There are some really good stories in here, but this is not a book of short stories, as the title suggests. Four of the older tales are novel, or at least novella length, and as a result take up well over half of the book. The remainder are actual short stories, and nicely varied, although some I would have categorised as fantasy, or under the more broad definition of speculative fiction.
I do enjoy anthologies that showcase stories from different eras, but the long, older stories in this just don't fit. I'm not denying their importance in Black speculative fiction, but they're too long. They're also harder to read than the contemporary pieces, and at least some take a long time to get to any sci-fi or speculative content.
Overall, fans of sci-fi and/or speculative fiction will find satisfying content within this book. There are some wonderfully original pieces. But, I feel a little cheated. It's just a tiny taste of what's out there. An anthology with this number of pages should have so many more short stories. Those stories are out there. To use four pieces way too long to be considered 'short' has denied a lot of stories a place in what should be an important doorway into Black sci-fi short fiction. ( )