The Cosmicomicon: Come Play in Punktown: Miskatonic River Press Adapts the Famed CyberCraft Horror World of Jeffrey Thomas into New Role-Playing Game

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Come Play in Punktown: Miskatonic River Press Adapts the Famed CyberCraft Horror World of Jeffrey Thomas into New Role-Playing Game

Punktown RPG cover art by Mariusz Gandzel

One of the exciting powers wielded by writers of fantastical fiction is the atoms-up creation of worlds insider their minds - actualizing "real estate," as I call it, usually when grumbling that the story I am working on has too much of it, which makes the fabricating of each square foot all the more time consuming. Those writers who set their tales in modern, contemporary, and/or familiar settings don't need to constitute much real estate at all, as it has already been shaped and realized by that helpful imp called Reality. Even Lovecraftian writers aren't burdened with carving much ariable land out of the wilderness, as a slightly built man from Providence - and many of his inspired disciples - have done much of the heavy lifting for us.

But those who peer into the blackness, wave their magic quill, and bring navigable conjure real estate from the formless void are doing real, strenuous work, which also carries with it a high threshold for reward. Being a Creator of Place gives the scribe total control over the physics, laws, and makeup of everything inside that new sphere of metaphysical existence. They are God of this Place, and that is heady stuff.

Renowned author (and one of my favorite living horror writers) Jeffrey Thomas has played God, and birthed forth a dark, dangerous place of neverending possibility and infinite pain called Punktown. To crib his official bio, Thomas is a prolific writer of science fiction and horror, best known for his stories set in the nightmarish future city called Punktown, such as the novel Deadstock (Solaris Books) and the collection Punktown (Ministry of Whimsy Press), from which a story was reprinted in St. Martin's The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror #14. He has been a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award (Best First Novel) for Monstrocity, and a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Deadstock.

For decades, Thomas has penned novels and short stories of futuristic horror set in the far flung megalopolis Punktown, amassing a history tome filled with dread and cover-wrapped in blood, splayed out under a cold cosmos populated by Elder Gods and chugging space freighters. Punktown is a Weird fiction classic, and now - thanks to the inspired minds at Miskatonic River Press - you, dear reader, have been invited to walk the dingy streets, mix amongst the indigenous Chooms, hard scrabble human immigrants, and a murderous mix of alien races, mutants, clones, and sentient machines. This is Lovecraftian Cyberpunk (or CyberCraft, as I call it ). This is Sci-Fi Noir. This is the real estate of Punktown, and now you're allowed inside, to do as you will, and certainly as you must.

Indeed, Punktown is now set to roll out as a Role-Playing Game. Now, it can be your turn to play God, making note to mind your Elders, by picking up Punktown: An RPG Setting for Call of Cthulhu and BRP.

Miskatonic River Press, in their infinite wisdom, recently selected Thomas' Punktown universe as one of their newest settings, writing Punktown: An RPG Setting for Call of Cthulhu and BRP for the famed BRP system, allowing Call of Cthulhu players and keepers to play in Punktown, as the game was created to be completely and seamlessly compatible with Call of Cthulhu and Chaosium's many other game settings.

A Kickstarter is up and running to help fund this fantastic project. Fans of RPGs, CoC, and of Jeffrey's Thomas' exceptional fiction can click here and pledge a little to make this happen. Much like NPR and Public Television, you need to pay a little up front to get the good stuff in the end. You've gotta' back what you love. This is no different. Funding this project via Kickstarter will cast a ballot for quality, and bring a new CyberCraft world into the gaming universe.

To provide a bit of context and background on the project, we may as well go straight to the horrorist's mouth, so to speak. For those who missed it, Thomas answers all the questions you might have in his recent addition to the winding cybersnake The Next Big Thing, published last week on his Punktalk (Confessions of a Punktowner) website:

(1) What is the working title of your next book?

