Honey Is Sweeter Than Blood

by Jeffrey Thomas

Jeffrey Thomas returns with his second Delirium collection, this time featuring 8 very bizarre erotic horror stories, including the original novelette "Damask". This collection showcases why Jeffrey Thomas is one of the rising stars of the genre. From fan favorite "A Puppet Show For No One" to the offbeat "Can You Pass Strother's Love Test" to the over the top " My Sexual Exploits", this is a must-have for serious Thomas fans and anyone interested in discovering a truly original talent at his best.

This is a limited, signed hardcover produced in only a 250-copy print run.

Genres: Horror

153 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Jeffrey Thomas is an American author of weird fiction, the creator of the acclaimed setting Punktown. Books in the Punktown universe include the short story collections Punktown, Voices from Punktown, Punktown: Shades of Grey (with his brother, Scott Thomas), and Ghosts of Punktown. Novels in that setting include Deadstock, Blue War, Monstrocity, Health Agent, Everybody Scream!, Red Cells, and The New God. Thomas’s other short story collections include The Unnamed Country, Gods of a Nameless Country, The Endless Fall, Haunted Worlds, Worship the Night, Thirteen Specimens, Nocturnal Emissions, Doomsdays, Terror Incognita, Unholy Dimensions, AAAIIIEEE!!!, Honey Is Sweeter Than Blood, Carrion Men, Voices from Hades, The Return of Enoch Coffin, and Entering Gosston. His other novels include The American, Boneland, Subject 11, Letters From Hades, The Fall of Hades, The Exploded Soul, The Nought, Thought Forms, Beyond the Door, Lost in Darkness, and A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Dealers.

His work has been reprinted in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII (editor Karl Edward Wagner), The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror #14 (editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling), and Year’s Best Weird Fiction #1 (editors Laird Barron and Michael Kelly). At NecronomiCon 2024 Thomas received the Robert Bloch Award for his contributions to weird fiction.

Though he considers Viet Nam his second home, Thomas lives in Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Karl]

This book is copy 120 of 250 hardcover copies printed and signed and numbered by Jeffrey Thomas.

[Grimgirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished the book several days ago, while traveling. Comprised of several short stories – each its own - I assume the author has taken great care to walk me through a progression of tales.

Go, ahead – read them in order – like following a rainbow to an anticipated pot of gold, but it’s not really a rainbow - and the “treat” you get at the end is not a pot of gold. This isn’t the type of book you recommend casually to your friends. I’m not sure if it’s even the type of book (based on the cover art alone) that I wouldn’t be at least semi embarrassed to have to explain if someone went scrolling through my kindle bookshelf and saw, but it’s there… and I read it, and even re-read some of the stories after I finished it the first time. Would you like it? And if you did, who would you tell?

The underlying masochistic despair, longing, frustration, loneliness and sadness of the characters. Masked – roughly – with the sadistic thrill of blatant sex and deviance. Maybe they are one in the same. You’ll be disgusted and excited, embarrassed and curious, and while at times you’ll think “I shouldn’t be reading this”, you’ll want to finish the book to see what dark silky sheet you get to peek under as you keep reading.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this collection was definitely weird; but not quite the weird that is in my wheelhouse - so I didn't enjoy it as much as I have Thomas' other works.

I will say that 'Damask' is one of the most disturbing things I've ever read. And I'm still not sure if that's a good thing or not.