Chapbooks and other small press items
KRDR: Welcome to the Ether (Earthling Publications) features three new stories by Peter Atkins, Glen Hirshberg, and Kevin Moffett with interstitial material by Atkins and Hirshberg. The chapbook is the physical manifestation of the readings that the three writers gave in California during the month of October. The Shallow End of the Pool by Adam-Troy Castro (Creeping Hemlock Press) is an unbelievable yet intriguing story about a warring, formerly married couple who have each taken one twin to raise and rigorously train to fight to the death once the children are old enough. Cemetery Dance publishes a chapbook story series and in 2008 brought out The Lost by Sarah Langan, about a young woman who is literally disappearing from her own life. Overtoun Bridge by Bev Vincent, a ghost story about a bridge from which dogs have jumped to their deaths for over thirty years. Tanglewood by Ronald Kelly is about a guy with a marriage going sour whose car breaks down when he takes a short cut through the woods. Bone Harvest by James A. Moore is about two unlucky amateur botanists who venture into a unique wood in which something resides that's even more dangerous than the weird plants that grow there. Triptych: 3 Tales of Terror by Michael Kelly and Carol Weekes (Undertow Publications) has two reprints, and an original about suburban ennui that's not at all horrific. Redemption Roadshow by Weston Ochse (Burning Effigy Press) is a tautly written story about an Arizona Highway Patrolman who begins noticing the crosses and shrines dotting the side of the road commemorating loved ones who have died in car accidents. When he hears about the "long cool woman"-a woman in a coma since she was a child who purportedly can speak with the dead along the road, he finds himself burning for redemption. Miranda by John Little (Bad Moon Books) is about a man aging backwards and Miranda is the woman he meets on his journey-with the same condition. Off the top of my head I can think of (obviously) F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and the award-winning story "Morning Child" by Gardner Dozois. I'm also pretty sure there are at least a half-dozen earlier stories with the same MacGuffin. The Reach of Children by Tim Lebbon (Humdrumming) is about a ten-year-old boy grief-stricken at his mother's death. His father drinks to dampen his misery and talks to a mysterious pine box under the bed. The boy begins to hear a voice coming from the box, saying things he might not want to hear. Nice job. Follow the Wounded One by Mike Allen (Not One of Us) is about a man who is becoming increasingly disoriented by what he believes are hallucinations of being hunted by a giant, blue-eyed being with horns. The Long Way by Ramsey Campbell (PS) is about a young boy who loves writing scary stories but hides them from his strict family. The boy must pass a deserted street with one lone house on his weekly trip to and from taking his disabled uncle shopping and one day he sees someone or something that frightens him more than the stories he makes up. It's a lovely hardback book with a fine black and white illustration by Wayne Blackhurst on the cover. The Gray Friar Christmas Chapbook 2007 presents seven stories by writers who have been published by Gray Friar Press. Four of the stories appear for the first time. Living with the Dead by Darrell Schweitzer (PS) is a compelling novella about a town that houses the regularly arriving dead, delivered and deposited by ships in the night and left in piles on the wharf come morning. Grotesque without being frightening but a very good read. A Dick and Jane Primer for Adults edited by Lavie Tidhar (BFS) contains ten very brief stories using the children's primer book characters (sometimes along with their dog, Spot). Cover and interior art is by John Keates, and Jeff VanderMeer has written an introduction. Most of the stories are trifles but Conrad Williams's is more than that. Divagations by John Maclay (Delirium Books) is a small, attractive hardcover containing six new stories. The book is number five in the publisher's chapbook series. Suckers by J. A. Konrath and Jeff Strand (Delirium Books) is a fun, silly story about the adventures of a guy out to find the "correct" spaghetti sauce for dinner and a crazy nut of a private eye hired to rescue a Goth teen from the clutches of wannabe vampires. Orpheus and the Pearl by Kim Paffenroth (Magus Press) takes place in a suburb of Boston during the 1920s and is about a female follower of Freud hired to "cure" the ailing wife of a famous research scientist. A common horror trope made new. Tails of Tales of Pain & Wonder by Caitlín E. Kiernan (Subterranean) accompanied the third edition of Kiernan's collection Tales of Pain and Wonder, and includes seven story fragments from over the years. Little Graveyard on the Prairie by Steven E. Wedel (Eclipse) has three stories, two of them reprints. The title story is new, and it's about a lonely, broken former farmer who sees ghosts and is losing his sanity. Red by Paul Kane (Skullvines Press) is about a grisly serial killer that turns out to be more than he seems in this fast-paced novella. The Situation by Jeff VanderMeer (PS) is an imaginative and surreal oddity about the office from Hell, in the tradition of Eileen Gunn's classic "Stable Strategies for Middle Management," Thomas Ligotti, and Franz Kafka. Charles Urban's Brutal Spirits edited by Gary McMahon (The Swan River Press) is presented as a mss found by McMahon, a friend of the late (non-existent?) Charles Urban. It's a clever and nicely creepy tale about a haunted multi-story parking garage. The Oz Suite by Gerard Houarner (Eibonvale Press) contains three intriguing stories riffing on the real versus imaginary worlds of the Wizard of Oz. One story was previously published, the second two are new.