Christopher Conlon
Writer
Poet Editor
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Christopher Conlon
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Writer
Poet Editor
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| Christopher Conlon is a writer, poet, and editor whose best-known book is his Richard Matheson tribute anthology He Is Legend, a Bram Stoker Award-winning compilation of original stories from Stephen King, Joe Hill, Whitley Strieber, and many others. He has written novels, including the Stoker Award finalists A Matrix of Angels and Midnight on Mourn Street, along with volumes of poems, collections of short stories, and two full-length stage plays. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland. |
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“One of the
preeminent names in contemporary literary horror.” —Booklist
Visit the Bucciano/Conlon Project—web-exclusive Conlon fiction with the amazing art of Joe Bucciano |
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 Cemetery Dance Select |
 Rossum's Universal Replicas |
 Savaging the Dark |
 When They Came Back |
 Oblivion Room |
 A Matrix of Angels |
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Books in Print as an
Editor
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 A Sea of Alone Poems for Hitch |
 TZ Scripts of Jerry Sohl |
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Annabel
Lee: The Story of a Woman, Written by Herself Everybody knows Edgar Allan Poe’s
“Annabel Lee”—but who was she really? |
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Cemetery
Dance Select: Christopher Conlon The Cemetery Dance Select series
invites some of our favorite authors to spotlight a sampling of their
own short fiction: award-winners, stories they consider their best or
that had the most impact on their career—or neglected favorites they
feel deserve a second look. |
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Rossum’s
Universal Replicas Robots have been updated to Replicas, and a descent into terror awaits the cloistered Rossum family as they receive increasingly horrific news about the Replica revolt that is brewing and worsening beneath their high-rise castle keep. People are dying at the hands of the Replicas, who are rumored to be duplicating themselves. In the Rossum’s plush sitting room, the family begins to look at their Replica servants in a whole new light…This play is a grand reading experience.” —J.L. Comeau, Count Gore
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The
Tell-Tale Soul “This collection of
two novellas uses classic tales as a springboard, and what Conlon comes
up with will have you racing through the pages. In the title story,
told by an old man who Edgar Allan Poe based his classic ‘The Tell Tale
Heart’ on, we get to see what ‘really’ happened, and the author keeps
us guessing from page one as to what is real and what is only part of
the narrator's cloudy mind. Using Poe himself as
a character is a nice touch, especially in a courtroom scene and what
he eventually does for our storyteller. There are plenty of tales told
from the viewpoint of someone living in a mental institution, but
Conlon’s is done in a fresh style. Next up is ‘Beyond
the Silver Horizon,’ a take on Eugene O’Neill’s play ‘Beyond the
Horizon,’ yet it seems to take place on either an alternate earth or on
earth with an alternate history. Whatever the case, Conlon had me
mesmerized with his young protagonist Andy and his strange brother, and
the down and out new girl (Ruby) they befriend in their rural town. As
in the first novella, we’re never quite sure if we can believe our
young narrator, which adds to the novella's overall weirdness. When
government officials arrive later on to deal with Andy's unusual
brother, the juxtaposition of modern-aged, strangely-dressed people
against the story’s 1920s setting left a vision in my head that refuses
to leave. Part love story, part scifi, part horror, Conlon's take on O’Neill’s classic play is literary bizarro at its finest. Conlon's writing here is superb (which should come as no surprise) and his ability to keep the chills growing (especially in the first novella) is masterful. Here is one author who continues to get better with everything he does. Highly recommended.” —Nick Cato, Horror Fiction Review “Bram Stoker winner Christopher Conlon is celebrated for literary horror, and in this volume that contains two new chilling novellas, he pays homage to celebrated authors of yore. Most of us are familiar with Master Poe (as in Edgar Allan), and herein you will find a bone-rattling homage to one of Poe’s most renowned literary creations, ‘The Tell-Tale Heart.’ Mr. Conlon tells a wrenching tale of horror in the form of a memoir written by an inmate of an insane asylum, as they were once called. Reiterating the famous unreliable narrator as perfected by Poe, we learn that Edgar Allan’s story is mostly nonfiction…with one very important omission. The second novella is a riveting homage to a formerly well-known but now mostly forgotten play by the brilliant playwright, Eugene O’Neill titled Beyond the Horizon…Conlon reimagines this tale with a terrible twist in which one of the brothers is not something quite human. Beautifully wrought and engaging, The Tell-Tale Soul marks another high mark for this author of exquisite fiction.” —J.L. Comeau, Count Gore
