Corpse Blossoms, Vol. 1

by Julia Sevin (Editor), Lee Clark Zumpe (Contributor), R. J. Sevin (Editor)

Introduction by Joseph Nassise

Bentley Little tells of a trucker's obsessive search for his less-than-human father. Nuclear armageddon is only the beginning for the teenage reject crafted by Nick Mamatas. In Ramsey Campbell's tale, a journey to the woods of his youth reveals a man's dementia... and some sinister secrets. A sensory kaleidoscope of deadpan insanity, is presented by Bev Vincent, author of The Road to the Dark Tower. The terrible truth of a mother's choice is revealed through a dozen fragmented perspectives by Gary A. Braunbeck, author of In Silent Graves. Tom Piccirilli, author of The Midnight Road, spins a somber tale of one man's last desperate fight to redeem a squandered life. A reporter's sanity unravels after viewing a video never meant to be seen in a terrifying and topical novelette by Kealan Patrick Burke, author of The Hides. Scott Nicholson, author of The Home and The Manor, explores the tragedy of infant death and the fragility of a new mother's mind.

Corpse Blossoms presents an array of specters and shadows, creatures and catastrophes, but the focus of each story is ultimately the human factor. The frailty, the ignorance, the conceit; these are the dread elements that shape our decisions and often doom us.

Featuring original stories by:

Ward Parker -- White Shrouds of Memory
Kealan Patrick Burke -- Empathy
Ramsey Campbell -- Skeleton Woods
Lee Clark Zumpe -- The Chatterer in the Darkness
Darren Speegle -- Hexerei
Steve Vernon -- The Last Few Curls of Gut Rope
Gary A. Braunbeck -- Need
Steve Rasnic Tem -- Mysteries of the Colon
Tom Piccirilli -- An Average Insanity, A Common Agony
Larry Tritten -- Whatever Happened to Shangri-La?
Eric Shapiro -- The Man in the Corner
Michael Canfield -- Wednesday
Marion Pitman -- Disposal of the Body
Steve Wedel -- The God of Discord
Athena Workman -- Victrola's Way to Pay
Clifford Brooks -- Because Afterwards, They Pull the Shades
Scott Nicholson -- The Weight of Silence
Bev Vincent -- The Smell of Fear
Brian Freeman -- Running Rain
Patricia Russo -- Feed Them
Bentley Little -- Finding Father
Erin MacKay -- Windows
Nick Mamatas -- All That's Left After the Big One Drops
Michail Velichansky -- A Ragnarok Without Gods

Genres: Horror, Anthologies

440 pages, Hardcover

First published December 17, 2005

Reviews

[Isidore · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unusually fine anthology of new fiction which, alas, had very limited circulation. With only two or three exceptions the stories are all above average, with particularly notable pieces by Gary Braunbeck, Ramsey Campbell, Tom Piccirilli, Patricia Russo, Darren Speegle, and Steven Wedel. Several motifs are recurrent from story to story, such as the narrator-who-is-really-someone-else; this editorial device is either interesting or annoying, depending on how much one craves variety in a collection of this kind.

There never appears to have been a Volume Two––a great pity.

[Elizabeth Nesbit-comer · Rating 3 out of 5]

the stories were ok a few very entertaining and a few that I skimmed thru.

[Kevin Lucia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely pick a copy of this up wherever you can. Some great, very diverse stories in here....