KILLING ME SOFTLY

Fifteen tales, some reprints, some originals, including Lucius Shepard's famous ``The Jaguar Hunter'' and Parke Godwin's also well-known ``The Fire When it Comes.'' Ursula K. LeGuin weighs in with another find Hainish tale, ``Unchosen Love,'' that dramatizes the complicated marriage arrangements of planet O's inhabitants. Pat Cadigan's ``She's Not There'' was inspired by the old Zombies hit record. ``The Joy of Hats'' is Mike Resnick and Nicholas A. DiChario's splendid title for a rather good yarn. Michael Swanwick rides that hell-bound train in ``North of Diddy-Wah-Diddy.'' Sexual slavery by computer is the subject of Nancy Kress's horrifying ``Hard Drive.'' And there are excellent contributions from, among others, Robert Silverberg, Michael Bishop, Tanith Lee, and Nancy A. Collins. A gruesomely arousing collection that, perhaps surprisingly, justifies its rather hyperbolic subtitle.