From Publishers Weekly
Aka The Terrifying Thai, Somtow has published some 40 horror and fantasy books, including 1998's Bram Stoker-nominated Darker Angel. He sets this collection of 10 stories in the surreal urban nightmare of Los Angeles; most are retellings of children's lore and religious mythology. "Gingerbread" is a horrific version of Hansel and Gretel where the witch, a chameleon-like fortune-teller who pimps two homeless children, dies in her own oven. In "Dr. Rumpole," the most imaginative and least violent of these tales, a hack screenwriter outwits a modern-day Rumpelstiltskin. The screenwriter could be talking about all the stories here when he theorizes that "Dr. Rumpole is an archetypal construct, brought to life by the frenzied collective agony of Hollywood screenwriters... when reality fails you, fairy tale kind of takes over." "The Ugliest Duckling" is a creepy tale of vampirism, while "A Thief in the Night" explores the continuing battle between Jesus and the Antichrist, from the latter's point of view. The title story deals with graffiti artists and centers on ill-fated, teenage street kid Bobby Donahue, whose fondest wish is to tag the moon. Thanks to a couple of possibly menacing, possibly imaginary aliens, he may have achieved his wish. Collectively, these stories portray ghostly/ghastly bottom-of-the-barrel L.A. losers in a mostly sympathetic light. One can smell the smog and hear the grinding gears of the city's traffic. Bangkok-born Somtow is also a composer and photographer, and several pages of his photos of his adopted city appear at the end of the book, for the edification, he says, of readers in Bangkok, which is also called City of angels. (July) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Ten tales, nine from 1993–98 and one original, from the author of Darker Angels (1998), etc. Three are based overtly on familiar fairy tales: Gingerbread features Hansel and Gretel as abused children who fall into the clutches of a witch who's also a Hollywood madam. Rumpelstiltskin returns as Dr. Rumpole, a Nazi war criminal and screenwriter of genius, who ends up an unwitting slave in a canny operator's basement; and in Mr. Death's Blue-Eyed Boy, the Pied Piper of Hamelin shows up, demanding payment for his services--plus accumulated interest. Elsewhere, vampires are on the side of the angels; when Jesus returns to Earth, the devil succeeds at the third attempt in corrupting Him--but, here, the devil's the good guy; King Arthur mixes it up with mythology, movies, and a serial killer; in the title piece, a tagger (a graffiti artist) yearns to leave his tag on the Moon, and, helped by like-minded aliens, succeeds; an ancient Mexican vampire wakes to find that the entire world is run by vampires; a violent father turns his stubborn son into a zombie; and a necrophiliac discovers his heart's desire in a vault full of cryogenically preserved heads.Creepy, nasty, and often disquieting: Somtow revels in aspects of the human psyche that most of us would rather not encounter. -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Book Description
This collection juxtaposes the hyper-stylized, post-modern trappings of LA with traditional fairy tales and and myths. Somtow’s grim retelling of Hansel and Gretel on the mean streets of LA will leave you reeling, while his post-modernistic impression of the Arthurian myths(The Hero’s Celluloid Journey) will change your perception of the Lady in the Lake forever. Somtow constantly subverts your expectations and brings to worlds you did not even know existed.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The loss of innocence. The seduction of death. The tragedy of desperate obsession. in Tagging the Moon: Fairy Tales From L.A., these are the things men and women are made of -- a far cry from puppydog tails, sugar, and spice. Here are ten extraordinary stories set in the surreal urban nightmare known as Los Angeles -- where the real-life horrors of survival in the concrete jungle collide with S. P. Somtow's unique vision of myth, legend, and the City of Angels. This major collection is a landmark in Somtow's ongoing exploration of the dark side of the human psyche and is a must for fans of modern urban horror. These are stories about Somtow's personal Los Angeles -- the ultimate land of true lies -- where beneath the mask of shimmering lights, perfect smiles, and Hollywood dreams, the Devil has nine million faces.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Aka The Terrifying Thai, Somtow has published some 40 horror and fantasy books, including 1998's Bram Stoker-nominated Darker Angel. He sets this collection of 10 stories in the surreal urban nightmare of Los Angeles; most are retellings of children's lore and religious mythology. "Gingerbread" is a horrific version of Hansel and Gretel where the witch, a chameleon-like fortune-teller who pimps two homeless children, dies in her own oven. In "Dr. Rumpole," the most imaginative and least violent of these tales, a hack screenwriter outwits a modern-day Rumpelstiltskin. The screenwriter could be talking about all the stories here when he theorizes that "Dr. Rumpole is an archetypal construct, brought to life by the frenzied collective agony of Hollywood screenwriters... when reality fails you, fairy tale kind of takes over." "The Ugliest Duckling" is a creepy tale of vampirism, while "A Thief in the Night" explores the continuing battle between Jesus and the Antichrist, from the latter's point of view. The title story deals with graffiti artists and centers on ill-fated, teenage street kid Bobby Donahue, whose fondest wish is to tag the moon. Thanks to a couple of possibly menacing, possibly imaginary aliens, he may have achieved his wish. Collectively, these stories portray ghostly/ghastly bottom-of-the-barrel L.A. losers in a mostly sympathetic light. One can smell the smog and hear the grinding gears of the city's traffic. Bangkok-born Somtow is also a composer and photographer, and several pages of his photos of his adopted city appear at the end of the book, for the edification, he says, of readers in Bangkok, which is also called City of angels. (July) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

