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.