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Tempting Disaster
This anthology from the fringe examines our culture's obsession with taboos and the added temptation that forbidden pleasures bring. Warnings of danger and peril only heighten our desire for those things we have been told are bad, wrong and have been warned against doing. Postmodernists and surrealists come together in these pages with renegade horror and sci-fiction authors to re-envision what is "acceptable." By turns humorous and horrific then shocking and alluring, the authors dissect those very impulses we deny in our everyday lives. While navigating the minefield of gender relations and plotting explorations into the landscape of the other, this volume is all-inclusive in scope. It allows for every lifestyle and viewpoint, no matter how unlikely or bizarre. This literary experiment on human desire opens up many possibilities including the chance that the ultimate disaster might very well prove to be the most compelling temptation.
260 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2005
4 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
About the author
John Edward Lawson
49 books263 followersJohn Edward Lawson is the author of 16 books of fiction and poetry, and numerous chapbooks. Over 500 of his poems, stories, and articles have been published in magazines, anthologies, literary journals, and newspapers worldwide. He has been called “The forgotten black man of horror,” but he also regularly publishes science fiction, bizarro, mystery/thrillers, and literary fiction.
John was a winner of the 2001 Fiction International Emerging Writers Competition; in addition to being a finalist for the Stoker Award (2006, Superior Achievement in Poetry) and the Wonderland Award for Bizarro Fiction (2007, collected fiction), other award nominations include two for the Dwarf Stars Award, the Elgin Award, the Pushcart Prize, two for the Rhysling Award, and honorable mention for the 2015 Wonderland Award.
As an editor John is co-founder of Raw Dog Screaming Press, recognized by the Horror Writers Association in 2019 with their Specialty Press Award. He spent four years as editor-in-chief of The Dream People online literary journal of bizarro fiction and poetry. Other editorial projects include three print anthologies, four e-anthologies, and freelance work for such companies as National Lampoon and Double Dragon Publishing.
You can encounter John traveling the USA for book tours, panel discussions, speaking engagements, and leading workshops for organizations and universities. Topics he specializes in are entrepreneurship, productivity, publishing, writing, and disenfranchised communties in the arts. When he’s not on the road you’ll find John managing Broadkill Writers Resort where he regularly hosts writing retreats and specialized workshops at the beach on Delaware Bay. He is also founder of AllAccessCon, an event organizing company for making virtual and hybrid convention space available to attendees, vendors, and event sponsors.
John currently serves as vice president of Diverse Writers and Artists of Speculative Fiction. Other organizations he is a member of the Horror Writers Association, International Association of Innovation Professionals, Internet Marketers Association, and Nonfiction Authors Association.
Since a young age John has been involved in the visual arts. As a photographer John’s photography has been used as cover art for books, in marketing campaigns, and as home decor. He has also participated in the production of numerous short films, including award winners Party Girl and Uberman: An Experiment in Consciousness. Director Jayson Densman collaborated with John spawning a trilogy of PoVids derived from his poetry. His music project, Rage Inducer, has released seven singles and EPs with several more recorded and ready for distribution.
As a storyteller reviewers have compared John to J. G. Ballard, Clive Barker, Donald Barthelme, Ray Bradbury, William Burroughs, Wes Craven, David Cronenberg, R. Crumb, James Herbert, Shaun Hutson, John Irving, Franz Kafka, Sarah Kane, HP Lovecraft, the Marx Brothers, Carlton Mellick III, Monty Python, Vladimir Nabokov, George Orwell, Chuck Palahniuk, Johnathan Swift, Walter Tevis, and Kurt Vonnegut. If any of this sounds good to you please consider investigating his books.
John was a winner of the 2001 Fiction International Emerging Writers Competition; in addition to being a finalist for the Stoker Award (2006, Superior Achievement in Poetry) and the Wonderland Award for Bizarro Fiction (2007, collected fiction), other award nominations include two for the Dwarf Stars Award, the Elgin Award, the Pushcart Prize, two for the Rhysling Award, and honorable mention for the 2015 Wonderland Award.
As an editor John is co-founder of Raw Dog Screaming Press, recognized by the Horror Writers Association in 2019 with their Specialty Press Award. He spent four years as editor-in-chief of The Dream People online literary journal of bizarro fiction and poetry. Other editorial projects include three print anthologies, four e-anthologies, and freelance work for such companies as National Lampoon and Double Dragon Publishing.
You can encounter John traveling the USA for book tours, panel discussions, speaking engagements, and leading workshops for organizations and universities. Topics he specializes in are entrepreneurship, productivity, publishing, writing, and disenfranchised communties in the arts. When he’s not on the road you’ll find John managing Broadkill Writers Resort where he regularly hosts writing retreats and specialized workshops at the beach on Delaware Bay. He is also founder of AllAccessCon, an event organizing company for making virtual and hybrid convention space available to attendees, vendors, and event sponsors.
John currently serves as vice president of Diverse Writers and Artists of Speculative Fiction. Other organizations he is a member of the Horror Writers Association, International Association of Innovation Professionals, Internet Marketers Association, and Nonfiction Authors Association.
Since a young age John has been involved in the visual arts. As a photographer John’s photography has been used as cover art for books, in marketing campaigns, and as home decor. He has also participated in the production of numerous short films, including award winners Party Girl and Uberman: An Experiment in Consciousness. Director Jayson Densman collaborated with John spawning a trilogy of PoVids derived from his poetry. His music project, Rage Inducer, has released seven singles and EPs with several more recorded and ready for distribution.
As a storyteller reviewers have compared John to J. G. Ballard, Clive Barker, Donald Barthelme, Ray Bradbury, William Burroughs, Wes Craven, David Cronenberg, R. Crumb, James Herbert, Shaun Hutson, John Irving, Franz Kafka, Sarah Kane, HP Lovecraft, the Marx Brothers, Carlton Mellick III, Monty Python, Vladimir Nabokov, George Orwell, Chuck Palahniuk, Johnathan Swift, Walter Tevis, and Kurt Vonnegut. If any of this sounds good to you please consider investigating his books.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 18, 2009
As an anthology there were good and bad stories, but the good were good enough to make up for the bad.
The order of the stories is a little tedious and it would have been much better if there wasn't themed sections.
The order of the stories is a little tedious and it would have been much better if there wasn't themed sections.
Displaying 1 of 1 review