I love to read short fiction. I think the forms of short story, novelette and novella are sorely overlooked and under-appreciated in the literary world today. Having attempted to work with all three forms in my own writing, I know just how hard it is to make even a conditional success of them, let alone turn out works that are complex, and which engage the mind as well as the heart. That's why when I find a modern collection of really good short stories, I invariably rave about it and recommend it to everybody I can find. Such books are increasingly rare treasures in today's easy-reading, fast-food-fiction world, and they deserve to be read by as many people as possible.

That's why, if you haven't already, you should run out and find a copy of McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales. The list of contributors alone should be enough to get your attention: Stephen King, Carol Emshwiller, Laurie King, Glen David Gold, Michael Chabon, Elmore Leonard, Michael Crichton, Neil Gaiman -- and that's just a few of the many excellent writers contributing some truly excellent work to this anthology.

Chabon, author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Klay, one of the best novels of recent years, says in the introduction that he longed to get away from the "short stories, plotless and sparkling with epiphanic dew" that characterize so much of modern short fiction, and return to the great old days of the tightly-plotted tales in pulp magazines. So when Dave Eggers asked him to guest-edit McSweeney's, Chabon jumped at the chance to bring his dream to life. To that end, this book has "pulp" written all over it, from the cover art (taken from an actual 1940 cover from Red Star Mystery Magazine), to the lurid exclamations of the cover copy, to the hyperbolic story summaries on the contents page, to Howard Chaykin's expressive illustrations; the whole creates a package designed to put one in mind of the pulps' heyday -- and while the stories within aren't quite that spectacular, they're still damned impressive.

A few of my favorites include "The Tears of Squonk, & What Happened After," Glen David Gold's heartfelt meditation on revenge; "Catskin," an eerie fairy tale by Kelly Link; Nick Hornby's "Otherwise Pandemonium," a great urban fantasy about a teenage boy whose secondhand VCR shows him the future; "Weaving the Dark," by Laurie King, a creepy yet humorous mystery (whose illustration, unfortunately, gives the ending away); "Ghost Dance," a dark and grim horror-fest by Sherman Alexie; and "The Martian Agent, a Planetary Romance," by Chabon himself, an excellent alternative history tale, very much in the vein of Michael Moorcock (himself a contributor), and a delightful closer for the anthology -- with the promise of a sequel to come. Can't wait!

Other stories are good, though not perhaps the classics Chabon was hoping for -- like Michael Crichton's "Blood Doesn't Come Out," which is dark and effective though a bit unsavory, Moorcock's "The Case of the Nazi Canary," which is almost too clever and wry for its own good, Harlan Ellison's "Goodbye to All That," a reprint of a story he's already published (the lone exception in an anthology that promises the stories are all new, never before seen), and which is a retread of his Ronald Colman/Shangri-la/shaggy-dog-story-with-a-bad-punchline obsession. It's a decent story, but I would have preferred something original from Harlan. And Stephen King's "The Tale of Gray Dick," an excerpt from the most recent Dark Tower novel, is far more subtle than his usual fare, and less engaging because of it, though it does grow on you.

Probably the best story in McSweeney's is Rick Moody's "The Albertine Notes," a tour de force tale about a drug that allows one to relive memories. It's not unlike a Philip K. Dick story in sensibility, though in terms of writing and execution it's light years past even PKD's best work. The deeper you get into Moody's dark, atmospheric story (set in a near-future New York that is nightmarishly close to our worst surmises about what terrorism could do to it), the more it unfolds and envelops you; perceptions change, events shift and reality itself goes up for grabs. The climax of the story, told in a Joyce-like rush of prose that is one of the most thrilling, enthralling things I've read in years, must be read carefully to be understood; once you do so, I guarantee you a frisson you will remember fondly for a long time. In my opinion, "The Albertine Notes" is one of the best stories I've read in years.

If you love short fiction as much as I do, McSweeney's is for you. It's a multifarious, engaging, occasionally frustrating, but thoroughly excellent read, and one I hope you'll treasure for years to come. The best part is that a second McSweeney's book, likewise edited by Chabon, is due out later this year. If it's anywhere near as good as the first, I'm there.