Memories of an Eldritch Childhood

When I was growing up and my family visited my grandmother, who lived in the city, she would give me money for buying books at a bookstore a few blocks down from her building. I bought a lot of wonderful old books, including horror anthologies with classic stories by H.P. Lovecraft, August Derleth, Donald Wandrei and others.

Also, on other occasions, my parents would leave me at a library when they went shopping (looking back, not very responsible parenting), and when they did, I would always read short horror stories at that library, since I never had time to read anything longer.

Short tales of horror were a big part of my boring rural childhood -- they allowed me to escape into exciting realms of the imagination. That's probably why I've written so many hundreds of short horror stories over the years for various magazines, anthologies, and of course, my own story collections.

If I had to say which of my stories was my favorite ... well, that would be like asking a parent with many kids to name their best child. But I suppose I could name my favorite story in each of my three most recent collections.

Hideous Faces, Beautiful Skulls

In HIDEOUS FACES, BEAUTIFUL SKULLS, my favorite story is "Adroitly Wrapped," which had previously been reprinted in YEAR'S BEST HORROR XXII. It's my favorite because I enjoyed writing about Athena Moth, the shape-shifting witch in the story.


Best Little Witch-House in Arkham

In BEST LITTLE WITCH-HOUSE IN ARKHAM, my favorite story is "When We Was Flab," a Lovecraftian tale of a pop group called The Vittles. It's my favorite because I enjoyed writing about the tale's villain, Hekuuna, who brings the band closer together than ever before -- in a truly unexpected way.


Beach Blanket Zombie: Weird Tales of the Undead and Other Humanoid Horrors

In BEACH BLANKET ZOMBIE, my favorite story is a science-fiction horror story called "Tell Your Secrets to the Slime," about a planet inhabited by a shapeless horror that can bring about a bizarre change in other life-forms. It's my favorite because that vile change, hideous though it may seem, proves beneficial to one of the more unsavory characters.

Of course, my favorite horror story *of all time* would have to be H.P. Lovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror," since it was in one of those early anthologies I read as a child, and it creeped me out in the best possible way. When I read it today, I do realize it's dated and a bit clunky in its dispersal of exposition, but who cares?! It's still a wonderfully weird tale, and Wilbur Whateley is a marvelous monster-man. Hey, ya gotta love a creature with rudimentary eyes deepset in its hips! The works of H.P. Lovecraft have provided me with so many hours of quality entertainment, and I will always be in awe of his feverishly bizarre imagination.