Spontaneous Human Combustion

Book excerpt: A 2022 BRAM STOKER AWARD NOMINEE A TOR NIGHTFIRE MOST EXCITING HORROR BOOK OF 2022 "In range alone, Richard Thomas is boundless. He is Lovecraft. He is Bradbury. He is Gaiman." —Chuck Palahniuk With a Foreword by Brian Evenson In this new collection, Richard Thomas has crafted fourteen stories that push the boundaries of dark fiction in an intoxicating, piercing blend of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Equally provocative and profound, each story is masterfully woven with transgressive themes that burrow beneath the skin. A poker game yields a strange prize that haunts one man, his game of chance now turned into a life-or-death coin flip. A set of twins find they have mysterious new powers when an asteroid crashes in a field near their house, and the decisions they make create an uneasy balance. A fantasy world is filled with one man’s desire to feel whole again, finally finding love, only to have the shocking truth of his life exposed in an appalling twist. A father and son work slave labor in a brave new world run by aliens and mount a rebellion that may end up freeing them all. A clown takes off his make-up in a gloomy basement to reveal something more horrifying under the white, tacky skin. Powerful and haunting, Thomas’ transportive collection dares you to examine what lies in the darkest, most twisted corners of human existence and not be transformed by what you find.