Right now the publisher, Miskatonic River Press, is calling it: Punktown: An RPG Setting for Call of Cthulhu® and BRP. Because that just about says it right there. The book will a role-playing game guide based on my dark future world of Punktown, which is the setting of many of my novels and short stories. The game will be compatible with the Call of Cthulhu® and BRP systems.

(2) Where did the idea come from for the book?

It was suggested to me by Michael Tresca — author of the nonfiction book The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games and the novel The Well of Stars, among others — that my milieu of Punktown would make a great setting for a role-playing game. He started constructing a set of “core rules” based on his extensive reading of my Punktown material, devoting chapters to game mastering, character types, powers, weapons and technology, aliens and creatures, etc. All the aspects of Punktown that make my stories set there so varied: now at a gamer’s disposal. Once we had these core rules to present, Mike took them to Tom Lynch, president of Miskatonic River Press, and Tom was sold on the project. Tom then invited writers Brian M. Sammons and Glynn Barrass onboard, based on their experience with gaming and their enthusiasm for Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, to write game scenarios for the book.

(3) What genre does your book fall under?

My Punktown stories are a fusion of science fiction, horror, noir, pretty much any genre or subgenre that strikes my fancy. They’ve been variously described as cyberpunk and New Weird, but when I write one I don’t think in terms of genre…I’m just going to take another trip to Punktown. And incidentally, I’ve always written each Punktown story — whether short story or novel — so that it could exist on its own, without a reader having to catch up on any other Punktown story first. I’ve even utilized the Cthulhu Mythos in some of my Punktown stories, most notably in my novels Deadstock and Monstrocity, so gamers are going to be able to play Call of Cthulhu® -type scenarios in a refreshing new setting…a dystopian far future setting. But they can also leave the Mythos out entirely if they’d rather. The possibilities — and dangers — in the city of Punktown are endless.

(4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Besides having inspired the game’s setting and monitoring all material to make sure it’s consistent with the Punktown universe, my own contribution to the book is two original short stories…included as an introduction to the game’s world through the creator’s eyes. It’s hard for me to imagine who might play the characters from those stories — particularly since one story’s protagonist is Jeremy Stake, the private eye hero of my novels Deadstock and Blue War. Stake is a mutant with the ability to change his appearance at will (and sometimes even against his will). In his natural state, he has an oddly bland, android-like face. But I suppose if I had to pick an actor to play him, it would be Ryan Gosling. Thirty years ago I would have said Christopher Walken.

(5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

This book offers the foundation for an entire role-playing game compatible with the Call of Cthulhu® and BRP game systems, set in the nightmarish future city of Punktown, but will also appeal to non-gamers with its new fiction and a core set of rules that can serve as a kind of fanciful encyclopedia from another world.

(6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Neither. As I say, the publisher is Miskatonic River Press, and I don’t have an agent. I’ve only ever self-published one book, my collection Aaaiiieee!!! in its original incarnation (an expanded hardcover edition was later released by Delirium Books). For me, self-publishing isn’t nearly as rewarding as having a publisher invest money, time, and faith in my work. But to fund this book, the publisher feels the best approach is to use a Kickstarter campaign, to make the book the very best product it can be. The Kickstarter for the project, which closes on December 19th, can be found here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1799183063/punktown-an-rpg-setting-for-call-of-cthulhu-and-br

(7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

The project has been ongoing for a couple of years now, and it’s still underway. At this writing I’ve finished one and a half of my two tales, and the book’s game scenarios still need to be written by the book’s other contributors. But the core rules of the book, as I said before, are complete at a meaty 37,000 words.

(8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Punktown is sometimes compared to China Mieville’s New Crobuzon (Perdido Street Station) and Jeff VanderMeer’s city of Ambergris (Finch), and I suppose there’s a superficial resemblance. Those settings also combine elements of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, but in such a fusion that the borders and limitations of genre dissolve. I’d call their work fantastical or imaginative fiction, if I had to label it at all. Same with my Punktown work.

(9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

As I say, the idea to turn Punktown into a game setting was Michael Tresca’s. Thanks, Mike!

