The Secret Backs of Things

by Christopher Golden, Tim Lebbon (Introduction)

From the author of Wildwood Road, The Ferryman, and Mind the Gap (with Tim Lebbon), comes Christopher Golden's first-ever collection of short stories.The Secret Backs of Things takes the readers into a realm rich with legends, folklore and myths, while still finding a place for some modern tales and even a couple Hellboy A man learns that it would have been better to have not asked a beautiful woman why her body is covered with mysterious tattoos in “The Art of the Deal.” A young boy accidentally finds out about his secret power when a childhood game goes too far in “Pa-Kow.” A teenager finally understands why she always felt so alive running barefoot through the woods in “The Mournful Cry of Owls.” And in the title story, "The Secret Backs of Things," the protagonist discovers that even if your secrets are never told, you can't always keep them from everyone...In addition to all the new stories in the collection, readers will find a reprint of "The Shell Collector," long out of print and originally published as part of the acclaimed Cemetery Dance Novella Series.Filled with illustrations by Glenn Chadbourne, The Secret Backs of Things is Christopher Golden at his best. Chilling, harrowing and, at times, more than slightly unsettling, this collection is sure to excite and entertain longtime Golden fans and new readers alike.

Genres: Short Stories, Horror

427 pages, Hardcover

First published September 28, 2010

About the author

CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN is the New York Times bestselling, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of such novels as Road of Bones, Ararat, Snowblind, Of Saints and Shadows, and Red Hands. With Mike Mignola, he is the co-creator of the Outerverse comic book universe, including such series as Baltimore, Joe Golem: Occult Detective, and Lady Baltimore. As an editor, he has worked on the short story anthologies Seize the Night, Dark Cities, and The New Dead, among others, and he has also written and co-written comic books, video games, screenplays, and a network television pilot. Golden co-hosts the podcast Defenders Dialogue with horror author Brian Keene. In 2015 he founded the popular Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival. He was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. His work has been nominated for the British Fantasy Award, the Eisner Award, and multiple Shirley Jackson Awards. For the Bram Stoker Awards, Golden has been nominated ten times in eight different categories. His original novels have been published in more than fifteen languages in countries around the world. Please visit him at www.christophergolden.com

Reviews

[Donald · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the Cemetery Dance Book Club 3.0 book number five. It is a special signed edition limited to 1000 copies. There are eighteen stories in this collection along with an introduction.

A great mix of stories. My favorite was the shortest tale; Wall to Wall.

[Karl]

This is one of 1000 copies signed by Christopher Golden.

[Eddie McKee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love everything Christopher writes. Excellent collection of short stories.

[Alison C · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know Christopher Golden's work primarily at novel length, but he has written some short fiction and The Secret Backs of Things collects those stories for the first time. I think of his writing as fantasy for the most part, but this collection includes quite a bit of dark fantasy and outright horror (not surprising, as it's published by Cemetery Dance). Golden is particularly interested in myth, however, and so even though there are some hardcore horror tales here ("The Urge," "Burning Questions"), there's also a lot of interesting uses of mythic figures and tropes. He's also written some Hellboy stories (with the blessing, and sometimes collaboration, of creator Mike Mignola), and those are quite funny. Overall, I've always found his writing to be elegant and sometimes poetic; not that he's above the use of coarse language (he uses a lot of it, in fact), but his imagery, even the scary ones, always feel pure to me. As with any collection, some stories appeal more than others, but I think anyone with an interest in good writing would enjoy the novella, "The Shell Collector" and I also particularly liked the title story and the closing one, "The Mournful Cry of Owls," with its interesting Albanian take on what I've always known as a Welsh myth. A very enjoyable (if sometimes gory) collection, this particular special edition with wonderful illustrations by Glenn Chadbourne; recommended.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic collection of horror/suspense short stories from Christopher Golden.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit heavy on the sex. Some good ones.