Slowly, Slowly in the Wind: Stories -- Patricia Highsmith

See my review of The Black House for my description of how Patricia Highsmith makes me feel.

Okay.  The highlights of Slowly, Slowly in the Wind (for me):

"The Network":  She was so good at creating groups of friends in an urban environment that feel somehow icky and strange.  I don't know how she did it.  A different author could write the same exact story, use the same plot and probably some of the same dialogue, and it would turn out funny or even boring.  But somehow, Patricia Highsmith turned it into creeping dread.  Yeech.

"The Pond":  I could imagine Stephen King loving this one.  It reminded me of some of his early short stories -- you know, the really good ones.  Vines in a pond that are somehow malevolent.  Cut them down, they come back overnight.  And they move by themselves. 

"Slowly, Slowly in the Wind":  Okay.  I might have partially loved this one because it's set in Maine.  It's a great story regardless, though.

"Those Awful Dawns":  Catholicism gone awry.  Too many kids, not enough money and cramped quarters.  Not hard to imagine where this story goes.

"Please Don't Shoot the Trees":  Patricia Highsmith does sci-fi.  For real.  I'm not joking.

By highlights, I meant 'those that especially stood out'.  But they're all worth reading -- many of the others are very classic-Highsmith-type stories.  She's so great.