(10) What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?

Artwork! There are going to be interior illustrations…there’s even talk of a map of Punktown (I’ve never tried to map out my city before!)…and the cover — ohh, the cover! I’ve been watching it develop, in stages, at the hands of Polish artist Mariusz Gandzel, and even though he’s only just begun laying in color the thing is looking magnificent. It’s a wraparound cover, very exciting in composition, and I think it’s worth the price of the book itself!
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Tis the season to give. The added bonus is when you pledge funds to Punktown The Role-Playing Game, you not only support dark fiction writing, small press, and RPGs, but you are pre-ordering a gift to be delivered after all of the holiday bows and ribbons are put away and forgotten til next year.

Check out the Kickstarter page, watch the vid, then shake out those pockets and back this puppy.

And besides, do you really want to let down this dude below? Who knows what Tom Lynch is going to do with that gun...

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BLURBS

“Major new voices don’t come along often. This is one.”

— Michael Marshall Smith, author of Intruders

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“T.E. Grau has that special touch that leaves part of a reader trapped inside his tales, and that’s always a sign that others should proceed, wide-eyed, into these stories. For me, he’s right up there with the best new generation of horror writers..”

— Adam Nevill, author of Under a Watchful Eye

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“T.E. Grau is writing the good stuff. Get some.”

— Victor LaValle, author The Ballad of Black Tom

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“T.E. Grau’s writing is dynamic and vital and reinforces the notion that the 2000s and 2010s are a high water mark in the tradition of horror and the weird.”

— Laird Barron, author of Swift To Chase

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“There is a crucial difference that sets Grau’s writing apart from the grandfathers of the weird tale. He is cognizant of the cultural assumptions and short cuts his characters indulge in. The racism and the misogyny that can make reading Lovecraft and Howard such a vexing experience are replaced here by a cultural self-awareness that forever eluded those writers. You’ll find those traits in some of the characters, to be sure; Grau is too honest a writer to engage in the wish fulfillment of a truly democratic depiction of the world. But… the author refuses to relegate anyone to a caricature. Everyone bears the weight of a life. In this way, he is the writer I wish Lovecraft and Howard could have been.”

— Nathan Ballingrud, author of North American Lake Monsters

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“T.E. Grau’s stories range across time and space, from Victorian-era London to contemporary Los Angeles, from America’s western frontier to the bohemian gatherings of Beat-inflected San Francisco. In prose elegant and engaging, he details the lives of men and women, children and adults, who have arrived at places where the world they know peels away to reveal another, darker place. It is a place where childhood fairy tales converge with stories of things older still, where the history we know is a mask for things better left concealed. Grau’s attention to character makes their discovery of this other place resonate long after each story is done.”

— John Langan, author of The Fisherman

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“T.E. Grau’s odd, edgy stories shine a new light into the dark corners of human experience. These stories shine with smart prose, clever – often quirky – insights, and enough weirdness to make any genre fan froth at the mouth with glee.”

— Gary McMahon, author of Pretty Little Dead Things

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“Some authors become contemporary favorites of mine on the merits of only a story or two. Such was the case with T. E. Grau… Even as a relative newcomer, he’s writing stories that can stand tall alongside those of much more established writers of modern weird fiction. His stories are sometimes tragic, sometimes blackly humorous, often cast a probing gaze at society, and may very well do all these things within the borders of a single tale.”

— Jeffrey Thomas, author of Punktown

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“Grau has an uncanny way of turning seemingly ‘straight’ literary stories odd/weird on a dime.”

— Christopher Irvin, author of Safe Inside the Violence

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“The horrors Grau describes are… diverse, encompassing ghosts, monsters, and existential despair. Perhaps most notable of all is Grau’s willingness to engage the all-too-human problems of cruelty and brutality, with the lyrical qualities of his prose providing a startling and effective counterpoint. Thrilling and memorable.”

