I just read both "Pillar of Fire" and "Zero Hour" in A Medicine for Melancholy and thought they were two of the best short stories that I have read (thus far) by Ray.

What does anybody else think of them, or is there any interesting back story on these stories?

Oh, "Pillar of Fire" is a great story! I'd forgotten about that one in particular until I recently re-read it in a british anthology of vampire stories.