These Words Are Haunted

Zombies spar with humans for dominance of a post-apocalyptic Manhattan in the Stoker-nominated A Plague on Both Your Houses. The King returns to prove that rock 'n' roll will never die in The Elvis Syndrome. And a dying boy is the catalyst for a deal with a decidedly different devil in Making Peace with the Leader. These and ten more nightmarish tales form a bizarre baker's dozen in Scott Edelman's acclaimed horror collection.Like some creature out of Star Trek, Scott Edelman projects a zone of distortion that elevates all existence within its influence to the realm of the surrreal. -Adam-Troy Castro, from his introductionScott's delight in metafictional excursions, his blend of caustic humor with unstinting empathy, and his willingness to face all terrors unflinchingly-these traits constitute a unique voice in the field. If, as Scott avers in his Afterword, he can't get used to the notion that perhaps 'somebody up there likes me,' he's surely in trouble now, for this volume will earn him the admiration of thousands of mere mortals as well as the blessings of those gods. -Paul Di FilippoScott Edelman's stories are utterly uncompromising, bleak, furious, penetrating, overflowing by turns, they reconstruct and re-enact familiar tropes in a fashion never less than astonishing and original. A major writer in the making. -Barry MalzbergEdelman has a truly, deliciously twisted imagination. Buy it, read it. It'll keep you up most of the night, but that's what horror is for, isn't it? -Mary A. Turzillo