Product Description

Featuring a never-before-published short story from Stephen King and edited by the world-renowned and award-winning author of "Psycho", Robert Bloch, this collection includes 22 masterworks harvested by the Horror Writers Association. Stephen King toe-tags a stiff who's still very much alive, and going under the knife, in "Autopsy Room Four". Richard Christian Matheson clocks the final minutes of a man at the mercy of monsters in "Please Help Me". Charles Grant shadows a lost soul looking for a place to rest in "Haunted". Ads in "Fangoria". Online promo.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #714496 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 384 pages

Amazon.com Review
The late, great Robert Bloch (author of Psycho) was a master of macabre humor: he was fond of clever, grisly one-liners, often used as twist endings. He also liked to write about psychotic and psychopathic killers. This solid anthology, put out by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) and completed after Bloch's death, honors his legacy with 22 tales about murderers and crazies of various stripes. A good many of the stories, most memorably Esther Friesner's "Lonelyhearts," have Blochian twists at the end. The weakest of the bunch have no other flaw than predictability, and the strongest, such as Ed Gorman's powerful "Out There in the Darkness" are classics of traditional storytelling. You'll find excellent stories here by Denise M. Bruchman, Del Stone Jr., Edo van Belkom, Gary A. Braunbeck, and others. Stephen King contributes a little gem of a tale in which the narrator finds himself in an autopsy room: "It fits. It fits everything with a horrid prophylactic snugness. The dark. The rubbery smell.... Dear God, I'm in a body bag."

Note: the two previous HWA anthologies are Under the Fang, edited by Robert R. McCammon, and Peter Straub's Ghosts, edited by Peter Straub. --Fiona Webster

From Publishers Weekly
Before his death in 1994, Bloch, author of the horror-suspense classic Psycho, lent his imprimatur to this anthology created by the Horror Writers Association (formerly, the Horror Writers of America). Like the selections in his previous anthologies, Psycho-Paths (1991) and Monsters in Our Midst (1993), these 22 stories emphasize psychological over supernatural or physical horrors. Stephen King sets the tone with "Autopsy Room Four," a nail-biting nod to Poe's "The Premature Burial," in which a victim of paralysis struggles to alert dissecting pathologists that he is not yet a corpse. Less ghoulish but no less gripping is Ed Gorman's "Out There in the Darkness" (one of the collection's two previously published stories), about neighborhood vigilantes stalked by the vengeful cat burglar they think they have murdered. Not surprisingly, some of the best contributions delve into the motives of Norman Bates types. In "Lighting the Corpses," Del Stone Jr. follows the thoughts of a serial killer who torches his victims. Both Edo van Belkom's "The Rug" and Gary Jonas's "So You Wanna Be a Hit Man" paint darkly comic portraits of people for whom murder becomes an irresistible pastime, while Bloch's favorite real-life psychopath, Jack the Ripper, shows up in both Denise Burchman's "The Lesser of Two Evils" and Richard Parks's "The Knacker Man." With one foot planted in horror, the other in crime, and its diverse hands skillfully restraining potential excesses, this volume proves that the most effective horrors are often those all in the mind.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The legend of Jack the Ripper inspires a pair of tales by Denise Bruchman ("The Lesser of Two Evils") and Richard Parks ("Knacker Man") in this collection of 22 original stories that explore the dark corners of the psychopathic mind. This new anthology presented by the Horror Writers Association also includes contributions by Stephen King, Esther Friesner, Charles Grant, and other genre veterans. Ranging from psychological terror to splatter fiction, this uneven collection of stories belongs in libraries where the demand for horror is high.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

