A handsome slipcase holds three paperback books. First is "Auto-phobia" by Art Spiegelman, a sketchbook he created to for drawings done for pure pleasure, rather than to be published for cash. Next is "Lots of Things Like This ____," with the blank space holding a simple doodle. It's a collection of mostly humorous sketches that include text, many by famous artists. Finally, there's the volume containing the short stories. I still remember Jim Shepard's historical fiction, " Classical Scenes of Farewell," the confessions of a young man enlisted to assist in the serial murders of more than 100 children in medieval France. I also remember "The Crack" by Mikel Jollett about a group of terminally-ill street kids exploring a cavern underneath Hollywood. Finally, there's Stephen King's "A Very Tight Place," which takes a very simple setup--being purposely trapped in a porta-pottie during a hot spell--and turns it into a tense, gross escape thriller. ( )

One volume of six short stories, including one by Stephen King. Accompanied by a slim volume of drawings and paintings connected by the themes of image-text-humor, and a facsimile of an Art Spiegelman notebook. The latter is quite amusing. ( )

Not as good as other McSweeney's collections. The Stephen King story, in particular, was disappointing. I was hoping for a much more involved turn-around at the end of that story, instead it just petered out. "Sod Turned Spring" was good after a few read-throughs. It felt more like prose poetry for the amount of effort involved to piece the story together. "The Crack" was the stand-out story of this volume, and what a fantastic story it is. The stories in this volume deal in one way or another with death. "The Crack" is the one that hit the death theme out of the park by facing it head on and not shying away from the simultaneous need to deal with it and avoid thinking about it. ( )

Issue #27 is a box of three volumes:

1) "Autophobia," a reproduction of a daily-ish sketchbook by Art Spiegelman, originally drawn between March 12 and May 26, 2007.

2) "Things Like This," a book of drawings by various and sundry folks, some very well known (like Kurt Vonnegut and Marcel Duchamp). Each drawing is accompanied by a caption written by the artist.

3) A book of shortish stories by Larry Smith, Jim Shepard, Ashlee Adams, Liz Mandrell, Mikel Jollett, and Stephen King.

Both "Autophobia" and "Things Like This" are charming and full of the tidbits of insight that one might expect would be in such collections. They responded well to browsing, which is how I approached them. They are great fun, and occasionally unexpectedly rewarding.

The volume of stories, which is in the classic McSweeney's format, is just great, with many highlights and consistently wonderful writing--even in the stories that were not my favorites. I'll just mention the stories that make this issue worth picking up.

* "Classical Scenes of Farewell" by Jim Shepard is the memoir of a 15th century serial killer's young accomplice, which is beautifully written and balances the reader's voyeuristic "enjoyment" of the sordid tale with an intelligent (and, in the end, explicit) indictment of such voyeurism.

* "The Crack" by Mikel Jollett was my favorite story by far in this issue. It is partly an adventure story and partly a "magical realism" take on the experience of terminal illness. It reminded me of the stories in McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories, a compilation of stories that use the tropes and pleasures of genre fiction to deal with matter usually labeled "literary" (i.e. "deeper stuff"). The characters are lovingly described and their actions and words in the face of doom (both personal and general) rang true for this reader--not an easy feat.

* "A Very Tight Place" by Stephen King is the last story in the volume. Unlike you, probably, I am woefully unfamiliar with Stephen King's writing, having read only his great book "On Writing" and one or two other stories in other places, long ago. "A Tight Place" surprised me: I expected it to be well crafted, which it is. I did not expect it to be full of small and wonderful details, and to add up to more than just a little thrilling story.

All in all, this issue embodied the strengths of McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, and reminded me of why I subscribe (even though I don't read each issue as it arrives, thanks to life's many distractions). ( )