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Strange Doors Anthology by John Argo

DarkSF is the Dark Chocolate of Science Fiction

These ten (not eight, just to be different) stories by John Argo straddle the murky region of pure imagination, dimly illumined by a weird light through Strange Doors. John Argo's button box stories hold up a lens, offering us odd new ways of looking at things we take usually for granted. Yes, even the count is off--these eight tales contain two strays from the Night Shots series that took a taxi in the night to come and dance in this hall after hours.

Be aware: some of these stories are strong stuff. They range from bloody justice (Susie) to the thought-jarring (Three Tales of Parallelocation) to wistful tales of love and loss (Petra). You'll meet a successful man who finds only one way to stop the painful movie of his father (Killing Daddy--watch the last frame carefully, or you'll piss the moint). There is a story for all men (and many women) about love and fidelity (The Flower Baron). See the Table of Buttons inside for the full list.

A good story may be lurking any place--under your bed, in the closet, among the dead beef sticks at the super market, or in a huge, rustling, empty building in the last rays of daylight or, for that matter, in the afterglow of dead civilizations--you never know.

The Up Late: the Argo 8 (Strange Doors series) stories are the kind of imaginative and slightly to muchly off-balance fiction that Rod Serling managed to fit into his beloved Twilight Zone series over half a century ago. In that same spirit, John Argo offers a wonderful button box selection (or call it a bonbonniere) of SF, Fantasy, and Horror--with a skilful sprinkling of suspense and mystery to jazz up the atmosphere. These are original, fresh stories right off the bar & grill down a street of neon and fog, where time is not an option--we're always up too late.

When you read Up Late: the Argo 8, you are walking down well-worn, eerie hallways with many Gothic looking doors. You may be tempted to open some, or else hurry as fast as you can to reach daylight. Whatever you do--go with the flow. Let the dark atmosphere carry you to where the author wants to take you. You'll be glad you did. Remember, it's only a story. Then again, that's life, especially when the clock face on the wall has no hands, the numbers are out of sequence, and only a dim light refracts through a beer-tinted prism. We hear a gunshot…

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