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The
Unspoken: The Lost Novel “Even though Christopher Conlon’s The Unspoken is the author’s coming-of-age novel, it is written with a mastery of style that a writer twice his age might envy. He has painted his characters, especially Robin Withers and Heather Seabright, with such luminous strokes that we are drawn to them as they move through the riveting twists and turns of this fascinating story. Conlon, a writer in full command of his craft, has a lyrical style that illuminates these characters and makes them come alive. Christopher Conlon is an extraordinary talent and a storyteller of enviable perception and sensitivity. There is little doubt we’ll have many more fine novels from this exceptionally gifted writer.” —Aldo P. Magi, Editor Emeritus, The Thomas Wolfe Review (1995) |
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Wild
Tracks: Uncollected Writings 1985-2014 “This luminous collection reprints the best of Christopher Conlon’s fiction, nonfiction, and verse not available in the author’s earlier books. Published over the past three decades in a wide variety of markets—from obscure, long-defunct poetry journals to national magazines such as Poets & Writers and America—many of these writings have been out of print and unavailable for years. This volume presents Christopher Conlon’s work at its finest, offering further evidence that, as Mort Castle (New Moon on the Water) asserts, ‘Conlon is one of the best of our time and of the times to come. He is one hell of a writer.’” —from the back cover |
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Savaging
the Dark
(Starred Review.) “If there’s a single author working in the horror genre who deserves wider notice, it might be Conlon…the opening scene: a terrified 11-year-old boy gagged and handcuffed to a bed while our narrator, sixth-grade English teacher Mona Straw, licks dirt from his feet. From there, we backtrack to learn of Mona’s evolving infatuation with student Connor Blue, a kid as average and unremarkable as his teacher. Connor soon graduates from extra study lessons to yard work to an overwhelming sexual relationship, with every step utterly believable as Mona cycles through giddy elation, mordant depression, and, most of all, tortured self-justification of her actions: ‘The top buttons are undone on the blouse but that’s because I’m just casually hanging around the house, no other reason.’ Conlon’s prose is so sturdy that Mona’s impaired viewpoint (for example, her concern that the power of their relationship is shifting to Connor) almost makes sense before it plunges them both into unavoidable disaster. Conlon writes with literary depth and commercial aplomb; his days of too-little recognition seem numbered.” —Daniel Kraus, Booklist “Savaging the Dark isn’t a pleasant read nor is it for everyone. There’s a lot of horror fiction that claims to be disturbing, but this actually is. Conlon crafts a human monster in Mona Straw, yet even I hate to admit that we see also her human side and at times I actually felt for her…This is a challenging, horrifying portrait of a seemingly ordinary woman that won’t be leaving my mind any time soon.” —Nick Cato, Horror Fiction Review “Savaging the Dark is an appropriate title for Mr. Conlon’s latest work. It is dark, disturbing, gut-wrenching and beautifully written.” —Peter D. Schwotzer, Literary Mayhem “This is a meditation on love. Falling in love is expertly composed. Readers of Mr. Conlon’s other works will recognize echoes from his previous books and collections, as so much of his work has explored the intricacies of love gone wrong—of passion grown to obsession—of relationships that should not have been, but are…A truly fascinating read, and beautifully written. The prose feels both economical and lyrical…giving an even-handed, intriguing glimpse into the tragic love story of these unforgettable characters.” —John Palisano, Dark Discoveries Magazine “In Savaging the Dark,
Conlon creates a narrative
which is both terrifying and all too plausible to the parents of small
children. It is perhaps the best book he has ever written, and
certainly the most disturbing…While the emphasis is on psychological
horror, the straightforward writing style of Conlon creates narrative
which is shockingly graphic…For those who can stomach it, the novel is
a must read. Conlon’s work follows in the tradition of Bret Easton
Ellis’s American Psycho and
Iain Banks’ The Wasp Factory.
