Alive in Shape and Color: 17 Paintings by Great Artists and the Stories They Inspired

I knew nothing about editor Lawrence Block before picking up this collection of short stories based on great paintings. I admit to being prejudiced about this sort of book and unknown (to me) the writers who were featured. After reading these stories, I am a convert. This is a great collection. The stories are unexpected, riveting, and well written. The writers who previously were unknown to me shall now be sought out, particularly Michael Connelly, who writes in the detective genre. His story about “The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymus Bosch is so well crafted and spun out of pure imagination that one delights in reading it. “Charlie the Barber” by Joe R. Lansdale is a poignant and compelling story of a father overcoming post-traumatic stress to face another life-threatening situation. These stories are suspenseful and display masterful writing ability. For these stories alone, the reader will enjoy this volume, but each story is revelatory. For the writers among us, it is a useful exercise to gaze at art as a starting point for one’s imagination to take over and weave a spell.