DARK STARRY MORNING

A collection of stories, five of which deal with intrusions of the supernatural into everyday life: A freshman track star is helped by a ghostly trainer, a boy learns to fight off night monsters with the help of a mysterious clown, a girl locates the ghost of Jimi Hendrix for her terminally ill aunt, a man who was supposedly murdered visits his old neighborhood, and two children are given a chance at immortality by aliens. The sixth is set in the near future, where the last of the whales has just been captured. Oddly enough, these tales aren't scary at all, but rather sweet and occasionally moving. Ghostly isn't equated with evil, and the characters accept the unearthly into their lives with gentle ease. If there is life after death, or aliens, or strange powers, this is their ideal form: a comfort and blessing to the living. Charming stories, these have the spooky premises to grab horror fans, and will hold them with the promise of something better than blood and gore. (Short stories. 11-14)