*Partial spoilers ahead*

The stories in Peter Straub's third collection of short fiction are generally of a more experimental bent than those in the first two books (Houses Without Doors and Magic Terror). These stories are also significantly shorter; there are no novella-length tales like "The Buffalo Hunter" or "Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff." Fortunately, Straub was one of the few writers talented enough to use abstraction effectively, so his fans will find these pieces as satisfying as his longer, more conventional stories.

There are three relatively minor tales here: "Lapland, or Film Noir," written in the form of a screenplay synopsis (and revisiting the childhood trauma that Straub had previously explored in "The Juniper Tree" and "Bunny Is Good Bread"); "Donald, Duck!", an almost zany black comedy piece about a grizzled showbiz legend and his nephews, former child stars but now grown men (or rather ducks); and "The Geezers," which Straub described as "an exercise in withholding everything that might explain what [the characters] were up to, and describing instead their reactions to the consequences of the unstated actions".

The major works are "Little Red's Tango" and "Mr. Aickman's Air Rifle." In the former, the hermetic existence of a middle-aged record collector doesn't prevent him from having a number of extraordinary experiences: some of them oddly magical and one (which may bear some relation to his murky past) absolutely horrific. The latter, which Straub wrote after a heart scare landed him in the hospital for a week, is my favorite of his stories. The title accurately suggests the influence of Robert Aickman, but that's really just the jumping-off point. Four veterans of the writing and publishing industry find themselves on the swanky "concierge" floor of the same hospital, and three of them seem to recall an identical disturbing episode from their adolescent years. Unease soon builds to alarm as they realize that something is very, very wrong. "Mr. Aickman's Air Rifle" is a story about remorse that comes too late to be of any use, and is followed swiftly by poetic justice.

My only complaint about 5 Stories is the inexplicable and totally unprofessional lack of proofreading. The book is riddled with typos, and should never have been allowed to go to press in this condition. ( )

Peter Straub definitely knows how to hook a reader and seduce that person with his writing. Straub's style is poetic and lyrical. He is a master at crafting a scene and pulling the imagery through to the reader. This remains true for his characters too which evolve into fully dimensional characters. With all the images being created, his stories generally take a little while to build up; when they do get that time, they are awesome. This book is a collection of five short stories and unfortunately, none of the stories really have the length that they need to become gripping.

"Little Red's Tango" is a great character visualization; the short pulls multiple scenes together to illustrate a guy named Little Red. However, there is no story; it could have continued and revealed more of the characters or stopped earlier to reveal less.

"Lapland, or Film Noir" and "The Geezers" both had more story but not enough to pull me along.

"Donald, Duck" was the most interesting of the five. It revealed the life of Donald Duck and the rest of the Duck clan as they are beseeched by a Black Widow. A Black Widow that Donald is too love-blind to see.

And the final story "Mr. Aickman's Air Rifle" fell into the same problem of not having enough story to actively engage me. The writing is gorgeous and very beautiful to picture but I was hoping for a bit more action to occur. ( )