What can I say, I'm a sucker for dark, brooding albinos wearing black and fighting the forces of evil. As such, I have been a fan of Dack Shannon, that wonderfully flawed albino character from the mind of Steven L. Shrewsbury, for more than two years now. Having followed this character as he evolved within the electronic pages of several e-zines and websites, it was with great pleasure that I recently learned of a Trade Paperback Anthology grouping seventeen tales of the Albino Man-In-Black from Majestic Services into a single volume.

Ok, now for some background: Dack Shannon grew up in St. John's School And Orphanage in Peoria, Illinois, a tall and lanky albino with pink eyes and an, "It's Me Against The World," attitude. Recruited in his later years by that most undercover of agencies, Majestic Services, Dack dons his black trenchcoat and signature bullet-proof fedora with style and ease and fights crime with an unerring sense of justice. But don't let this brief description of Dack and his "job" fool you, folks. Majestic Services isn't just any other intelligence agency. No, sir! Majestic agents get called in to do all the dirty work, I mean the REALLY dirty work. From aliens to possessive demons, from blood-thirsty psychopaths to spiritually evil apparitions, from dirty congressmen to flawed mad-scientists, the men of Majestic have seen it all. That's just one of the things that makes these stories so much fun--you never know what Steven L. Shrewsbury (known by his friends and colleagues merely as "Shrews") is going to throw at Dack Shannon next.

Mixing so many elements of speculative fiction together with one character works extremely well for Dack Shannon. Throw in a cast of also colorful characters; including a former intelligence-agent priest, a stripper-acolyte, a coroner with a bad attitude and a helpful member of Peoria's finest, and each Dack Shannon tale comes ready to please and rich with action and adventure.

Yes, I am a fan of Steven L. Shrewsbury's work, that must be evident if you've gotten this far. But don't let that phase you. Pick up a copy of NOCTURNAL VACATIONS yourself and witness the evidence of this man's imagination and sheer story-telling talents first-hand. I promise, you won't be disappointed. Dack Shannon fans especially are treated to two Brand New tales in this volume, as well as a refining and rewriting of the other fifteen tales that have seen life in other venues over the past couple of years.

I thoroughly enjoyed this anthology and hope that it will be successful in luring new fans to the Dack Shannon Universe in the future. I was able to order my copy quite easily from AMAZON.COM [link above - Steve], it was delivered in less than three days. Steven L. Shrewsbury mentions another project, COMMON GRAVE, in his closing to NOCTURNAL VACATIONS. This new Dack Shannon novel is soon to be released and I simply can't wait for that, to be sure.

This review was first published in a slightly different form on The Outer Rim Website