Savaging the Dark is a
firsthand look into the evils of
the human mind.” —Matthew J. Barbour, Horror Novel Reviews |
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When They
Came Back “Here’s a poetic tale set in 1899 Nebraska dealing with a strange black rain that not only burns people’s skin, but manages to bring the dead back to life. However, this is no zombie story and it’s anything but a typical apocalyptic romp; it’s yet another fresh creation that could only come from the mind of Christopher Conlon. Highlighted by Roberta Lannes-Sealey’s moody and eerie photographs, Conlon’s irresistible storytelling pulled me through this in one sitting. Short, sweet, and highly recommended.” —Nick Cato, Horror Fiction Review “Haunting and beautiful are the first two words that came to mind when I finished this book. Mr. Conlon has created a tale that is rhythmic in its pace as he uses a poetic style that breathes real life into the story. Right from the very first line I was hooked and only found it more captivating the deeper I got…The story also contains some of the most hauntingly beautiful photography and artwork that I have ever seen. I give it my highest recommendation.” —Peter D. Schwotzer, Literary Mayhem “This reads like a lost tale, a found narrative, gorgeously written and photographed in such verisimilitude that you will wonder if this tale is true, or partly so. It won’t take a great deal of time to read, but this novella will stick in your head like a particularly vivid nightmare.” —J.L. Comeau, Count Gore |
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The
Oblivion Room: Stories of Violation “Since the publication of his first novel, Midnight on Mourn Street (2008), Conlon has quickly established himself as one of the preeminent names in contemporary literary horror. His newest collection of short fiction showcases his penchant for bending genre conventions in imaginative and provocative new ways…Every piece in the volume bears the stamp of Conlon’s gift for combining subtle terror with unforeseeable plot twists. Connoisseurs of cutting-edge horror will not want to miss it.” —Carl Hays, Booklist “The Oblivion Room: Stories of Violation is a perfect title for the collection. Throughout there is violation: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual…[for] those seeking the deeper realms of fear and terror, terror found primarily in suggestion and indirection and obliqueness, The Oblivion Room is a must.” —Michael R. Collings, Hellnotes “I can’t remember when I have read a collection of stories that had me as spellbound as The Oblivion Room. Collectively, these tales are tours de force of intellectual dark fiction. Individually, these stories are some of the most enthralling and emotional I’ve ever come across, each one of them a mini-masterpiece of heart-wrenching fiction.” —TT Zuma, Horror World “The Oblivion Room is a real treat. Conlon’s tales go from flat-out terrifying to subtle, quiet horrors…The writing is razor sharp and a real pleasure to read. Highly recommended and easily one of the best releases of 2013.” —Nick Cato, Horror Fiction
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Herding
Ravens: Bon-Bons and Cold Cuts “To say that this short story collection took me by surprise would be an understatement. I had an idea in my head of what a group of Christopher Conlon short stories would be like. Of course this assumption was based on his brilliant novels…what I found was something completely different but no less brilliant. This is a totally insane group of tales that can’t really be pigeon-holed into a genre except for the fact that they could be all considered flash fiction….If you are looking for a great collection of short tales that know no bounds and cannot be constrained by the usual genre trappings, this book is for you and I highly recommend it.” —Peter D. Schwotzer, Famous Monsters of Filmland |
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Lullaby for
the Rain Girl “Christopher Conlon’s latest novel Lullaby for the Rain Girl is dark fiction at its finest…It is a haunting tale, a ghost story that will affect you on emotional levels that a work of fiction has no business doing. It is that good. There is a depth to the story that is sorely lacking in a lot of dark literature today…Lullaby for the Rain Girl is intelligent, deep, dark, character-driven fiction at its best and I give it my highest recommendation.” —Peter D. Schwotzer, Famous Monsters of Filmland “Lullaby for the Rain Girl is a wrenching, lyrical meditation on the horrors we create by choice, a heart-heavy look at the worst—and best—that we can be.” —J.L. Comeau, Count Gore “So much of the story seems ordinary, yet Conlon brings to it a feeling of dread. It’s an unsettling story that mesmerizes the reader as the threads of past and present are drawn together, with loose ends that suggest various possible realities. Readers looking for a straightforward narrative ought to look elsewhere, but those seeking an unsettling, emotionally involving, and often mysterious story will have a treat in store. Recommended.” —Kirsten Kowalewski, Monster Librarian |
