Strong start with diminishing returns.

The first, titular story was fantastic, and a favorite that I'll return to in the future (especially around Halloween).

I also enjoyed "Monarch of a Small Survey" and "The Tragedy of a Snob" for the poignant and well-realized unhappiness of their characters.

I should have expected some problematic unpleasantness from the time period, and "Prologue to a Play" is stupid and racist. "Talbot of Ursula," though interesting for its (romanticized? fabricated? racist) portraits of Californios, was generally creepy and had a messed-up fatphobic ending.