by Tom Reamy
First published 2023
This comprehensive collection gathers all the professional short fiction from Tom Reamy, the writer who won the 1975 Nebula for "San Diego Lightfoot Sue" and the 1976 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. The fourteen stories range from survivalist science fiction like "Dinosaurs" and "2076: Blue Eyes" to horror tales including the title story and "The Detweiler Boy." Reamy's fiction moves between urban noir and rural romance, from private detective stories to cosmic terror, from creature features to intimate character studies. The collection includes two previously uncollected pieces and closes with "Potiphee, Petey, and Me," a novella written over forty-five years ago but never published until now. Reamy sold his first stories "Beyond the Cleft" and "Twilla" on the same day in 1973 to respected editors Harry Harrison and Damon Knight. Though he died tragically at forty-two in 1977, his work earned comparisons to Ray Bradbury, Theodore Sturgeon, Richard Matheson, and Jack Finney for its sensitive yet dark exploration of human nature.
Genres: short-stories, science-fiction, mystery, horror
Vibes: dark, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: character-study, creature-feature
Period: 1970s
544 pages · Hardcover · Subterranean Press