I read a preview of one of the the stories in this collection; it was striking and sharply written. Pick it up if you like the weird and surprising.

This collection of nightmarish short stories is a fascinating read. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys horror that makes you think.

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I'm always on the lookout for new horror, a terrifying tale that grabs me not because it follows suit with other horror stories, but something that takes the genre and turns it on its ear and forces me to think in a new way. Jeremy C. Shipp's collection "Sheep and Wolves" does just that. With stories showing the dark side of non-conformity or of being an outsider -- "Camp" follows the young narrator as he dares to confront what he believes to be wrong, with terrible consequences -- or those who do what they're told only to uncover the truth -- "American Sheep"'s narrator finds himself in a series of rooms, with a loud voice booming instructions that become gradually worse and debasing -- Shipp's stories are the closest I've come to what a dream or nightmare actually is: the quick and subtle changes in place and time that should be awkward but aren't, the bizarre array of characters and creatures that feel normal though they shouldn't. They are delightfully twisted tales of horror, each one darkly humorous, each one somehow just the right length to leave you both satisfied and craving to read more. ( )

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

New readers, don't mistakenly think that the only books I do micro-reviews for are ones I didn't particularly care for, or that weren't particularly good; just take this title for a good example, alt-horror hero (and 2007 Stoker Award nominee) Jeremy Shipp's newest, the magnificent and extremely unsettling story collection Sheep and Wolves. Regular readers will of course remember Shipp; about a year ago I favorably reviewed his last novel, the witty political black comedy Vacation; but make no mistake, this latest manuscript is quite different in tone, a much bleaker and more terrifying book, one that is much more clear on where the "horror" is in alt-horror. Not quite related stories but not quite standalone either, they all seem to take place in a bizarre alternate reality that is somewhat like our own, except where supernatural elements clearly actually exist; and it's also a more savage place among the humans than our own world as well, a post-democracy society (or maybe one where democracy never existed), full of predatory "wolf" humans full of barely concealed violent rage at the world, who are taught to successfully live together by channelling that energy into acts of unspeakable violence against the much larger number of human "sheep" that exist (hence the title of this story collection). Or in simpler terms, imagine the society-approved brutality of fascism combined with the outright insanity of serial killers, in a world where malicious ethereal spirits really do exist, the kind of stuff that keeps nerdy intellectuals up at night.

It's the scariest freaking book I've read in a decade, make no mistake; but since it's a story collection instead of a novel, I as usual would have a hard time writing out a long-form analytical review of it, which is why I'm instead writing up a smaller essay and simply recommending it highly. When people say "New Horror," this is the kind of book they're talking about, stuff for you existing horror fans who have grown tired of the usual overwritten delicacies of late-period Stephen King and the like. It comes with a big thumbs-up, and will undoubtedly become known eventually as a dark classic from this prolific underground author.

Out of 10: 9.6 ( )