In Skin Folk, with works ranging from science fiction to Caribbean folklore, passionate love to chilling horror, Nalo Hopkinson is at her award-winning best spinning tales like Precious, in which the narrator spews valuable coins and gems from her mouth whenever she attempts to talk or sing. In A Habit of Waste, a self-conscious woman undergoes elective surgery to alter her appearance; days later she's shocked to see her former body climbing onto a public bus. In The Glass Bottle Trick, the young protagonist ignores her intuition regarding her new husband's superstitions — to horrifying consequences.

Hopkinson's unique and vibrant sense of pacing and dialogue sets a steady beat for stories that illustrate why she received the 1999 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Entertaining, challenging and alluring, Skin Folk is not to be missed. (Grand Central Publishing)