School Library Journal

Aka The Terrifying Thai, Somtow has published some 40 horror and fantasy books, including 1998's Bram Stoker-nominated Darker Angel. He sets this collection of 10 stories in the surreal urban nightmare of Los Angeles; most are retellings of children's lore and religious mythology. "Gingerbread" is a horrific version of Hansel and Gretel where the witch, a chameleon-like fortune-teller who pimps two homeless children, dies in her own oven. In "Dr. Rumpole," the most imaginative and least violent of these tales, a hack screenwriter outwits a modern-day Rumpelstiltskin. The screenwriter could be talking about all the stories here when he theorizes that "Dr. Rumpole is an archetypal construct, brought to life by the frenzied collective agony of Hollywood screenwriters... when reality fails you, fairy tale kind of takes over." "The Ugliest Duckling" is a creepy tale of vampirism, while "A Thief in the Night" explores the continuing battle between Jesus and the Antichrist, from the latter's point of view. The title story deals with graffiti artists and centers on ill-fated, teenage street kid Bobby Donahue, whose fondest wish is to tag the moon. Thanks to a couple of possibly menacing, possibly imaginary aliens, he may have achieved his wish. Collectively, these stories portray ghostly/ghastly bottom-of-the-barrel L.A. losers in a mostly sympathetic light. One can smell the smog and hear the grinding gears of the city's traffic. Bangkok-born Somtow is also a composer and photographer, and several pages of his photos of his adopted city appear at the end of the book, for the edification, he says, of readers in Bangkok, which is also called City of angels. (July) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Kirkus Reviews

Ten tales, nine from 1993-98 and one original, from the author of Darker Angels (1998), etc. Three are based overtly on familiar fairy tales: "Gingerbread" features Hansel and Gretel as abused children who fall into the clutches of a witch who's also a Hollywood madam. Rumpelstiltskin returns as "Dr. Rumpole," a Nazi war criminal and screenwriter of genius, who ends up an unwitting slave in a canny operator's basement; and in "Mr. Death's Blue-Eyed Boy," the Pied Piper of Hamelin shows up, demanding payment for his services—plus accumulated interest. Elsewhere, vampires are on the side of the angels; when Jesus returns to Earth, the devil succeeds at the third attempt in corrupting Him—but, here, the devil's the good guy; King Arthur mixes it up with mythology, movies, and a serial killer; in the title piece, a "tagger" (a graffiti artist) yearns to leave his tag on the Moon, and, helped by like-minded aliens, succeeds; an ancient Mexican vampire wakes to find that the entire world is run by vampires; a violent father turns his "stubborn" son into a zombie; and a necrophiliac discovers his heart's desire in a vault full of cryogenically preserved heads. Creepy, nasty, and often disquieting: Somtow revels in aspects of the human psyche that most of us would rather not encounter.