Book picks similar to
Proverbs for Monsters by Michael A. Arnzen


short-stories
bram-stoker-award
bram-stoker-award-winners
bram-stoker

Psycho: Behind the Scenes of the Classic Thriller


Janet Leigh - 1995
    The innovative cinematography, the unsettling music score, and the stabbing scene in the shower at the Bates Motel, have established "psycho" as an enduring classic. Filled with Janet Leigh's memories, some well-known and some never-before-published photographs, and new interviews with key players, this book takes a revealing look at one of the most famous films ever made.

Mad Dog Summer: And Other Stories


Joe R. Lansdale - 2004
    Originally available only in limited-edition hardcover, these tales run the gamut from devilish fantasy to twisted courtroom drama to vampire-robot western. Each story has an introduction in which the author relates the background of and inspiration for the story, whether it was drawn from history, literature, or pure imagination. The title story, about a serial killer in Texas in the 1930s, won the 1999 Bram Stoker Horror Award for long fiction.

The Number 121 to Pennsylvania and Others


Kealan Patrick Burke - 2008
    A journalist makes the mistake of visiting a website where real-life executions are the order of the day... At the foot of an old tree, an insidious evil awaits two boys digging for treasure... A browbeaten salesman finds hope and a possible escape from the banality of his world when he returns home to find a fairytale beanstalk sprouting from his garden... A man resists the social pressure to quit smoking and puts himself at an unimaginable risk... A high school student accepts a dare to ask out the ugliest girl in school and enters a world of pain and violence... A comedian finds himself faced with a most peculiar and deadly audience...The pariah of a village accepts an offer of peace at his mother's funeral, but the olive branch may have hidden thorns...A bunch of barflies doomed to murder sinners get together for one last drink in a dying town...These are just some of the passengers, headed for a ride through the dark uncharted regions of the heart and mind...on The Number 121 to Pennsylvania.Includes such reader favorites as "Empathy", "Mr. Goodnight", "Underneath", "The Grief Frequency" and "Peekers"."In 14 dark fantasies collected here, Burke creates characters whose angst opens them up to uncanny incidents and ghostly encounters that seem an extension of their own spiritual malaise... Burke shows skill at imagining expressive supernatural experiences appropriate for his well-developed characters and their agitated emotions." - PUBLISHERS WEEKLY"Don't read it late at night." - BOOKLIST"Each tale grabs you within the first few sentences and never lets go, resulting in a collection guaranteed to take you on one of the scariest rides of your life." - RUE MORGUEContents:IntroductionThe Grief FrequencyThe Number 121 to PennsylvaniaMr. GoodnightEmpathyPeekersHigh on the VineTonight the Moon is OursProhibitedUnderneathSnowmenWill You Tell Them I Died Quietly?The Last LaughCobwebsSaturday Night at Eddie'sStory Notes

Purgatory Chasm


Steve Ulfelder - 2011
    Barnburners saved my life. I help them when I can. No exceptions.”The job seems simple. Conway Sax, a no-nonsense auto mechanic with a knack for solving difficult problems, has never liked obnoxious blowhard Tander Phigg. But a promise is a promise. Tander's a Barnburner, a member of the unique Alcoholics Anonymous group that rescued Conway, and when a Barnburner has a problem, Conway takes care of it. Besides, all Tander wants is to get back his baby, a vintage Mercedes that's been in a shady auto shop far too long.But Conway soon discovers there's much more to the problem than Tander first let on—especially when Tander turns up dead. Conway was the last person seen with the victim, and on top of that, he has a record, making him the cops' top suspect. He must catch the killer to clear himself, but beyond that, he's a man who honors his promises, even when the guy he made them to is dead.In the tradition of Robert B. Parker and Dennis Lehane, Steve Ulfelder's crackling debut mystery features a gritty, razor-sharp new voice in crime fiction. Conway Sax isn't a hired gun or a wise-cracking urbanite. He's just a mechanic trying to make his way, a blue-collar guy whose ideas about family and loyalty are as deeply held as they are strong. He'll break your heart if you're not careful.

