Log In
Or create an account ->
Imperial Library
Home
About
News
Upload
Forum
Help
Login/SignUp
Index
Title Page
LICENSE NOTES
Meet the Editor
DISCOVER CROSSROAD PRESS
Credits
THE BEST OF OBSESSIONS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Joe R. Lansdale is one of a kind. Once you’ve read anything by this Texan, you’ll know it couldn’t have been written by anyone else. Novels like The Drive-in and Cold in July(now a movie), The Bottoms, The Thicket, Paradise Sky, along with a big ol’ slew of Hap and Leonard books. These are prime examples of what I’m talking about. Throw in multiple short-story collections, comics, TV scripts, and still more movies like Bubba Ho-Tep, Christmas with the Dead, and you begin to see the range of this fabulous talent. If you have a taste for fiction that goes too far, grab yourself some Lansdale. You won’t be disappointed.
John Shirley authored Heatseeker and In Darkness Waiting, among other books. And was co-scripter of the movie The Crow. He was also once the lead singer in a band called “Obsessions,” so how could I turn down a story from him? The answer is—I couldn’t. But not for that reason. He sent me a dark, nasty fantasy about a sculptor who is lethally envious of his competitors. You may want to have your tattoos removed after this one.
Nicholas Royle is a British actor, short-story writer, and novelist, among other things. His stories have appeared in such places as Shadows, The Cutting Edge, and Book of the Dead. His work is varied, so you’ll never know what you’ll be reading. In this outing, it’s a cheerfully demented piece that will have you looking twice at your iron.
F. Paul Wilson was a practicing doctor once upon a time, and he is the extremely popular writer of such novels as The Keep, The Touch, and Black Wind. His Repairman Jack has found favor among vast numbers of readers. Most writers, when they achieve F. Paul’s degree of success, are content to write the same book over and over. Not F. Paul. He’s out there, trying it all; horror, science fiction, westerns, even main stream, and damned if he doesn’t pull it off with an amazing degree of success. Here Dr. Wilson tackles dark humor, and believe me, the doctor is in.
Bill Crider is a mild-mannered, affable writer from Texas who works in both the horror and mystery genres under separate pseudonyms. There could be more pseudonyms and genres, I don’t know for sure. All I do know is he wrote an off-the-wall story about a young geek in love. Get prepared to have your funny bone tickled. Hell, make that mugged.
L. Bradley Law is an award-winning poet from Kentucky. His collection of poetry, Tracks of Gypsy Angels, won him acclaim and fans. Larry manages to capture much with very few words. Not an easy task, as any writer will tell you.
Nancy Holder is coast to coast, a New York Times best-selling author from California. She has a wicked sense of humor too, one that seeps into her work. A lady of many talents, many genres. For this collection, she chose horror, but not any old horror mind you, horror that pulls no punches.
Glen Vasey’s first story appeared in John Skipp’s and Craig Spector’s Book of the Dead. It was touching and thoughtful, because Glen has a way of identifying with his characters. Of getting inside their skin. It gives them heart and humanity. But what happens if you identify with someone too closely?
Chet Williamson is versatile. Is he ever. Actor (check out his impressive turn in Christmas with the Dead), reader for audio books. His true claim to fame, however, is writing. Yes sir, ol’ Chet can spin a tale mean and nasty. His Yore skin’s jes’s soft ’n purty … in Razored Saddles is one of the most cantankerous, strangest western stories I’ve ever read. It’s one of my all-time favorites. Be careful around Chet, his novels are addictive, too.
Award winning writer Al Sarrantonio has forty-five books, and counting, to his credit. Eighty short stories. Science fiction, westerns, horror, mystery, humor. He’s a master anthologist, too. Halloween is a particular favorite of his. He brings the scary. Here he tackles the most frightening subject of all. It’s called love.
Edward Bryant is an award winning writer (two Nebulas) and one of the most astute critics of the writing business I know. Read his Locus column if you want to see what being a critic is all about. He also possesses one of the slyest and most biting wits of anyone I know. That wit is at work here. Get set for a little trip down home with your old uncle Ed. It’ll get under your skin.
Nina Kiriki Hoffman has a really neat name that just sort of trips off your tongue. Nina has a knack for writing the type of strange that seems slight at first but lingers on in your mind long after you’ve read her story. Read on. You’ll see what I mean.
Elizabeth Massie is a soft-spoken ex-schoolteacher from Virginia who writes stories that aren’t. A lot of writers go for the throat; Elizabeth goes for the heart. She has a special understanding of the love between parent and child, and she uses it to great effect in this touching piece about a mother’s loss and gradual descent into madness.
A. R. Morlan’s stories capture a variety of moods, mixing pathos, humor, and horror with equal ease. If you were a fan of the long defunct Night Cry magazine, you’ll remember her. I’m not sure what’s she’s doing these days, but I hope she’s still writing, because she’s a formidable spinner of word-magic, as this tale proves.
The late David Silva was the founder and editor of The Horror Show. He was a great guy, a helpful and astute editor, and gave a lot of us our start in the writing business. Later on he started the website, Hellnotes. In between these huge undertakings, he also managed to find the time to write some good novels.
← Prev
Back
Next →
← Prev
Back
Next →