The Secret Backs of Things - Hardcover

Golden, Christopher

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1587672065 ISBN 13: 9781587672064

Publisher: Cemetery Dance Pubns, 2010

Synopsis

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 stories: 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.

About this title

Reviews

A wide-ranging author of horror, YA, and comic books, Golden presents 18 striking short stories from all facets of the dark fantastic, accompanied by intriguing authorial afterthoughts and Glenn Chadbourne's unsettling mythic illustrations. Golden's first published story, "One," provides backstory to his Shadow Saga (Of Saints and Shadows, etc.). In "Pa-Kow," a youngster's shoot-'em-up game dooms him to disaster. The long out-of-print "The Shell Collector" pays homage to relatives who loved the sea's eternal mysteries. "Burning Questions" and "The Urge," replete with explicit nastiness, unmask the strange unconscious urges deep beneath human personalities. "Venus and Mars" is a savage denunciation of child molesters. The scorching "Pyre" mixes ancient Viking echoes with a Freudian Electra complex. These chillingly realized glimpses of the abyss are not for the faint of heart. (Nov.) (c)
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Edition details

• Publisher: Cemetery Dance Pubns
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1587672065
• ISBN 13: 9781587672064
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 427