— Daniel Mills, author of The Lord Came at Twilight

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“Grau is one of the great horror writers working today, and his collection represents some of the best dark fiction out there.

— Christopher Slatsky, author of Alectryomancer and Other Weird Tales

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“T.E Grau is not just a new, exciting voice in weird fiction, he is THE defining voice of the new generation.”

— Benoît Lelièvre, creator of Dead End Follies

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“Henceforth, when I consider ‘literary horror’ or ‘contemporary weird fiction,’ I will think of T. E. Grau. Grau is an aesthetic genius, a master of literary craft; he sculpts beautiful grotesqueries with the English language. He is Bosch. Lovecraft. Ligotti. No—those that have come before, those people walking in the waking world we know–their names do not do justice to these tales. Grau isn’t Lovecraft, Grau is Richard Upton Pickman.”

— Spencer Hughes, author of No Grave

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“The shadows evoked by T.E. Grau have teeth, and they shall endure.”

— Richard Gavin, author of Sylvan Dread

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REVIEWS OF I AM THE RIVER

“Grau’s poetic prose and stunning evocation of time and place… from the killing fields of Vietnam to the haunted alleyways of Bangkok, form a fever dream of copious bloodshed and many shades of gray.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review

“With echoes of Peter Straub’s KOKO and Apocalypse Now, T.E. Grau’s blazing, immersive novel takes us on the hell-ride of the Vietnam War’s last days as its raging waters also carry us through the first of our last days. I AM THE RIVER is a hallucinatory tour de force.” — Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Cabin at the End of the World

“A sense of being hunted, and haunted, hits you right from the start of I Am The River. That mood only grows in intensity as the scope of this novel’s nightmare takes shape. It’s supernatural and geopolitical and an unforgettable time. Denis Johnson’s Tree of Smoke comes to mind, the work of Peter Straub and Tim O’Brien, too. In other words T.E. Grau is writing the good stuff. Get some.” — Victor LaValle, author The Ballad of Black Tom

“I Am The River is the kind of thing that might happen if Algernon Blackwood had been brought in to do a rewrite of Apocalypse Now. A man barely holding onto his sanity in Bangkok remains haunted, stalked by a huge hound and undone by his own addiction. His only way out is through revisiting his past in the Vietnam War and the secret PSY-OPS mission he was involved in–and which he’s been running from ever since. A haunting meditation on war, death, addiction, and responsibility, with mindblowing forays into the weird.” — Brian Evenson, author of A Collapse of Horses and The Warren

“An intelligent accumulation of inner and outer darkness.” — Adam Nevill, author of The Ritual

“A lush green nightmarish journey into the dark, reminiscent of the late, great Lucius Shepard.” — Ben Loory, author of Tales of Falling and Flying

“I Am The River is a horror novel, yes, and it never skimps on its mission to unsettle us. It is also a book that finds horror not only in blood and shadows, but in the very real abysses that separate us: race, culture, and the manipulations of people by governments and by war. It moves quickly and intelligently from its first page to its last, evoking its nightmares in gorgeous, evocative, disturbing prose. A must-read!” — Christopher Coake, author of You Came Back

“I Am The River moves with fluid grace, flowing between times, places, and perspectives as it carries us through its protagonist’s surreal experience of the Vietnam War and his part in a covert mission which refuses to loose its grip on him. Located at the hot, humid intersection of Tim O’Brien’s classic Going After Cacciato and Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, this novel plunges us into war at its most extreme and insane, when the methods employed for defeating the enemy leave reason behind for terror and myth. Ted Grau’s writing continues to move from strength to strength.” — John Langan, author of The Fisherman

”A disorienting and devastating evocation of the horrors of war and PTSD. T.E. Grau has written infused the War Novel with dark mythic imagery that sears like napalm.” — Craig Laurance Gidney, author of Sea, Swallow Me and Other Stories

