Description: The house at the end of the block with the overgrown lawn. The darkened store window in a forgotten corner of the shopping mall. The colorful characters of a children's TV show. What dark secrets do they hide? From award-winning author Christopher Hawkins come thirteen tales of the horrors lurking right next door. * A shut-in sets out to make a new life for himself by losing weight at the point of a scalpel. * A store clerk with a mannequin obsession hides a macabre and tragic secret. * A master thief tries for one last score in a house that doesn't want him to leave. * Two friends learn the hard way that having superpowers doesn't always make you a hero. It might just make you a monster. * A lonely painter finds freedom with the help of something lurking beneath the ocean waves. At turns whimsical and somber but always unsettling, this debut collection of short horror stories is essential reading from a rising voice in dark literary fiction.
Author
Born and raised near the shores of Lake Michigan, Christopher Hawkins has been writing and telling stories for as long as he can remember. A dyed-in-the-wool geek, he is an avid collector of books, roleplaying games and curiosities. When he's not writing, he spends his time exploring old cemeteries, lurking in museums, and searching for a decent cup of tea. Christopher is an award-winning author and the former editor of the One Buck Horror anthology series. His works of short fiction have been published in numerous magazines and anthologies, including Cosmic Horror Monthly, Fusion Fragment, Underland Arcana and The Big Book of New Short Horror. He is a member of the Chicago Writers Association and the Chicagoland chapter of the Horror Writers Association. An expatriate Hoosier, Christopher currently lives in a suburb of Chicago with his wife and two sons.
