the literature of darkness holds a haunting immediacy for most readers the life of man after all is but a brief interval between one darkness and another while the world he inhabits is likewise merely an ephemeral flicker within a universe enshrouded by perpetual night as each finite being runs its course then afterward comes the darkbasil copper has explored this grimly somber realm of human reality with a sensitivity and skill that is almost unparalleled among the fantasy writers of our age all seven tales in and afterward the dark treat the subject of death but in each instance this common theme has been magically transmuted through the incomparable alchemy of coppers marvelous macabre imaginationcontentsintroduction by edward wagenknechtthe spiderthe cavedust to dustcamera obscurathe janissaries of emilionarchives of the deadthe flabby men