“Hallucinatory, gripping and haunting, I Am The River should rank as one of the best novels of 2018. The masterful point of view shifts and often stream-of-consciousness pacing makes for a riveting, oneiric read. In the author’s hands, this bleak, nightmarish and deeply unsettling tale is not only palatable… but delectable. Of course, I expect such quality from Grau. Everything he has written heretofore is bizarre, literary gold. That stated, this book represents Grau’s best work to date, and it is a must read.” — Jon Padgett, author of The Secret of Ventriloquism

“I don’t often say this, but here it needs to be said: I Am The River is a modern literary masterpiece, and one that will be remembered long after we are returned to dust. It’s a mind-bending, soul-destroying meditation on morality and despair and conflict, on the trials of the human spirit during times of war when the line between good and evil is intangible. Impeccably written, compulsively readable, I Am The River deserves every ounce of praise it’s going to get, and then some, and marks Grau as an extraordinary talent.” — Kealan Patrick Burke, author of The Turtle Boy and Kin

“Grau is our boatman on this psychedelic journey of ghosts and guilt, artillery and atonement. More than a war story, I Am The River forces us to confront the bloody aftereffects in a way that is both powerful and poignant. A cautionary tale for the soul.” — Ian Rogers, author of Every House Is Haunted

“Grau’s debut novel I Am The River portrays a strange but historically accurate Vietnam War where the actual flesh and blood figures who orchestrated the invasion conspire behind the scenes, implementing true to life PYS-OPS programs like “Operation Wandering Soul”. The weird elements of the novel aren’t bound by real-life “spook” programs, but are expressed by supernatural threats, frenzied chaotic séances, revenants, and ghosts born of violence in a historical period and on a landscape where atrocities were committed regularly. Profoundly, even beautifully grim, Grau’s pessimism often becomes far more than the sum of its parts, his writing achieving a damn near numinous quality at times as the whole affair spirals into hallucinatory madness and despair.

It’s striking how the novel’s chapters alternate between first and third person, creating a discomfiting effect, a sustained confusion, which is elucidated on reading each distinct chapter. Entering this novel is an invitation into the chaos of the protagonist’s mind, a sustained and specific close-up if you will, while the story slowly but expertly reveals the bigger picture, like a camera pulling from a tightly framed shot to an expansive, even cosmic panorama until the full impact of this bleak and powerful story is presented. It’s an impressive feat.

This is a genuinely powerful read, one in which I suspect many a reader will be captivated. Remarkably confident, Grau’s lush yet tight-as-a-clenched-fist prose is sinewy and beautiful. As evocative of place as Gustav Hasford at his best, but laced with horrors, weird and disturbing as diseased dreams. All too human, emotionally resonant, this one is a nightmarish spectacle of human depravity as shocking as a Bill Shields poem. Heartbreaking and unforgettable, Grau’s debut novel is a must-read.” — Christopher Slatsky, author of Alectryomancer and Other Weird Tales

“T. E. Grau’s dark tale of suffering and the quest for redemption pushes the limits of psychological horror. Deeply poetic and disturbing, it reveals that even in the darkest corners of the soul, a faint humanity can be seen glittering and it’s simply beautiful.” — Seb Doubinsky, author of The Song of Synth and White City

“Very rarely, readers are presented with a work that will not only stand the test of time, but also ingrain itself deeply into our thoughts while forcing us to question the very beliefs and notions we have come to accept as the truth. I Am The River is a breathtaking epic that latches itself to your subconscious, drives its literary fingers into your eye sockets, and plunges your brain into the bottomless depths of insanity. From the opening chapter, the novel teleports the reader into a hallucinogenic nightmare anchored by guilt and paranoia. It would be easy for Grau’s underlining themes of retribution and the political aspects of invasion and slaughter to appear patronizing, but the author stunningly executes his craft as he always has, ensuring the ride through a war-wrought, existential journey is believable and traumatizing. I Am The River isn’t about the Vietnam War, but rather the effects that violence and loss of oneself can have. This wonderfully contrasts with themes of mysticism, spiritual exodus, and the true, terrifying nature of man…

