He also liked to write about psychotic and psychopathic killers. This solid anthology, put out by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) and completed after Bloch's death, honors his legacy with 22 tales about murderers and crazies of various stripes. A good many of the stories, most memorably Esther Friesner's "Lonelyhearts," have Blochian twists at the end. The weakest of the bunch have no other flaw than predictability, and the strongest, such as Ed Gorman's powerful "Out There in the Darkness" are classics of traditional storytelling. You'll find excellent stories here by Denise M. Bruchman, Del Stone Jr., Edo van Belkom, Gary A. Braunbeck, and others. Stephen King contributes a little gem of a tale in which the narrator finds himself in an autopsy room: "It fits. It fits everything with a horrid prophylactic snugness. The dark. The rubbery smell.... Dear God, I'm in a body bag." Note: the two previous HWA anthologies are Under the Fang, edited by Robert R. McCammon, and Peter Straub's Ghosts, edited by Peter Straub. --Fiona WebsterContents:Autopsy Room Four by Stephen KingHaunted by Charles GrantOut There in the Darkness by Ed GormanPlease Help Me by Richard Christian MathesonThe Lesser of Two Evils by Denise M. BruchmanPoint of Intersection by Dominick CancillaDoctor, Lawyer, Kansas City Chief by Brent MonahanGrandpa's Head by Lawrence Watt-EvansLonelyhearts by Esther M. FriesnerLighting the Corpses by Del Stone Jr.Echoes by Cindie GeddesLifeline by Yvonne NavarroBlameless by David Niall WilsonDeep Down There by Clark PerryKnacker Man by Richard ParksSo You Wanna Be a Hitman by Gary JonasThe Rug by Edo van BelkomInterview with a Psycho by Billie Sue MosimanIcewall by William D. GaglianiA Southern Night by Jane YolenThe Forgiven by Stephen M. RaineySafe by Gary A. Braunbeck

    Its name: BIZARRO. For years, readers have been asking for a category of fiction dedicated to the weird, crazy, cult side of storytelling that has become a staple in the film industry (with directors such as David Lynch, Takashi Miike, Tim Burton, and even Lloyd Kaufman) but has been largely ignored in the literary world, until now. The Bizarro Starter Kit features short novels and story collections by ten of the leading authors in the bizarro genre: Ray Fracalossy, Jeremy C. Shipp, Jordan Krall, Mykle Hansen, Andersen Prunty, Eckhard Gerdes, Bradley Sands, Steve Aylett, Christian TeBordo, and Tony Rauch.

    Dracula visits, in these pages, such locales as the Côte d'Azur, the wilds of Oregon, the Los Angeles of Raymond Chandler, communist Eastern Europe, Rome at the dawn of the 21st century (a chilling tale in which he is forced to imitate the Messiah), and the ruins of post-apocalyptic New Jersey. He encounters Bettie Page, Aleister Crowley, Timothy Leary, Lou Reed, and Francis Ford Coppola (with the entire cast and crew of Apocalypse Now, in a hilarious spoof). The authors include such contemporary masters as Kim Newman, Nicholas Royle, Terry Lamsley, Joel Lane, Brian Stableford, and Ramsey Campbell. The book also has a foreword by Bram Stoker's great-nephew, and includes the never-before-published prologue to Stoker's theatrical version of Dracula.CONTENTSIntroduction: I Bid You Welcome by Stephen JonesForeword: Geeat Uncle Bram And Vampires by Daniel FarsonDracula: or The Un-Dead: Prologue by Bram StokerDracula's Library by Christopher FowlerThe Heart of Count Dracula, Descendant of Attila, Scourge of God by Thomas LigottiDaddy's Little Girl by Mandy SlaterConversion by Ramsey CampbellThe Devil Is Not Mocked by Manly Wade WellmanTeaserama by Nancy KilpatrickBlood Freak by Nancy HolderZack Phalanx is Vlad The Impaler by Brian LumleyWhen Greek Meets Greek by Basil CopperCoppola's Dracula by Kim NewmanThe Second Time Around by Hugh B. CaveEndangered Species by Brian MooneyMelancholia by Roberta LannesChildren Of The Long Night by Lisa MortonMbo by Nicholas RoyleThe Worst Place In The World by Paul J. McAuleyLarry's Guest by Guy N. SmithA Taste Of Culture by Jan EdwardsRudolph by R. Chetwynd-HayesRoadkill by Graham MastersonVolunteers by Terry LamsleyBlack Beads by John GordonYour European Son by Joel LaneQuality Control by Brian StablefordDear Alison by Michael Marshall SmithBloodlines by Conrad WilliamsWindows '99 Of The Soul by Chris MorganBlood Of Eden by Mike ChinnThe Last Testament by Brian HodgeThe Last Vampire by Peter CrowtherThe Lord's Work by F. Paul WilsonLord Of The Undead by Jo Fletcher

