by Marc Laidlaw
First published 2016
This collection brings together five decades of Marc Laidlaw's short fiction for the first time. The 51 stories span horror, fantasy, and science fiction, moving from early experimental pieces to recent work. Tales range from "400 Boys" and "The Random Man" to "The Vicar of R'lyeh" and "The Boy Who Followed Lovecraft." Laidlaw, known for co-creating the Half-Life video game series and writing for Dota 2, shows his primary identity as a short story writer. His work has appeared in magazines and landmark anthologies over four decades but never in a single author collection until now. The volume contains over 250,000 words, representing the most complete gathering of Laidlaw's fiction. Stories explore dark territories and strange transformations, examining characters caught between familiar worlds and alien realities. The collection reveals an author who moves fluidly between genres while maintaining a distinctive voice that finds the unsettling within the ordinary.
Genres: short-stories, science-fiction, fantasy, horror
Vibes: dark, thought-provoking, unsettling
Tropes: characters-caught-between-worlds, unsettling-ordinary
Period: 20th-Century, 21st-Century
788 pages · Kindle Edition · Freestyle Press