We have no doubt that I Am The River will join the likes of The Fisherman by John Langan, in regards to its position amongst modern heavyweights… This novel is going to make waves in the horror community and it’s going to cement T.E. Grau as one of the best authors working today.” — Gehenna & Hinnom

"I Am The River is an astoundingly well-crafted, compelling, and delightfully unsettling affair. Grau’s talent for setting is as palpable as ever; the jungle of Vietnam is everywhere, like an insidious fantasy that you dare not articulate, even on the reeking city streets of Bangkok. His penchant for deeply tormented characters unfurls in full color, as does his flair for the nightmare. If you are one of the many readers who enjoyed The Nameless Dark, you won’t leave disappointed. For newcomers to Grau in search of literary weirdness in a mode similar to Michael Wehunt and Brian Evenson, this is an excellent place begin…

With I Am The River, Grau blossoms into a fully accomplished voice in literary horror (or, perhaps, the literary weird). My resolve to keep track of his writing career is stronger now than ever. For readers who prefer their horror fiction to ring with a little depth (but not too much), or for readers who simply enjoy a story that sucks you in and doesn’t let you free, I Am The River is for you. This is certainly, from what I’ve read so far, the finest release of 2018.” — Silent Motorist Media

“Back in 2015, T.E. Grau gifted us with a story collection so good, I still tremble with excitement just thinking about it (The Nameless Dark). He has a new book coming out next month set during ‘the last desperate days of the Vietnam War’ about an American soldier ‘assigned to a secretive CIA PSYOP far beyond enemy lines.’ Hell yeah.” — The 15 Most Anticipated Horror Books of 2018 at LitReactor

“I’m a massive fan of the shorter fiction of Ted E. Grau, who is one of the best short story writers in America today. So, I am particularly excited to see how this debut novel pans out when it is released in February 2018; thus far I’ve deliberately not read much too about it. I want it to be a surprise. However, I’m sure Grau’s journey into the dark madness of the Vietnam War will be a memorable one and an early highlight of 2018.” — 2018 Preview in Tony Jones‘ “Top 10 Horror Books of 2017” at HorrorTalk

REVIEWS OF THEY DON'T COME HOME ANYMORE

“Readers picking up T.E. Grau’s novella They Don’t Come Anymore will meet a writer at the top of his game presenting a compelling protagonist and original tale in page after page of masterful prose.”

(John C. Foster)

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“I’ve had the opportunity recently to read some outstanding fiction with some of the strongest, most well-developed female leads that I’ve seen in recent years, and They Don’t Come Home Anymore continues that trend in exemplary fashion. Hettie is a fully formed independent female character with a mind of her own and a determination to achieve her goals regardless of who—or what—might attempt to deter her. She’s also a dark soul with a supercharged, overemphasized sense of loyalty to Avery and a willingness to sacrifice even the most precious of things in order to save her and, on a more selfish level, to have her to herself.

They Don’t Come Home Anymore brings together a cast of unique, quirky characters, gorgeous prose, and imagery, a spin on a familiar theme that literally makes it a brand new trope like nothing you’ve read before. It’s something he’s done with all his work but never with as much confidence and success as what he’s given us here. His debut collection made me want to follow him in his career and this new, intensely moving tale of suffering and potential redemption, he’s done nothing but reinforce that desire, cementing his place as one of our most promising new authors.”

(Shane Douglas Keene at Hellnotes)

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“At its core, They Don’t Come Home Anymore comes across as the most twisted and startling and tender of love stories. It portrays the loneliness, the bitchiness and the tenderness of high school, and the more general complacency or malignance of human beings. It’s other-than-human elements, reimagined from familiar monsters you wouldn’t think had any blood left in them, are fleeting and sharply drawn. There are so many layers to Grau’s excellent novella, but even on a surface level it’s brilliant and, perhaps most importantly, immense fun.”

