few copies of TUB. And make sure you include a note with your purchase order telling them that it's because of me, so I'll get more paying gigs to write. Damn your eyes. 3/9/04: Adam Lipkin reviewed TUB on Bookslut, and raved: "The best of the bunch includes "Perhaps the Snail". . .Of the rest, the best is "The Defragmentation of Thomas Crane" by Jeff Somers (whose other story, "Dick for Eternity" doesn't work nearly as well for me). It's one of those stories of gradual horror that King did so well in his early days, and that others, like Michael Marshall Smith, still write. . ." Go check it yo'self, bubba. 3/1/04: Author David Niall Wilson is writing a story-by-story review of TUB on his livejournal. He didn't care much for "Dick for Eternity", but them's the breaks: "You didn't think I'd like them all, did you? Some stories just don’t really work for me, and unfortunately this is one. The reason is simple, and I’ll try to explain it without giving away the aformentionedoverandover spoilers. I love stylistic writing. I do not believe you have to have an intro / body / conclusion with a single conflict to create a viable short story. Not even close. I do not subscribe to the theory you need a likeable accessible protagonist. I wanted all that up front because I can hear the cries of foul echoing already. The writing is solid. The protagonist is very believable, is well-developed, and the supporting cast are all similarly well-crafted. The setting is good, and I’ll bet when you read it you will remember it from some party you’ve been to in your past…or them from some people you knew. I know that’s how I felt. The problem is this. I don’t see a point in the story. The plot is pretty straight forward. The interaction between characters is clear and pretty believable, right down to the : IMAGES THAT STICK: A loser trying to make time with a corpse. Same loser ranting about where his sister is – and with who. Pale faced loud-talking girl. Indifferent, arrogant protagonist. But a story, to me, can be broken down most simply to a grouping of words vaguely formed into paragraphs and pages that has a point. This meets all but the last criteria, to my mind – the story happens, no real reason why, no real conflict, and in the end – the indifference of the protagonist wears off on the reader. If it were the introduction to a longer work – it could work very well. As it stands it left me wanting more." He liked "The Defragmentation of Thomas Crane" a lot better: "This is the second tale by this author in the anthology, and a very different type and style from the first. This book is rife with instances of what I call Droidian Slips. These are when our world - this one, here on the computer where so many of us spend so much time these days, or on cell phones, beepers, pagers, IPAQ / MAC whatevers wired into something or everything slips into our fiction. This can be a problem for a mainstream, computer illiterate audience, but it worked very well for me. The title of this one is a good indicator.
When you de-fragment a hard drive, all the data is dragged to a big empty space, like for spring cleaning, then put back into better order leaving less clutter - more efficiency - even looking brighter (and you can TELL this because the horrible contrasting colors of your heavily fragmented drive come into harmony in the GUI display on the monitor ).
What if this happened to a life?
What if that life already seemed efficient, and orderly, but . . .
Anyway, no spoilers.
IMAGES THAT STICK: A man reaching to pull a book he has never owned from his own shelf and saying "I HATE Hawthorne"
A man in a pressed suit snaking a toilet.
A man burning identical cigarette holes in a new couch because he wants it like the old couch(as images flash in my mind of putting back icons, re-arranging folders, and ruining the work of Diskeeper Plus on my own computer).
This is an intriguing parallel, and a well-wrought story. A parable for the computer age." Other Books from the Fecund Mind of Jeff Somers: 
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