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A Matrix of
Angels “Astonishing…the most wrenching serial-killer novel of the past decade.” —Daniel Kraus, Booklist “A Matrix of Angels [is] a story about a serial killer, but believe me, you haven’t read this story before. It isn’t from the point of view of the killer. It’s not a police procedural. It doesn’t even focus on the victims. In fact, the killer barely even surfaces in the book at all. For A Matrix of Angels isn’t really a story about a killer, but about the nature of memory and how we are haunted by events in our past…[Conlon] sucked me into the worlds of the past and present of his protagonist, and made me laugh, cry, care, and bleed with his characters.” —Mark Sieber, Horror Drive-In “Once in a great while I will come across a book that can’t be pinned down to a genre. A book that defies the norm, steps outside of what I come to expect from a book and to put it bluntly…knocks me on my ass. Christopher Conlon’s A Matrix of Angels is that book…It will make you laugh, it will make you angry, it will most definitely make you cry, but most importantly this story will be with you for a long time after you finish.” —Peter D. Schwotzer, Famous Monsters of Filmland “Christopher Conlon’s latest effort, A Matrix of Angels, is a deeply moving story depicting the powers of the human conscience and how the horrors of the past continue to map out the actions of the present…a terrific and unforgettable tale that stays with the reader long after the final page is turned..” —Ray Palen, Horror World “Conlon has penned a novel about friendship which is hauntingly beautiful and beautifully written.” —Ron Breznay, Hellnotes “A superb novel from beginning to wrenching ending…horrific, tragic, beautiful, wry, nightmarish, melancholic, and a nearly perfect work of genre fiction.” —– Lisa Morton, The Black Glove |
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Midnight on Mourn Street: A Play in Two Acts “As an admirer of the original novel of Midnight on Mourn Street, I was wondering how Christopher Conlon would manage to convey the story’s intricate and intimate twists and emotions within the confines of a theater stage…if anything, he’s managed to distill the tale down into something even more poignant, shocking, and tragic. Conlon has crafted both a superb example of the difficult art of adaptation, and an enthralling and deeply moving stand-alone read.” —Lisa Morton, author of The Castle of Los Angeles “One should read both the novel and the stage adaptation back-to-back for a perfect lesson on how transferring one form of storytelling media into another can produce new insight into the core work. This is quite simply, in my eyes, an amazing achievement.” —Gary Braunbeck, author of In Silent Graves “The play concentrates on two characters who have secrets. Conlon is masterful in his unexpected reveals…the characters themselves are so layered as to keep the audience/reader interested.” —Karen Newman, The Black Glove “If you loved the book, I urge you to buy the play.” —Mark Sieber, Horror Drive-In |
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Starkweather
Dreams: Landscape With Figures “Author and poet Conlon does an absolutely brilliant job in this book...This is a collection that is so powerful and evocative that once you’ve started it you will be unable to stop until you have finished it all in one sitting—and then you will re-read it again and again. Starkweather Dreams is definitely not your grandma’s poetry.” —Norman Rubenstein, Pod of Horror #53 “The images presented are not for the faint of heart...Readers who have the fortitude to withstand moments of longing, heartbreak, anger and despair will come away from the experience appreciating Conlon’s effort to delve deep and examine the relationship between Starkweather and Fugate.” —Martel Sardina, Dark Scribe Magazine |
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Midnight on Mourn Street
“Its relentless attention to its primary characters, its insistence on charting the contours of their selves, combined with a refusal to settle for pat narrative conventions, gives it a rare power. This is not only a novel that is difficult to put down while you are reading it; it is a novel that is difficult to put out of your mind once you have finished it.” —John Langan, Dead Reckonings “Simply one of the finest novels I’ve ever been privileged to read. Conlon is a powerful force among the new writers of the 21st century.” —William F. Nolan, author of Logan's Run “Midnight on Mourn Street is a superb accomplishment.” —Earl Hamner, creator of The Waltons “With Midnight on Mourn Street, Christopher Conlon makes one of the strongest and most affecting debuts as a novelist I’ve ever read. This story of loneliness, guilt, revenge, and the quest for self-redemption left me nearly in tears. Exquisitely written and profoundly moving, this is a novel that will haunt you for years to come.” —Stoker and International Horror