(Aksel Dadswell at Larval Forms)

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“If you have any affection for vampire fiction – in any form – you’ll get a kick out of They Don’t Come Home Anymore. Personally, as a reader who cut her teeth (excuse the pun) on Anne Rice, and whose favourite book of all time is Let The Right One In, I absolutely loved this novella, and devoured it in a day.”

(Emma Whitehall at Unnerving Magazine)

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“Few authors have an original paradigm to offer their audience. They Don’t Come Home Anymore is very much a T.E. Grau story where the boundaries between the natural world and the Greater Unknown are permeable and available to those who refuse natural order, yet it is unlike anything he’s done before. It’s both a fragmented nightmare and a heartbreaking allegory that you won’t soon forget. Weird fiction is going to new and interesting places, thanks to original and ambitious voices such as T.E. Grau.”

(Benoît Lelièvre at Dead End Follies)

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"There’s a lot going on in They Don’t Come Home Anymore, a rich vein of themes dare I say – artificiality, peer-pressure, loss of innocence, a sense of identity and many more besides – perhaps demanding a second read through to fully appreciate them all. It’s a book which deserves real critical analysis – a much deeper and more detailed critique than this one but I have to say I loved every word of it.”

(Anthony Watson at Dark Musings)

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"Like any story set in high school, They Don’t Come Home Anymore is about belonging. The need to connect, whether to an individual or a larger social group. The “cool kids.” Goths. Religion. The eternal undead. As is frequently the case with these types of stories, it is also about obsession… Notice I haven’t mentioned the V word, because that’s not really what this story is about. But that element is there, combining old and new, poking holes in tropes and creating new ones, to put the cherry on top of this sundae of desperation and misguided loyalty. Grau sets the scene with assurance, meting out information in such a way as to keep us guessing about the inevitable. Because we all know how this story ends, right? Like Hettie, we think we do.”

(Joshua Chaplinsky at LitReactor)

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“This novella touches on quite a few subjects, not just vampire mythos but also the cruelty of high schoolers, the big business of phony authors, and the underhanded tactics of born-again cults. But most importantly, it paints Hettie as a kind of anti-hero, trying to accomplish something that is obviously wrong, but you can’t help root for her. She is complex and layered, at times lucid and relateable, but quickly switches to choosing fantasy over reality. This makes the story all the more scary and sad, as readers are forced to confront their own hypocrisies…”

(Matt Lewis at HorrorTalk)

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“I stepped into this very entertaining novella deliberately blind, knowing nothing of the plot and am pleased to say I was enthralled until the very last page. Actually, I pretty much read this enticing little story in one sitting and late into the night. Did it take me where I was expecting it to take me? No, and that’s much of the fun of reading great dark fiction; the plot often weaves into unexpected areas.”

(Tony Jones at Gingernuts of Horror)

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PUBLISHED REVIEWS OF THE NAMELESS DARK

"The dark fiction in Grau’s first collection is nicely twisted, with stories that play on the best of eldritch horror, creating a sense of dread and the unexplained instead of overt malevolence..."

(Publishers Weekly - read the rest of the review here)

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"The Nameless Dark by T.E. Grau (Lethe Press) is the debut by another fresh voice. These fourteen stories, all published since 2011 (three of them new), show off the author's range..."

(Ellen Datlow in Best Horror of the Year Volume 8)

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"T.E. Grau has a way of writing tales that are at once terrifying and wondrous, and what’s really remarkable about the stories in The Nameless Dark is that there isn’t a single story in the bunch that’s anything less than brilliant. Grau takes you down dark, horrific pathways, keeping you on the edge of your seat and reading until the final, petrifying sentence. For a young author, he brings a maturity to his fiction that is refreshing and ultimately extremely satisfying..."

(Shane Douglas Keene at This Is Horror - read the rest of the review here)

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"It’s a collection of horror stories but there’s wit here too, a dark humour that threads its way through the stories, raising smiles amidst the shudders. It’s there in the dialogue, in the descriptions of the characters populating these tales... I feel I can’t recommend The Nameless Dark highly enough. The stories and characters created here are worthy of the highest critical acclaim and the writing itself is a joy to read..."

