All Too Surreal

by Tim Waggoner

Look at your reflection. The mirror is broken, the cracks spreading. Wider . . . deeper. Look between the cracks, and what do you see? Glimpses of dark, shadowy, twisted things that could only exist on the other side of a mirror. Eighteen stories. Eighteen cracks. The sound of shattering glass.

Genres: Horror

192 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2002

About the author

Tim Waggoner's first novel came out in 2001, and since then, he's published over sixty novels and eight collections of short stories. He writes original dark fantasy and horror, as well as media tie-ins. He's written tie-in fiction based on Supernatural, The X-Files, Alien, Doctor Who, Conan the Barbarian, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Grimm, and Transformers, among others, and he's written novelizations for films such as Ti West’s X-Trilogy, Halloween Kills, Terrifier 2 and 3, and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. He’s also the author of the award-winning guide to horror Writing in the Dark. He’s a four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award, a one-time winner of the Scribe Award, and he’s been a two-time finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award and a one-time finalist for the Splatterpunk Award. He’s also a full-time tenured professor who teaches creative writing and composition at Sinclair College in Dayton, Ohio.

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are two really good stories in this collection. Both involve a child in danger. I Scream. You Scream and Picking Up Courtney are both sharp and brutal. The rest of the stories in the collection are fairly obvious and not particularly original. The two stories that attempt to satirize critics are particularly juvenile.

[Johann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Collection

A lot of short stories. I found some favorites as I'm sure you will too!
Always enjoy this author's stuff.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently read Waggoner's new collection and thought it would be interesting to revisit this first collection of his short work to see if I could spot many differences. I really couldn't... there were flourishes and polishes in different areas, but I enjoyed the stories in this book as well as I had the first time around. There are dream-like sequences, some dark visions, some uncomfortable descriptions, and plenty of twists and turns that made me think that I should have seen it coming... but always after the fact. Eighteen stories and a nice introduction from Dennis L. McKiernan are included.