Carl E. Reed is a vibrant new voice in weird fiction. But Reed has in fact been writing for more than twenty years, and as such he exhibits an assurance and panache rarely found in authors who are offering their first short story collection to the public.

Reed is well versed in the heritage of weird fiction, as his tributes to Poe ("A Matter of Debt Concerning the Gentleman in Baltimore"), Lovecraft ("Cold Tickle"), and others. But Reed goes back even further, resurrecting Celtic and Native American myth into the present day.

But Reed's greatest virtue is his sensitivity to the nuances of our muddled age-a parent's torment at the loss of a child, the breakdown of social norms in modern society, and the baleful nature of politics in the contemporary world. The book concludes with a staggeringly imaginative novella, "The Moebius Strip Trip." And the volume is also graced with an array of Reed's vibrant poetry.

Dark Matter introduces a weird artist whose voice will be heard for many years.