Chiral Mad

by Michael Bailey (Editor), Jack Ketchum, Gene O'Neill

Chiral Mad is an anthology of psychological horror containing twenty-eight short stories by established authors and newcomers from around the world. All profit from sales of this anthology go directly to Down syndrome charities. Featuring the imaginations of Jack Ketchum, Gary Braunbeck, Gene O'Neill, Gary McMahon, Gord Rollo, Jeff Strand, Michael Bailey, and many others, with an introduction by Thomas F. Monteleone.

FUN WITH YOUR NEW ASYMMETRIC HEAD
Thomas F. Monteleone

WHITE PILLS
Ian Shoebridge

LOST IN A FIELD OF PAPER FLOWERS
Gord Rollo

THE PERFECTION OF SYMMETRY
Andrew Hook

SOME PICTURES IN AN ALBUM
Gary McMahon

FIVE ADJECTIVES
Monica J. O’Rourke

ENCHANTED COMBUSTION
Amanda Ottino

THERE ARE EMBERS
Chris Hertz

BRIGHTER HER AURA GROWS
David Hearn

UNDERWATER
Barry Jay Kaplan

EXPERIMENTS IN AN ISOLATION TANK
Eric J. Guignard

NEED
Gary A. Braunbeck

NOT THE CHILD
Julie Stipes

THE WHITE QUETZAL
Gene O’Neill

MIRROR MOMENTS
Christian A. Larsen

ALDERWAY
Patrick O’Neill

SIGIL
P. Gardner Goldsmith

THE PERSISTENCE OF VISION
Jon Michael Kelley

THE BAD SEASON
A.A. Garrison

STORM OF LIGHTNING
Aaron J. French

INEVITABLE
Meghan Arcuri

SEND YOUR END
Patrick Lacey

A FLAWED FANTASY
Jeff Strand

CUBICLE FARM
R.B. Payne

THE APOLOGIES
Erik T. Johnson

THE SHOE TREE
Pat R. Steiner

GAIA UNGAIA
John Palisano

AMID THE WALKING WOUNDED
Jack Ketchum

UNDERWATER FERRIS WHEEL
Michael Bailey

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies

374 pages, Paperback

First published October 11, 2012

About the author

Michael Bailey is a recipient and ten-time nominee of the Bram Stoker Award, a five-time Shirley Jackson Award nominee, and a three-time recipient of the Benjamin Franklin Award, along with several independent publishing accolades. He has written, edited, and published many books of various genres. His latest is Righting Writing, a nonfiction narrative used as curriculum for aspiring writers, and Silent Nightmares: Haunting Stories to Be Told on the Longest Night of the Year, an anthology co-edited with Chuck Palahniuk to be published by Simon & Schuster in fall of 2026. He is also the screenwriter for Madness and Writers, a creative documentary series about writers, and a producer for numerous film projects. Find him online at nettirw.com, or on social media @nettirw. He is represented by Lane Heymont of the Tobias Literary Agency.

Reviews

[Richard Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of charity anthologies aren't very good. There, I've said it. A lot aren't bad either, but it's rare to find one that's actually a superior book in its own right. Chiral Mad is raising money to support Downs Syndrome charities, and while that's very worthy I don't recommend that you buy the book for that reason. Instead, I recommend it as that rarest of things - a vastly superior collection of smart, stylish modern horror. You should buy and read it, because it's a phenomenally good book. That's all the reason you need. These stories show just how intelligent and relevant the horror genre can be when it frees itself from shock, gore, and an obligation to actually scare you. These are stories that look at your life and the world you live in, peel back the edges, and say something about what's underneath. Like the best of science fiction, these are stories that comment on the world.

They're fun too, and constantly surprising. My own highlights start with Megan Arcuri's witty and disturbing 'Inevitable', which takes an entertaining body swap scenario and uses it to poke at what identity is. Gary McMahon delivers 'Some Pictures In An Album', in which photographs are examined for forgotten truths and tell a disturbing story full of blanks that you as the reader have to complete as you see fit. Gary A. Braunbeck gives snapshots of a different life that is rotting at the centre in 'Need'. There are many more I loved. Amidst the twenty-seven tales here there were perhaps five that didn't work for me at all, draping vast quantities of style over too little substance, but that's a a staggeringly good hit rate. It's a real pleasure finding the genre I love (but often get frustrated with, due to lack of ambition from so many practitioners) presented with such relevance and skill.

