"Little Red's Tango" incorporates a vampire story, miracle legends, a
saint's legend, an epistle, beatitudes, and jazz minutiae within a
contemporary faux-gospel. "Lapland, or Film Noir" is a journey to a
place of the dark, paranoid crime movies made in Los Angeles between
1948 and 1956, which Straub calls "one of the most compelling periods in
American film history." "The Geezers" is a fascinating exercise in
withholding everything that might explain what the protagonists and
their friends were up to, and describing instead their reactions to the
consequences of the unstated actions. It is Straub at his best. "Donald
Duck" is a surreal study of how a family can be changed irrevocably by
the decisions of one reckless member. The final tale, "Mr. Aickman's Air
Rifle" reveals itself in clever homage as Straub deliberately assumes
the mantle of "a great and respected elder, with felonious intentions."