Tales of Old Earth


Michael Swanwick - 2000
    Nineteen tales from Michael Swanwick's best short fiction of the past decade are gathered here for the first time, including the 1999 Hugo Award-nominated "Radiant Doors" and "Wild Minds" and that year's Hugo winning story, "The Very Pulse of the Machine." The collection also features "The Raggle Taggle Gypsy-O," written especially for this volume.Contents"A User’s Guide to Michael Swanwick" by Bruce Sterling“Ancient Engines”“Ice Age”“In Concert”“Microcosmic Dog”“Midnight Express”“Mother Grasshopper”“North of Diddy-Wah-Diddy”“Radiant Doors”“Radio Waves”“Riding the Giganotosaur”“Scherzo the Tyrannosaur”“The Changeling’s Tale”“The Dead”"The Mask”“The Raggle Taggle Gypsy-O”“The Very Pulse of the Machine”“The Wisdom of the Old Earth”“Walking Out”“Wild Minds”

Prelude to a Kiss


Craig Lucas - 1990
    Frank Rich in "The New York Times" wrote about "Prelude," "It is rare to find a play so suffused with sorrow that sends one home so high." Also included are "Missing Persons," "a truly intelligent play, one that is literary and heartfelt, beautifully written...a well-crafted, moving story, a dramatic rarity in these or any times "("New York Post"), and "Three Postcards," an offbeat and uniquely imaginative free form musical play. Craig Lucas is also the author of "Reckless and Blue Window" and "What I Mean Was." He lives in Putnam Valley, New York.

A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of T.E. Lawrence


John E. Mack - 1976
    Lawrence's inner life and his historically significant actions. Extensive research provides the basis for Mack's sensitive investigation of the psychological dimensions of Lawrence's personality and with the history, sociology, and politics of his time. 27 photos.

Soft Apocalypses


Lucy A. Snyder - 2014
    Snyder proves once again that she is fearless in mapping every corner of the literary landscape. Not content to be confined to any single region, she guides readers through dark realms of fantasy into the churning industry of steampunk, from the dizzying heights of science fiction down to the most desolate depths of horror.The strength of the tales that make up this quiet cataclysm—for example “Magdala Amygdala,” winner of the 2013 Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Short Fiction—do not compete. Instead they overlap to create a vista of ethical armageddons at once thorny and hopeful. Snyder’s irresistible prose and stunning eye for detail bind together a collection that defies expectation but delivers deep satisfaction.Table of ContentsMagdala AmygdalaHowever …. (with Gary Braunbeck)Spare the RodMiz Ruthie Pays Her RespectsThe Good GirlThe Cold GalleryAbandonment OptionThe Cold Blackness BetweenI Fuck Your SunshineCarnal HarvestAntumbraDiamante and StrassTiger Girls vs. the ZombiesRepent, Jessie Shimmer!The Leviathan of Trincomalee

Preston Falls


David Gates - 1998
    Gates [has a] pitch-perfect ear for contemporary speech... and... [a] keen, journalistic eye."--Michiko Kakutani, The New York TimesIn this comic, fiercely compassionate novel, David Gates, whose first novel Jernigan was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, sends his protagonist on a visceral journey to the dark side of suburban masculinity, explores the claims youth makes on middle age, and the tenacious --at times perverse--power of love to assert itself.When Doug Willis has a mid-life crisis, he doesn't join a gym or have an affair. Instead he gets himself arrested while camping with his wife and kids, takes a two month leave of absence from his PR job, and retreats to his farmhouse in rural Preston Falls--where he plugs in his guitar and tries to shut out his life.While his wife, Jean, struggles to pay the bills and raise their sullen, skeptical kids, Willis's plans for hiatus crumble into Dewars-and-cocaine fueled disarray. A shattered window, an unguarded gun, and a shady small town attorney force a crisis--and Willis can't go home again. With its biting humor and harsh realism, Preston Falls confirms David Gates as a talent in the tradition of Russell Banks and Richard Ford: a master of dark truths and private longings.