    A collection of truly gripping stories, with contributions from leading horror writers dedicated to the popular contemporary sub-genre of "body horror," which revolves around disease and mutation, whether self-inflicted or otherwise.

    David J. Schow ... Thomas Tessier... F. Paul Wilson... Richard Christian Matheson ... Nancy A. Collins... Graham Masterton ... Pay Garton ... Rex Miller ... and ten other stars of today's shock fiction know what metalheads and moralists, punksters and preachers have known all along. Rock and roll. With its hot licks and raw glitter, has a dark side too - where the party stops and the terror begins.Put on your headphones. Open this electrifying book. Rock to the world of horror where martyred musical super-legends return from the dead at 120 decibels... where radio stations sponsor ghastly giveaways that no living soul could want ... where other-earthly pirates bootleg not records, but human souls... where people are strange ... and the devil rocks all night.THE NEW SOUND OF HORRORCONTENTSStephen King - You Know They've Got a Hell Of A BandF. Paul Wilson - Bob Dylan, Troy Jonson, and The Speed QueenDavid J. Schow - OdeedNancy A. Collins - Vargr RuleRonald Kelly - Blood Suede ShoesDon D'Ammassa - The Dead Beat SocietyGraham Masterton - Voodoo ChildPaul Dale Anderson - Rites Of SpringMichael E. Garrett - Dedicated To The One I LoatheBrian J. Hodge - RequiemR. Patrick Gates - Heavy MetalRex Miller - BunkyBill Mumy & Peter David - The Black '59Richard Christian Matheson - GroupiesMichael Newton - ReunionMark Verheiden - BootlegRay Garton - Weird GigJohn L. Byrne - Hide In Plain SightThomas Tessier - Addicted To loveJohn Shirley - Flaming Telepaths

    The anthology assembles twenty-five rare mythos tales, dating from the Thirties through the Nineties, from writers as diverse as Jorges Luis Borges, Gustav Meyrink, Manly Wade Wellman, and Neil Gaiman. Gahan Wilson provides the cover art. Publisher's Weekly says, "Searchers after Lovecraftian horror need look no further than Acolytes of Cthulhu, edited by Robert M. Price. This reprint anthology features 28 tales by mostly minor disciples, though there are a couple of big names (Borges, Neil Gaiman), plus a rare youthful offering from leading HPL scholar S.T.Joshi. The prolific Price provides his usual entertaining and erudite introduction, while the Gahan Wilson jacket is a delight." Contents: Introduction--Robert M. Price Doom of the House of Duryea--Earl Pierce The Seventh Incantation--Joseph Payne Brennan Black Noon--Clifford M. Eddy The Letters of Cold Fire--Manly Wade Wellman Horror at Vecra--Henry Hasse Out of the Jar--Charles A. Tanner The Earth Brain--Edmund Hamilton Legacy in Crystal--James Causey The Will of Claude Ashur--C. Hall Thompson The Final War--David H. Keller The Dunstable Horror--Arthur Pendragon The Crib of Hell--Arthur Pendragon The Last Work of Pietro of Apono--Steffan B. Aletti The Eye of Horus--Steffan B. Alletti Mythos--John S. Glasby There Are More Things--Jorges Luis Borges The Horror out of Time--Randall Garrett The Recurring Doom--S. T. Joshi Necrotic Knowledge--Dirk W. Mosig Night Bus--Donald R. Burleson The Pewter Ring--Peter H. Cannon John Lehman Alone--David Kaufman The Purple Death--Gustav Meyrink Mists of Death--Richard F. and Frank Searight Shuggoths Old Peculiar--Neil Gaiman

