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Spanning fifteen years from almost the beginning of his career to earlier this year, this is Paul Di Filippo's fifth collection (another, Babylon Sisters and Other Posthumans, is published simultaneously). Like all of his collections, it is thematic even though in this case it is a little hard to say what that theme might be. In the broadest terms, all the stories are fantasies even though some of them contain no fantastic elements. Even though there is not a clear, unifying thread running through the stories it is obvious that they rub up against each other and trade on similar concerns. They are stories of dreams and obsessions.

Di Filippo is well know as a humourist, but there is a dark under-current to much of his work. Early on in Little Doors, we are faced with two decidedly bleak stories. "Moloch" is a deeply unsettling account of a mentally ill man's conversations with what he believes is God and its tragic outcome. Although employing more overtly fantastic elements, "Sleep Is Where You Find It" (co-written with Marc Laidlaw) shares "Moloch"'s dark tone. Weegee is a man literally haunted by ghosts who drives around at night photographing crime scenes. He finds himself involved with a serial killer, the Human Head Cake Boxer, whilst at the same time his identity starts to dissolve. Initially as uncomfortable as "Moloch," the story benefits from a joyous shaft of optimism at the end.

The unfortunate (to put it mildly) protagonist of "Billy" is born without the top of his skull and most of his brain. When a spider, rat and parrot move into his empty skull, they discover they can manipulate the vestigial brain matter and produce an illusion of sentience. The story then charts the ascension of the new Billy to the highest office in the land. Clearly this is ludicrous but Di Filippo has the gift for treating the preposterous seriously, the straight-faced treatment makes the story. A similar effect is achieved in "Our House" where mankind past, present and future meet under one roof. Notably, these stories are more successful than "The Short Ashy Afterlife Hiram P. Dootle." That story, about a man reincarnated as a pipe, is equally silly but played for laughs.

Baring the mark of Lewis Carroll's "The Jabberwocky" in its evocative use of nonsense words, "Jack Neck And The Worry Bird" inhabits a similar same space as the industrial fantasy of China Miéville. This contains the most exciting, playful prose of the collection, where Di Filippo has let himself off the leash and all the sentences are wonderfully overblown:

"'twasn't the eye itself that was dodgy, but only the nacreous cheek-carbuncle below it that was smooshing the orb closed."

Martin Lewis lives in South London; he is originally from Bradford, UK. He writes book reviews for The Telegraph And Argus.