Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque

The central haunting of this collection of 16 tales is not anything so concrete as a building haunted by a ghost, but rather the interior haunting of a human being by their ever-shifting sense of self. As Joyce Carol Oates puts it (in a fascinating afterword on the nature and history of the grotesque), "The subjectivity that is the essence of the human is also the mystery that divides us irrevocably from others . . . all others are, in the deepest sense, strangers." These stories, while all dark, cover a range of styles and subjects. Some are vividly violent; several are subtle and/or ironic. The New York Times praised this collection for "pull[ing] off what this author does best: exploring the tricky juncture between tattered social fabric and shaky psyche, while serving up some choice macabre moments."Collection of 16 stories of horror and the “grotesque,” one apparently original. With an afterword by the author. * 3 · Haunted · nv The Architecture of Fear, ed. Kathryn Cramer & Peter D. Pautz, Arbor House, 1987 * 26 · The Doll · nv Epoch, 1980 * 49 · The Bingo Master · ss Dark Forces, ed. Kirby McCauley, Viking, 1980 * 72 · The White Cat · nv A Matter of Crime v2, ed. Matthew J. Bruccoli & Richard Layman, HBJ, 1987 * 99 · The Model · nv EQMM Oct ’92 * 147 · Extenuating Circumstances · ss Sisters in Crime 5, ed. Marilyn Wallace, Berkley, 1992 * 154 · Don’t You Trust Me? · ss Glamour Aug ’92 * 158 · The Guilty Party · ss Glamour Jul ’91 * 172 · The Premonition · ss Playboy Dec ’92 * 188 · Phase Change · nv Omni Visions One, ed. Ellen Datlow, Omni Books, 1993 * 211 · Poor Bibi [“Poor Thing”] · ss Tikkun May/Jun ’92 * 219 · Thanksgiving · ss Omni Nov ’93 * 232 · Blind · ss * * 247 · The Radio Astronomer · ss Antæus Spr ’93 * 254 · Accursed Inhabitants of the House of Bly · nv The Antioch Review Win ’92 * 284 · Martyrdom · nv MetaHorror, ed. Dennis Etchison, Dell Abyss, 1992 * 303 · An Afterword by the Author · aw