the Bram Stoker Award as best first novel and was
one of his few conventional stories, in this case the
travails of a town menaced by an ancient evil re-
cently reawakened.
The Mailman(1991) was much more interest-
ing and typical of his subsequent work. The arrival
of a new mailman in a small town coincides with a
rash of distressing letters filled with threats, old
scandals, new charges, and mysterious items whose
existence seems to defy nature. The initial shock is
followed by a series of gruesome deaths and even-
tually by the realization that the mailman is, in
fact, not human at all. The novel is an interesting
parallel to Needful Thingsby Stephen King, which
was published the same year and has a very similar
theme. The Summoning(1993) is a vampire novel,
but not one from the European tradition. Little’s
invocation of Asian legends about the risen dead is
effectively unsettling and relentlessly suspenseful.
University (1994, also published as Night
School) was the first of Little’s novels to focus on
an institution as the generator of evil. In this case
an entire college campus has, in effect, become a
single malevolent entity. The Store(1996) goes
even further in divorcing the story from the real
world. A national chain opens a new branch in a
small town, but the store is almost a living thing,
administered by the mysterious and inhuman
Night Managers, and it spreads its influence
throughout the community like a demented, super-
naturally empowered Wal-Mart.
Dominion(1996, also published as The Dark
Dominion) is something of a change of pace. A
group of maenads who have survived into the
modern age recall Dionysus into the world and
transform a large part of California into a festival
of sex and death. His next two novels involve even
more unusual concepts. In Houses(1997, also pub-
lished as The House) several adults feel compelled
to return to the house where they grew up, but
these various houses are identical and all linked
through some mysterious power. The Ignored
(1997) may be Little’s most interesting and suc-
cessful novel, a grand elaboration of a device first
used by Charles BEAUMONTin “The Vanishing
American” (1955). The protagonist discovers that
he is gradually fading from the awareness of every-
one who knows him. Eventually, he encounters a
group of similar people, murders the boss he has
long loathed, and then engages in fruitless and
pointless terrorism before discovering a larger com-
munity of the invisible that is being run as a gov-
ernment project.
Little’s next two novels are less interesting.
Guests(1998) is a rather predictable ghost story,
and The Walking(2000) is set in a town founded by
witches whose dead rise from their graves and
amble about. The Town(2000) is much better, re-
vealing the consequences of forgetting to placate
one’s guardian angel. The Association(2001) some-
times feels almost surreal, and its impact depends
on the reader’s ability to accept that a small com-
munity might be able to operate in open violation
of state law without any of the affected residents
being willing to appeal to the authorities. The resi-
dents are subject to the whims of the homeowners’
association, which uses draconian measures, in-
cluding murder, to ensure compliance. Although
technically not fantasy, since there is nothing mag-
ical involved, the community functions in such a
bizarre and implausible fashion that it is clearly not
set in our world at all.
The Return(2002) involves an ancient curse
turned up by an archaeological expedition and is
quite suspenseful if one disregards the implausibly
unprofessional actions of the researchers in the
early chapters. The Policy(2003) is much better,
another story of a cursed institution, in this case an
insurance company whose policies have unusual
provisions and whose officers are not entirely
human. The strange goings on at a vacation spot
include a dangerous creature hiding in a swimming
pool in The Resort(2004). A good sampling of Lit-
tle’s short fiction can be found in The Collection
(2002). At his best, Little produces quirky, disturb-
ing stories that reveal the darker side of modern
society. He is adept at creating a world that resem-
bles ours closely but is slightly skewed in an un-
pleasant direction.“Little Girl Lost”Richard Matheson(1953)
There are few situations that cause greater tension
than a frightened or lost child and fewer terrors
that strike more directly at parents than a hint that
they might lose their own. Richard MATHESON“Little Girl Lost” 217