A mixed collection of more or less weird stories. Some clearly seemed like a good idea at the time, like the one about the telemarketer whose show is hijacked by comedy extraterrestrials, or "Author of the Death", a pretty unoriginal author-meets-character skit. There are two or three unspectacular zombie stories, and several pieces like "Different Now" and "Walking Wounded" that with varying success analyse relationships and emotions by making metaphors literal or otherwise weirding the environment. The best of the bunch, I thought, were "Unnoticed", a dreamy and quite unsettling atmosphere piece, and "The Woodcutter", a great modern-day take on fairies with some very well-executed violence. None of these are remotely terrifying - only one or two are even slightly creepy - and the prose never rises above the functional, but there's enough invention and variety here to make the collection a worthwhile read. ( )

Short story collection. Smith is a sharp observer of modern masculinity who writes horror/sf/thrillers (as Michael Marshall), and I’ll read anything he writes, but this collection showcases that he really mostly does write about middle-aged heterosexual white men discovering that the world is not what they thought. When that’s put into a horror context, it can deliver some thrills (like the story about the man whose mixed-up grocery delivery sends him on a quest for the woman he imagines did order all that meat and chocolate, unlike his health-conscious wife), but the short story form doesn’t let Smith build up to the kind of violent, cathartic climaxes that I think he does better than small realizations. ( )

As darkly satisfying as I expected. MMS has a narrative voice that I find compelling and entertaining, and an imagination that is all sharp edges, and shadowy corners. Nonetheless, I'd peg this collection as less bleak than What You Make It. The highlight for me here was Author of the Death, a knowing pastiche with plenty of nods to the fans, in which a protagonist goes in search of his author. ( )