Guild Award-winner “Conlon keeps the suspense taut while slowly peeling back the layers of his protagonists’ troubled psyches. His masterfully moving tale has already garnered praise from authors of every genre and easily distinguishes itself as a top-drawer first novel.” —Carl Hays, Booklist “Poe feels like an apt comparison, especially in terms of the atmosphere which Conlon is adept at establishing. The feeling of gloom and dark brooding that pervades the novel is one of its strongest points. While Poe focuses, perhaps, on the more startling images of the macabre, Conlon expertly exposes and taps into more realistic veins of horror, the terrible things people do to each other and to themselves. Conlon employs dreams, memories, and madness, even, in ways that warp conscious perception in his characters and add a subtle phantasmagoric effect. In doing so, he does something new, redefines the standard conventions of horror or expands the genre into other domains of the novel. It also speaks to Conlon’s craft that he’s created characters…that remain with us after we’ve finished the book, worrying at our sensibilities, poised on a razor’s edge between redemption and condemnation.” —Paul Shovlin, Peace Corps Writers “Midnight on Mourn Street is a haunting, exquisitely written novel of secret guilt, regret, and revenge…a compelling psychological thriller.” —Mayra Calvani, The Dark Phantom Review “Conlon has a way of getting to the grit that makes us actually empathize with his characters, even those who in other writers’ hands might turn out to be south of Deplorable, headed for the Despicable offramp…Midnight on Mourn Street offers readers the kind of novel that lives in memory long after you finish it; scenes will stay and play again and again on the movie screen of your mind.” —Rick Kleffel, The Agony Column |
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Mary Falls “I am in awe of Mary Falls. The opening poem, in which Mary Surratt comes back to life and is in such pain from having been hanged, is so believable that I kept saying, ‘Yes, this is how is must have been. It is happening. She is here.’ I am convinced that Christopher Conlon is an extremely important poet, and that in time to come he will be recognized as a major voice in our literature.” —Earl Hamner, creator of The Waltons “Here she is: Mary Elizabeth Surratt, who was hanged as co-conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, has taken passionate possession of Christopher Conlon and now lives as ghost in his evocative sequence. Victim of ‘the mistakes of men,’ it is no wonder that she still appears among us, broken but flowing, confused but whole, falling but held in mid-air for us by way of Conlon’s considerable art.” —William Heyen, author of Shoah Train |
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Thundershowers At Dusk “Thundershowers at Dusk by Christopher Conlon (Rock Village Publishing), the author's excellent second collection (the first was mainstream), contains four contemporary gothic stories and the titular novella. The novella and ‘Bathing the Bones,’ the other story published for the first time, are beautifully written and powerful.” —Ellen Datlow, Year’s
Best Fantasy “Thundershowers at Dusk: Gothic Stories by Christopher Conlon (Rock Village Publishing) is the kind of collection that immediately establishes its author as Someone To Watch. Every few years we're graced with a collection by a new writer that either redefines the boundaries of this dark genre, or forces us through its undeniable craftsmanship to re-examine our preconceived notions about the genre; in 2003 we saw Glen Hirshberg's The Two Sams immediately (and justifiably) move its author to the forefront of short story writers in the field; in 2005, Joe Hill knocked our socks off with his superb 20th Century Ghosts; in keeping with the tradition set by those two superior achievements, Conlon's new book is going to be the breakout collection of 2006. Like Hirshberg, Conlon approaches horror from a decided literary standpoint (comparisons to Peter Straub would not be misplaced), and like Hill, that standpoint does not exclude the influence of past masters in the field—Serling, Matheson, and Beaumont spring readily to mind—albeit filtered through Conlon's own storytelling sensibilities. Conlon delivers the goods here; each story is a stunner, culminating with the novella “The Unfinished Music” that is, hands-down, one of the 10 finest novellas I have ever read in any genre.” —Gary A. Braunbeck, Page Horrific (Hellbound Books) “Ready for five short tales that radiate long after you're finished with them? ...All of these stories offer mystery, frankness, and an exploration of deep curious thought. Energetic, psychological imagining, and although supernatural, achingly real.“ —Christina Francine Whitcher, Yet