    Martin, Charlaine Harris, Chuck Palahniuk, Neil Gaiman, H.P. Lovecraft, Joe R. Lansdale, Angela Carter, David J. Schow, Kathe Koja, Bentley Little, and more. Skipp provides fascinating insight and details, through two nonfiction essays, into the history and presence of shape shifting in popular culture.  Resources at the end of the book include lists of the genre's best long-form fiction, as well as movies, websites, and writers.

    This third installment in the DOA series offers thirty stories from the originators of splatterpunk as well as the newest voices in extreme horror. You'll laugh...you'll cry...you'll vomit Don't say we didn't warn you.

    Included here are the works of masters of the form and of bright new talents, including:Stephen Baxter, M.Shayne Bell, Rick Cook, Albert E. Cowdrey, Tananarive Due, Greg Egan, Eliot Fintushel, Peter F. Hamilton, Earnest Hogan, John Kessel, Nancy Kress, Ursula K. Le Guin, Paul J. McAuley, Ian McDonald, Susan Palwick, Severna Park, Alastair Reynolds, Lucius Shepard, Brian Stableford, Charles Stross, Michael Swanwick, Steven Utley, Robert Charles WilsonSupplementing the stories is the editor's insightful summation of the year's events and lengthy list of honorable mentions, making this book a valuable resource in addition to serving as the single best place in the universe to find stories that stir the imagination and the heart.

    Some of the genre's greatest writers contemplate the planet-moving encounters between humans and aliens while pondering the eternal question--what kind of relationship are humans really looking for?

    Here are thirteen memorable stories by renowned science fiction writers, telling what things might be like if... Elvis Presley weren't the "King" but the President of the United States ("Ike at the Mike" by Howard Waldrop)... The Black Death had killed the entire population of Europe in the fourteenth century ("Lion Time in Timbuctoo" by Robert Silverberg)... John F. Kennedy had survived the 1963 shooting in Dallas ("The Winterberry" by Nicholas A. DiChario). Included, too, is fascinating short fiction by Mike Resnick, Susan Shwartz, Larry Niven, Pamela Sargent, Fritz Leiber, Greg Bear, Barry N. Malzberg, Harry Turtledove, Gregory Benford and Kim Stanley Robinson. After reading these stories - some of the most compelling examples of alternate history anywhere - your mind will keep spinning the question "What If...?"

    Culled from the best of a wide variety of sources, this eleventh annual collection of fantasy fiction features contributions by Kim Newman, Joyce Carol Oates, Ellen Kushner, Jack Womack, Karen Joy Fowler, and others.

    Gone are the cartoon images of wizened gray-haired men in pointy caps creating magic with a wave of their wands. Today's wizards are more subtle in their powers, more discerning in their ways, and-in the hands of modern fantasists-more likely than ever to capture readers' imaginations.In Neil Gaiman's "The Witch's Headstone," a piece taken from his much-anticipated novel in progress, an eight-year-old boy learns the power of kindness from a long-dead sorceress. Only one woman possesses two kinds of magic-enough to unite two kingdoms-in Garth Nix's "Holly and Iron." Patricia A. McKillip's "Naming Day" gives a sorcery student a lesson in breaking the rules. And a famished dove spins a tale worthy of a meal, but perhaps not the truth, in "A Fowl Tale" by Eoin Colfer.

    Beagle, Elizabeth Bear, Jay Lake, Ian McDonald, Sarah Monette, Garth Nix, and Patrick Rothfuss.

    Eleven Doctors, eleven stories, eleven unique interpretations of the Doctor, his terrifying alien enemies and his time-travelling adventures.