Publish & Perish


Sally Wright - 1997
    As an expert in rare books, coins, paintings and ancient documents, he works in the heart of mystery. As a former intelligence agent, he lives in the heart of danger. In Publish and Perish, Ben unfolds a story of professional jealousy and irrational enmity that point to murder.

The Fantasy Writer's Assistant and Other Stories


Jeffrey Ford - 2002
    One tale recounts the author's search for a Kafka story that can only be found in an elusive and quite possibly cursed edition. Other stories feature humans dressing in full-body protective exoskins in the personas of old Hollywood movie stars to barter old Earth movies for an alien aphrodisiac and a young boy coming to terms with creation and moulding his own man out of detritus from a nearby forest. In the title story, a great fantasy writer loses touch with the world he has created and pleads with his young assistant to help him visualise the story's end and enable him to complete his greatest novel ever.

Revelations


Douglas E. Winter - 1997
    Each decade of the twentieth century is assigned to one of the top fantasy/horror authors of the modern age who evokes the particular madness of that decade as it contributes to a prophecy for the next century. Decade by decade as the millennium approaches in these powerful, chilling tales, the tension builds toward a dramatic revelation that is both a prophetic warning and a visionary answer for all humankind.A singular publishing event, Revelations is a stunning anthology-novel by modern superstars of fantasy and horror, including New York Times -- bestselling author Clive Barker, David J. Schow, and Ramsey Campbell.

Perseids and Other Stories


Robert Charles Wilson - 1995
    His first novel from Tor, Darwinia, was a finalist for science fiction's Hugo award, and a #1 Locus bestseller in paperback. His next novel, Bios, is a critical and commercial success. Now Wilson's brilliant short science fiction is available in book form for the first time.Beginning with "The Perseids," winner of Canada's national SF award, this collection showcases Wilson's suppleness and strength: bravura ideas, scientific rigor, and living, breathing human beings facing choices that matter. Also included among the several stories herein are the acclaimed Hugo Award finalist "Divided by Infinity" and three new stories written specifically for this collection.Contents:The Fields of Abraham (2000)The Perseids (1995)The Inner Inner City (1997)The Observer (1998)Protocols of Consumption (1997)Ulysses Sees the Moon in the Bedroom Window (2000)Plato's Mirror (1999)Divided by Infinity (1998)Pearl Baby (2000)

The Gift Shop


Charlotte Armstrong - 1966
    But when a fatally wounded private eye staggers off a plane, gasps out a message, and collapses in front of the souvenirs, pretty Jean Cunliffe finds herself at the heart of a dangerous plot beyond anything she ever imagined.At the side of a mysterious playboy millionaire who has asked for her help, Jean is pitched into an international chase as they try to stay one step ahead of the killers. She’s within a hairsbreadth of unraveling the mystery—if only she can do it without giving away the secret to her enemies!

The Poison Tree: A True Story of Family Terror


Alan Prendergast - 1986
    One cold November night, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, fifteen-year-old Richard Jahnke Jr., ROTC leader and former Boy Scout, waited for his parents to return from celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the night they met. When his father got out of the car, the boy blasted him through the heart with a twelve-gauge pump-action shotgun. Richard’s seventeen-year-old sister, Deborah, was sitting on the living room couch with a high-powered rifle—just in case her brother missed.   Hours later the Jahnke kids were behind bars. Days later they made headlines. So did the truth about the house of horrors on Cowpoke Road.   Was it cold-blooded murder? Or self-defense?   Richard Jahnke Sr., special agent for the IRS, gun collector, and avid reader of Soldier of Fortune, had been subjecting his wife, Maria, and both children to harrowing abuse—physical, psychological, and sexual—for years. Deborah and her brother conspired to finally put a stop to it themselves. But their fate was in the hands of a prejudiced and inept judicial system, and only public outcry could save them.   Written with the full and revealing cooperation of the Jahnkes, this finalist for the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime is “the ultimate family nightmare, played out in the heartland of America. . . . From the night of the murder through both trials, convictions and both youngsters’ eventual release . . . it’s gripping reading” (Chicago Tribune).