Another Book Review Site “When someone new to me makes an impression as big as Christopher Conlon does in this book, I feel I owe it to my fellow readers as well as the author to spread the word. My experiences verify Ted Sturgeon's famous '90% is crap' comment, and truthfully, of the 10% that's not 'crap,' only a tiny percentage is really worth shouting about from the rooftops. The five stories in Thundershowers At Dusk are in that last category.” —Mark Lancaster, Hellnotes “This slim collection of longish stories, Thundershowers At Dusk, is a strong one. As the title states, this is a collection of gothic tales. But these are not your standard Goth fare. No teen angst, depressing Victorian repression or vampire lust. These are original, complex tales of loneliness and alienation that are sometimes disturbing and uncomfortable, but also poetic and beautiful...Conlon has a wonderful command of the language and a deft touch on characterization...I would not be surprised at all to see a couple of the stories get picked for the Year's Best anthologies. I know I will be looking for more of Mr. Conlon's work in the future.” —James R. Beach, Dark Discoveries “[Reading Thundershowers at Dusk] was like eating sushi for the first time—you can't believe how good it tastes... The care Conlon displays in word choice is admirable. And I am not talking about one or two sentences here or there to punch things up a bit. No, I am talking about them all. It is an exhaustive way of writing if you are unaccustomed to it as there is a danger of over-attention to individual words at the expense of other necessary elements of plot and character. It is a difficult style to write well in, and Conlon shows in this tiny collection he is a master of it. Highly recommended. Buy it now.” —Wayne Edwards, Cemetery Dance Magazine |
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The Weeping Time “Christopher Conlon imagines himself into the heart of slavery in The Weeping Time, his examination of the hearts of slave owner Piece Butler, his British actress wife Fanny Kemble and Jack, the slave he assigns to ferry her around the island's waterways. The vignettes of the lives of these three give us insight into the world of the privileged slave owners and those who serve them---the bodies and souls Butler owns through no effort or virtue of his own, but simply by being heir to a large plantation. Conlon's language helps us hear these people with our hearts and see them in our minds, feel the rhythm of their lives...Conlon is a master at recreating a long-past time and place by making the history personal, translating the currents of the time into personal horrors, self-justification and self-hatred, bitterness, rage, and sometimes even insight.” —Potomac Review “To someone like me who grew up experiencing vestiges of slavery as it existed in an ignorant backwoods community in the '20s and '30s, The Weeping Time is a shattering experience. Each page is a gut-churning reality. Everything about Conlon's work astonishes me.” —Earl Hamner, creator of The Waltons “Innovative and superbly crafted storytelling verse.” —Midwest Book Review “The truly memorable poems in the book give me scenes that I know for sure I’ve never read in Faulkner...” —Peace Corps Writers “The Weeping Time will leave you with pictures of this sinister period of American history...recommended reading.” —Readerviews.com |
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Gilbert & Garbo in Love “Chris Conlon's fine book, Gilbert and Garbo in Love, captures the very essence of that loving, tormented relationship. Conlon shows an intuitive understanding of my father, and I find myself frequently going back to re-read different parts of the volume. It's poetry and biography at their best.” —Leatrice Gilbert
Fountain, daughter of John Gilbert and author of “With Gilbert and
Garbo in Love, Christopher Conlon has conjured forth a work of
striking originality—a soaring, happy/sad saga, in sinewed verse,
delineating the rise and fall of two timeless film legends. Survivors
of parentally-devastating pasts. Triumphant in Silents. Separated by
Sound. — William F. Nolan, author of A Life Beyond Thursday: The Dark World of Dashiell Hammett |
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Saying
Secrets: American Stories Five tales, most originally from The Long Story literary journal. Introduction by William F. Nolan; Afterword by George Clayton Johnson. “Chris Conlon's stories have the exceptional quality that, although each individually presents an extreme situation, put together in Saying Secrets they reveal a searching for the universal truths underlying them.” —Donald Windham, author of The
Dog Star and “Conlon has a deft touch portraying the travels of the savaged human soul. He succeeds largely because there's not a sentimental bone in this body of writing. His young burn victims, his incest victims, his killers, speak with simple and honest eloquence... The writing is the book's real star.” —Karl Luntta, PeaceCorpsWnters.org |
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A Sea of
