The stories in this volume are some of R. A. Lafferty’s finest—taut and terrifying, yet pungent with his uniquely cynical tone. He stares down mercilessly at a world gone quietly mad.

“The Man Who Never Was” treads across the thin line between reality and illusion, thickening the haze that separates who we are from who we pretend to be. “Maleficent Morning” is about undoing the unthinkable, a masterful take on themes that range from the myth of Aladdin’s Lamp to the curse of “The Monkey’s Paw.” Coursing between nightmare and waking, its folksiness makes it all the more jarring. “Groaning Hinges of the World” is a dark fable about a world overtaken by depravity. “Long Teeth” is a strange brew of grue, gore, and greed, a corrosive narrative about the cyclical effect of avarice. “Day of the Glacier” is a prescient, literally spine-chilling account of a climatic catastrophe fueled by paranoia and militarism. “Three Shadows of the Wolf” is a suspenseful, fanciful, and undeniably moody mystery about the hunt for an elusive and very intelligent werewolf.