In the title story "Polyphemus," an exploration team on a desert planet faces death when it encounters a terrifying alien monstrosity. In "The Angel of Death," a serial killer who has a city on edge may finally have met his match in the form of a powerful interplanetary traveler. In the blackly humorous "Uncle Tuggs," a series of grisly and bizarre deaths may be connected to the mysterious disappearance of old Uncle Tuggs. "The Horror on the #33" tells of a man's struggle with a deadly and horrible monster on a city bus. And in the highlight of the collection, "The Autopsy," which Algis Budrys called "one of the most successful meldings of science fiction with horror that I have ever encountered" and which was filmed for Guillermo del Toro's Netflix series Cabinet of Curiosities, an aging pathologist is called in to perform an autopsy-but what he discovers during his examination is chilling and unthinkable ...
Michael Shea (1946-2014) was one of the finest American authors of speculative fiction of modern times, and Polyphemus (1987), originally published as a limited edition hardcover by Arkham House, features the best of his short fiction, in which he deftly blends the genres of horror, fantasy, and science fiction. A landmark collection of modern speculative fiction returns to print at long last in this edition, which features a new introduction by Laird Barron.