In the unforgettable, wondrous Mindworks, Neal Shusterman (All Better Now) presents a collection of his "eerie, or surreal, or mind-melding, or darkly absurd" short stories; some brand-new, and others previously published and revised to reflect social changes and tech upgrades. The 43 stories (a number of which were co-written with either his son Brendan or TV writer friend Terry Black) are organized into seven categories with themes like "the dead and undead," "nature out of control," and "personal transformations," and include two stories from the beloved world of The Arc of a Scythe series.
Some of the stories contained within this "uncanny compendium of short fiction" are unsettlingly odd, like "Butterball," which is a snappy one-pager about a "self-basting" turkey that "soaked its own bloated body in the cloudy liquid that had been boiled from its flesh." Others are spine-chilling, like "Yardwork," in which an older man enlists his young neighbor to help him dig his own grave. Shusterman's inventive, thought-provoking compilation of sci-fi, dystopian, and horror stories is sure to entertain for hours. --Lana Barnes, freelance reviewer and proofreader