title: Black Pockets: And Other Dark Thoughts
author:  George Zebrowski 
description: <i>Starred Review.</i> Veteran SF author Zebrowski (<i>Macrolife</i>) probes the nether reaches of horror in this outstanding story collection. Spanning three decades and divided into "Personal Terrors," "Political Horrors" and "Metaphysical Fears," these 19 disturbing tales treat "the greatest horrors that dwell inside us," or what Zebrowski calls "our jailed innards." From "The Wish in the Fear," a story of heartbreak and alienation, through "The Soft Terrible Music," a searing portrait of the fate of dissidents, to the soul-shaking "Interpose," a wholly new look at Jesus Christ, Zebrowski treats the psychological enigma of the look-alike Otheror perhaps what he calls "the fault in us" responsible for mankind's crimes. Clearly displayed also is Zebrowski's deep sympathy for the underdog, whether the starving Polish zoo animals in his ferocious allegory "General Jarulzelski at the Zoo" or the helpless female trapped by her reproductive system in "First Love, First Fear." The title story sums up humanity's Faustian fascination with power, forcing those fearful glimpses into what we all would rather not see: ourselves. <i>(May)</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  The Three Overcoats
  
  
  This page copyright © 2004 Blackmask Online.
  
  
  
  
  
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  # The Three Overcoats
  
  
  ### Jacques Futrelle
  
  
  This page copyright © 2004 Blackmask Online.
  
  
  http://www.blackmask.com  
    
  
      
      
      Etext from Futrelle.com
  
  
  Under the influence of that singular feeling of some one being in
  
  
  the room with him, Carroll Garland opened his eyes suddenly from sound
  
  
  sleep. The intuition was correct; there was some one in the room with
  
  
  him—a man whose back was turned. At that particular moment he was
  
  
  examining the clothing Garland had discarded on retiring. Garland
  
  
  raised himself on one elbow, and the bed creaked a little.
  
  
  “Don't disturb yourself,” said the man, without turning, “I'll be
  
  
  through in a minute.”
  
  
  “Through what?” demanded Garland. “My pockets?”
  
  
  The stranger straightened up and turned toward him. He was a tall,
  
  
  lithe, clean-cut young man, with crisp, curly hair, and a quizzical
  
  
  expression about his eyes and lips.