A solid collection from the premier horror writers out there
This is a collection of 22 original stories presented by The Horror Writers Association. In the U.S., there are two editions: a paperback and the limited hardcover put out by Cemetery Dance Publications. I suggest picking up the hardcover and I'll explain why later. The big draw to this one is Stephen King's original appearance of AUTOPSY ROOM 4, a story about a guy who is not dead but the Dr.'s performing the autopsy think otherwise. This is one of the better King shorts in a long while and is a fun read. The best story is Gary Braunbeck's SAFE, a story about how a town tries to cope and understand a mass murder. It is told through the eyes of a relative of the murderer who was saved in the melee and how he is dealing with the reprucussions of the event years later. It is an emotionally wrenching piece and is still reverberating in my body still, a few days after reading it. Ed Gorman treats us to a "What If" story. What if a neighborhood watch group actually killed a thief and the thief's accomplices try to enact revenge? It's a great premise and Gorman delivers a stunning story. Clark Perry also tells a story of childhood guilt that still haunts the living. This one was written so well I actually missed an appointment because I was so engrossed in the character's lives. I wish more of Mr. Perry's stuff would see the light of a day. A very talented writer. Other standout stories are put out by Yvonne Navarro, David Niall Wilson, Del Stone Jr. Cindie Geddes and Richard Christian Matheson. There really was not a story I didn't enjoy in here. A very good collection and one not to be skipped. Now for the reason I suggest the hardcover edition. Cemetery Dance Publications has made this book look very unique. And it has nothing to do with the Eric Powell cover, even though it is great and alluring. It has to do with the inside of the book. Obviously, Richard Chizmar took great care in designing the pages, as they are decorated with little illustrations by Jason Van Hollander. At each page corner there are these creepy characters and at the end of each story a little haunted house. The end papers also have some great illustrations by Allen Koszowski that show the face of the late Robert Bloch and some of his and others' characters. A very nice looking edition that you'll appreciate for years to come. Highly recommended and highest recommendation for buying the hardcover edition.

There is some sick stuff in here
Trust me, I mean that in a good way. Almost every single one of these stories is a knockout, and very disturbing. Things start off with a bang with the Stephen King story "Autopsy Room 4" about a man who gets bitten by a rare breed of poisinous snake on the golf course which has the extremely unfortunate side effect of making him appear that he is completely dead when he is only paralyzed. Guess where he wakes up. The Richard Christian Matheson story is an example of him at his best--the story is simple, short, brutal, and haunting. You'll want to read it over and over, because you can't beleive what happened. Way too realistic. The Ed Gorman story, the title of which I can't remember except that it was a great title, alone is worth the price of the book. Haunting, brilliant, and un-putdownable. If you like horror anthologies, you must pick this one up, it is one of the best. Just be warned, if you're easily shocked or disturbed, get something lighter because it takes a lot to scare me and this book gave me nightmares.

Don't let them get me, Mommy, please?
Starting off with Stephen King's `Autopsy Room Four', a story that, believe it or not, I have never read of his. An excellent view of what it is like for one man to almost become a corpse before his time, Robert Bloch's `Psychos' keeps up this pace with some stunningly unique and frightening tales of murder and mayhem.

Charles Grant's `Haunted' turns the tables of a secretive killer and the strangely heroic form of a bum.
Ed Gorman's `Out There In The Darkness' tells a tale of middle class vengeance against the dregs of society, a cult that takes care of their own.
Brent Monahan's `Doctor, Lawyer, Kansas City Chief' takes us to the limits of where an angry man will go to track down drunk drivers.
Del Stone Jr. writes `Lighting The Corpses, a tale of an ethereal madman who lights up fires of hopelessness.
Clark Perry's `Deep Down There' will keep you out of caves for the rest of your life, and Gary Jonas's "So You Want To Be A Hitman' takes you on a road-rage ride with a true psychotic.

My Favorites, along with `Autopsy Room Four', would be Lawrence Watt-Evans `Grandpa's Head', giving us a tiny glimpse of family history, Ester M. Friesner's `Loneyhearts' with lessons on how to stalk and find just the right mate for you, Edo van Belkom's `The Rug' gives sinister menace to an everyday item, and Gary A. Braunbeck's `Safe' is a chilling Columbine type tale of unexplainable madness.

There are more tales of terror by Richard Christian Matheson, Denise M. Bruchman, Dominick Cancilla, Cindi Geddes, Yvonne Navarro, David Niall Wilson, Richard Parks, Stephen M. Rainey, Jane Yolen, and Billie Sue Mosiman. Twenty-two tales in all, plus notes about the authors in the back. The introduction was done by Horror Writer's Association, for even though Robert Bloch started this editing project, he sadly died before its completion, leaving behind a legacy of some of the best horror ever written.

While some of the stories do not actually center around actual psychos, they all tend to leave that feeling of madness poised in the gray matter between your ears, threatening to sink deeper the longer you ponder these tales. `Psychos' is a true masterpiece collected by Horror Writers Association, and a definite not-to-be-missed trip into the insanity we horror aficionados crave so much. Enjoy!