Synopses & Reviews
This collection of thirty-eight terrifying tales of serial killers at large, written by the great masters of the genre, plumbs the horrifying depths of a deranged mind and the forces of evil that compel a human being to murder, gruesomely and methodically, over and over again.
From Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of the Lambs) to Patrick Bateman (American Psycho), stories of serial killers and psychos loom large and menacing in our collective psyche. Tales of their grisly conquests have kept us cowering under the covers, but still turning the pages.
Psychos is the first book to collect in a single volume the scariest and most well-crafted fictional works about these deranged killers. Some of the stories are classics, the best that the genre has to offer, by renowned writers such as Neil Gaiman, Amelia Beamer, Robert Bloch, and Thomas Harris. Other selections are from the latest and most promising crop of new authors.
John Skipp, who is also the editor of Zombies, Demons and Werewolves and Shapeshifters, provides fascinating insight, through two nonfiction essays, into our insatiable obsession with serial killers and how these madmen are portrayed in popular culture. Resources at the end of the book includes lists of the genre's best long-form fiction, movies, websites, and writers.
About the Author
Neil Gaiman is the author of many bestsellers for readers of all ages including
Stardust (the basis for the blockbuster movie),
Fragile Things,
Anansi Boys,
Interworld, and
Coraline. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
John Skipp is a New York Times bestselling author and editor, whose 18 books have sold millions of copies in a dozen languages worldwide. His first anthology, Book of the Dead, laid the foundation in 1989 for modern zombie literature, bringing George Romero's vision of the dead next door to new levels of scope and intensity. He later edited three more zombie anthologies, including Mondo Zombie, which won the Bram Stoker Award for best anthology, and Zombies: Encounters with the Hungry Dead and Werewolves & Shapeshifters: Encounters with the Beast Within, both published by Black Dog & Leventhal. Skipp is recognized as splatterpunk's founding father and the elder statesman of the genre. His own legendary horror works include The Light at the End, the Scream, Jake's Wake and the Long Last Call. He lives in Los Angeles.
Amelia Beamer works as an editor and reviewer for Locus: The Magazine of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Field. She has won several literary awards and has published fiction, poetry, and scholarship in a number of venues.
Joan Aiken (1924-2004) was the daughter of Pulitzer prize winning poet Conrad Aiken and started writing herself from the age of five. During her lifetime she published over one hundred books for children and adults, including the acclaimed Wolves of Willoughby Chase series.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction: Our Brain: The Monster of Choice, When There's No One Else Left to Blame by John Skipp
Classical Scenes of Farewell by Jim Shepard
Hop-Frog by Edgar Allan Poe
Marmalade Wine by Joan Aiken
The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell
The Small Assassin by Ray Bradbury
Lucy Comes to Stay by Robert Bloch
The Liar by Laura Lee Bahr
The Paperhanger by William Gay
Red Dragon (excerpt) by Thomas Harris
The Exit at Toledo Blade Boulevard Jack Ketchum
Incident On and Off A Mountain Road by Joe. R. Lansdale
Murder for Beginners by Mercedes M. Yardley
Jesse by Steve Rasnic Tem
In for A Penny by Lawrence Block
Now Hold Still by David J. Schow
Feminine Endings by Neil Gaiman
Going Solo by Leah Mann
Death-in-Life Love Song by Kevin L. Donihe
Ralph and Jerry by Leslianne Wilder
And What Did You See in the World? by Norman Partridge
Life with Father by Bentley Little
The Shallow End of the Pool by Adam-Troy Castro
Mommy Picks Me Up at Day Care by John Gorumba
When The Zoos Close Down, They'll Come For Us by Violet Lavoit
All Through The House by Christopher Coake
Intruder by John Boden
Straycation by Scott Bradley and Peter Giglio
Life Coach by Cody Goodfellow
Righteous by Weston Ochse
The Meaning of Life by Amelia Beamer
Damaged Goods by Elizabeth Massie
Willow Tests Well by Nick Mamatas
Serenity Now by Simon McCaffery
The Mannerly Man by Mehitobel Wilson