Read this.

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being one of those bleeding heart liberals, I am always looking for a way to help out. "Chiral Mad" has earmarked all proceeds to charities that aid those with Downs Syndrome. That was the gravy. The real meat is the stories inside the anthology. An extra added delight, for me, was the careful placement of the stories. One story ends with a mother ending the life of her children and the next one is about a woman who is fighting to save her unborn child. It is a subtle but beautifully flowing juxtaposition of stories. Another story ends with a man speeding in his car, the next starts with boys careening around a room on a handcart. I'm not sure I've read another anthology that was as pleasingly edited as this one by Michael Bailey. It is chiral, by definition.

Chiral means that something is asymmetric in such a way that the structure and its mirror image are not superimposable. Just when you think you understand where the author is going, your realize the story has totally turned around, but not quite. I had to immediately reread some of the stories; they were that good. "The Shoe Tree" by Pat R. Steiner, for example, leads you to believe it is a monster story when in actuality, it is a heartbreaking tale of loss--almost. One of my other favorites was "Five Adjectives" by Monica J. O'Rourke. I am a teacher, so this story was uncomfortable but required reading. We are often too busy to read beyond the grammar and syntax to grasp what the child is really saying. I loved the formatting of the story, and as usual, Ms. O'Rourke's prose is impeccable. Another favorite in this anthology was "Lost in a Field of Paper Flowers" by Gord Rollo. I love a good revenge tale and this one was good enough to have me retelling the story over dinner.

There are thirty great reasons to buy this anthology. Twenty eight of them are the stories it contains, the twenty-ninth is the editing, and the thirtieth is because you need to be looking out for your fellow travelers on this planet.

[Marc · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked 7 out of 28 stories:
- "Not the Child" by Julie Stipes
- "Experiments in an Isolation Tank" by Eric J. Guignard
- "Need" by Gary A. Braunbeck
- "Underwater Ferris Wheel" by Michael Bailey
- "White Pills" by Ian Shoebridge
- "The Perfection of Symmetry" by Andrew Hook
- "Some Pictures in an Album" by Gary McMahon

Discovered this book via Twitter. Loved the cover and learning a new word (chiral).

Second exposure to Jack Ketchum. I don't think he's for me.

[Brian Sammons · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book full of good stories done for a great cause, what’s not to love? My full review can be found here: http://horrorworld.org/hw/2012/11/chi...

[Jeffrey Powanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dark and disturbing collection of 28 psychological horror stories around the theme of chirality, which describes an object that cannot be superimposed on its mirror image. For example, your hands are chiral because they are approximately mirror images of each other but are not their own mirror images. All the stories in this book are excellent, so I'll resist naming favorites. The contributors are a mix of known authors (for example, Gary A. Braunbeck, Jeff Strand, and Jack Ketchum) and unknown or first-time authors. When I learned that all profits from sales of this anthology go directly to Down syndrome charities, I also bought the other four Chiral Mad anthologies.

[B P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chock full of stories where an individuals internal reality is incongruent with actual reality. Much like a pair of chiral images that mirror one another but cannot be superimposed.

[Jason Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok

Some stories meander to a pointless ending and the book is rife with spelling and grammatical errors. It passes the time.

[LORRIE · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great

These were great stories. Some made me cringe, some made me laugh, but all were very interesting. I look forward to more

[Kevin Lucia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent collection. Now, off to write something in hopes of being part of the second volume....

[PRINCESS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chiral Mad Anthology of Psychological Horror by Michael Bailey
A book full of good stories, excellent collection. Wrote for a good reason.

[Shannon Kauderer]

Just finished 'Red Runner v The Surgeon', absolutely phenomenal.

[Mommacat · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars