My thanks to NetGalley and Soho Press for this collection of short stories that spans years, genres and styles, by an author who constantly keeps moving forward.

When creating art it is easy to become complacent. If the work one is doing is successful, why mess with success. As one grows older the lack of fear that one had while young is replaced by that inner voice one that is more conservative in thinking, the do I have the skill I once had. To switch genres, go from fiction to nonfiction, translate works, and write biographies and critiques on literature. That is a lot to ask. And yet some artists do that, answering not to the markets, and even their agents, but to their own inner voice. And we lucky when they do, for that is usually the work that lasts, and inspires others. This collection of short stories is proof of that. Stories of out there science fiction, stories of human emotions, death, mystery and criminal acts. Bright Segments: The Complete Short Fiction is written by James Sallis and are short stories written over a lifetime showing a writer never content with the last story, always striving for something new.

The collection offers over 150 short stories, a few never before collected. These are a mix, science fiction, crime, mystery, a few funny stories, a few weird stories, and a few that even if older reflect a lot of the confusion that we as a people are dealing with today. There are no notes, this book drops one in and goes starting with tale that's a mix of William Burroughs, Michael Moorcock, and a lot of Harlan Ellison Dangerous Visions. Art and creation are themes that appear a few times, adding enough paint to a painting to have it crash through a floor, stories about poets on far distant planets, and such. Some like perfect movies, the words so visual one can see them playing on a screen in the mind. The collection ends with a quiet story, quiet as compared to the first, about family. A daughter gets a rough cut of her mother's current movie, and finds out what is happening in her life, one she seems to only know by watching her films.

After reading this collection I am really confused. I knew James Sallis from his book Drive which I had read years ago, and his biography on Chester Hines, which I had enjoyed. Starting this collection I was confused because I was unaware that he began in the New Wave movement of science fiction. And this stories were stuff I loved years ago, and even know enjoyed. I'm not sure how chronological this book was, but one sees growth in Sallis as ideas changes, age comes on, the world keeps going downhill, which I wonder is why he turned to crime stories. These were good to, from simple detection, to a noir story and more. Reading a short story collection I always have a few stories that after a sentence or two I go, hmm next. This one is a rare treat in that I read everything. I thought of this almost like a Norton Anthology, as one story after the other seemed so different, style wise, idea wise. I really good collection, and one I can't recommend enough.

This single volume collections of 154 stories, 12 of which are exclusive to this volume, is a treasure for Sallis fans and, of course a fantastic introduction to his variety of styles and genres. I haven't finished it yet because I'm parceling out the stories to last over a few months. It's that good.