Alone “[I]t seems most appropriate that a visionary author who specializes in making his audience squirm via the written word, Christopher Conlon, should undertake to collect poems in tribute to Alfred Hitchcock. And what a collection it is! Pithy, unsettling, mesmerizing, humorous and truly macabre, A Sea of Alone is the perfect homage to the great master of the art of terror. A stellar line-up of poets—established and new talents—contribute poems that touch the very heart of the films we all know and love. You’ll recognize many of these voices: Steve Rasnic Tem, Lucy A. Snyder, Lisa Morton, Norman Prentiss, Gary A. Braunbeck, Michael A. Arnzen, Marge Simon, Kurt Newton, Brian James Freeman, G.O. Clark and so many more… Even if you think you don’t enjoy poetry, I can virtually guarantee that you will be entertained and awed by A Sea of Alone.” ——J.L. Comeau, CountGore.com |
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He Is Legend “He Is Legend is a book that will totally immerse the reader into the chilling universe that is the mind of the brilliant Richard Matheson. Each of the included stories is a flawless gem filled with the addictive kind of terror that will leave the reader breathless yet begging for more. It is a most fitting tribute to one of the true giants of Twentieth Century literature.” —Norman Rubenstein, Fear Zone “Very rarely is a great writer honored in such a fashion as Gauntlet Press has done for Richard Matheson…This volume is filled with the works of the best writers in the business…This book was created by fans of Richard Matheson especially for other fans of Richard Matheson.” —Zacherley’s Picks |
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Poe's Lighthouse “Found among Edgar Allan Poe's papers after he died (at 40, all too young) was an untitled story fragment with an intriguing preamble. Consisting of three short diary entries by a newly indentured lighthouse keeper, the fragment affords few clues about Poe's plot intentions. The assignment for the 23 contributors to this unique collection was to finish the tale by using Poe's language, themes, and predilection for curdling the blood. The results range from stylistically faithful narratives to improbable yarns that use Poe's introduction as a springboard for the author's own vision. In one entry, the diary pieces make up an ancient artifact viewed by an archivist in a future civilization. In another, the journal is inspected by detective Auguste Dupin, a figure familiar from such Poe classics as 'The Purloined Letter.' Perhaps the most outstanding entry is John Shirley's masterly continuation, in perfect faux-Poe fashion, of the diary to disclose the lighthouse keeper discovering a macabre use for his polished lantern. Must reading for Poe enthusiasts, in particular.” —Carl Hays, Booklist “The open-ended quality of the story fragment set the authors often in wildly different directions, resulting in everything from straight-up homages that incorporate Poe's words to postmodern takes on the Master and his influence on horror fiction... they are never boring and just might inspire the reader to trade their own licks with the genre's most accomplished virtuosos.” —Rue Morgue Magazine |
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The Twilight Zone Scripts of Jerry Sohl “Looking at these Twilight Zone scripts, I am brought to recall how uncanny Jerry's ability was... it was a marvelous talent and one that should have been put to greater use.” —Twilight Zone
writer George Clayton Johnson |
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Filet of Sohl This collection gathers ten short stories along with television scripts and rarities by Jerry Sohl, whose credits include The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Star Trek, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.“Amazing finds, only to be read here...If Sci-Fi, horror and fantasy are your bag, this collection is a safe bet. Written by a truly classic writer.” —Laura Wagner, Classic Images Magazine “If you’re like me, the name Jerry Sohl conjures up only memory of the scathing review Damon Knight gave to Sohl’s Point Ultimate (1955) in In Search of Wonder (1956). If so, that’s a shame, because Sohl was a talented writer in many ways, including the scripting of some classic Twilight Zone episodes. Now we all have a chance to remedy our ignorance by reading Filet of Sohl (Bear Manor Media, trade paper, $16.95, 261 pages, ISBN 09Asimov's SF Magazine71457034). This volume includes ten stories, several appreciations (by William Nolan, Richard Matheson, George Clayton Johnson, and Sohl’s children) and two never-before-seen scripts for Twilight Zone that were purchased but never produced. In a story such as 'Death in Transit,' Sohl exhibits some real emotional depth, while 'The Ultroom Error' delivers surreal thrills stemming from the strange, unprovoked attacks on an innocent child. Editor Christopher Conlon deserves a lot of credit for compiling this volume and keeping fresh the memories of one of the many journeyman writers whose work accreted the corpus of SF.” —Paul Di Filippo, Asimov's SF Magazine |