(Dark Musings - read the rest of the review here)

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"There are many readers who would otherwise value what I already know... to be groundbreaking human literature by Grau of the highest calibre... This is a remarkable reading experience and, with the first half's word-crepitating drive and sensibility of a Roth or Updike, we are taken by the scruff of the cerebral neck from out of that natural delight in a literature of such Rabbit, Run dodging tumbleweed of existence and then taken, via form of gateways to abomination, within a different but equally natural literature that we love, too, a literature of a Lovecraft or a King..."

(The Dreamcatcher Real-Time Reviews- read the rest of the review here)

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"Grau’s debut collection of fourteen new and republished pieces of fiction ably demonstrated why you lucky readers should be excited about the wonderful world of horror and weird fiction. I have said it before and I will say it again that I truly believe that the genre is currently experiencing a bit of a renaissance in terms of the breadth and quality of writing. The Nameless Dark is a prime example of this. Over the course of his collection, Grau presents an assured, confident and intelligent approach to traditional horror tenets such as cosmic horror, serial killers, werewolves and myths and weaves them into new forms that feel fresh and inventive. If you like stories with style, panache, solid characterization and damn it, just great storytelling, this is as good a place to start as any."

(George Anderson's BEST HORROR FICTION OF 2015 list at Ginger Nuts of Horror)

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"I truly believe that horror is going through a bit of a renaissance period with a whole slew of small print publishers and authors producing truly world class fiction. Another prime example of this trend is T.E. Grau’s 'The Nameless Dark', a collection of fourteen new and republished pieces of fiction that ably demonstrate his writing skills and ability across a range of different settings, time periods and styles.... This really is quite a startling collection from T.E. Grau and 'The Nameless Dark' is yet again another example of why people should be excited about horror and weird fiction in general. If you like stories with style, panache, solid characterization and damn it, just great storytelling, this is as good a place to start as any. Hell, when you have Nathan Ballingrud writing your intro you know that you must be doing something right!"

(Ginger Nuts of Horror - read the rest of the review here)

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"What makes T.E Grau's horror stand out from the pack is that Grau understand one tiny little detail that other horror writers don't: horror is a feeling of unspeakable terror and helplessness you trigger in your audience's mind. It can have many faces, take any means necessary to get there, but it's a lot more efficient if you keep your audience guessing. The characters of T.E Grau all question their sanity in good Lovecraftian fashion, unsure if they are losing their mind or if reality is collapsing around them. What gives Grau's fiction an identify beyond its Lovecraftian inspiration is its blissful ambivalence: you never TRULY know either. You too are in the nameless dark."

(Dead End Follies - read the rest of the review here)

Named a NOTABLE READ OF 2015 by Dead End Follies, and described as a collection of "Uncompromising and obscenely intelligent horror stories."

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“A Collection,” it states. Grau’s The Nameless Dark is so much more than that! This collection is a beast, unafraid to wield words in every way imaginable to make its points. Spitting and snarling, the writing is full-bodied, muscular. It growls, it roars, and slashes with a mighty talon. Okay, enough of that, but you get my point. Grau is fearless. Description and details, the depth of ideas—nothing here settles for ‘small’ in the scope of the horrors unleashed...

Impressive is an understatement. Grau’s The Nameless Dark a beast ready to devour the minds of readers of Weird Horror willing to make the sacrifice. I can still hear it chewing on mine!

Highly recommended!"

(John Claude Smith at The Wilderness Within - read the rest of the review here)

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“With the unleashing of The Nameless Dark, T. E. Grau has cemented himself as an author whose byline should spark in readers a joyful expectancy for what surprises there are to follow...
"

(The Haunted Omnibus, read the rest of the review here)

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“Ted Grau can write – let’s make no bones about it. My first impression while reading this collection, even during the opening story, related to the strength of the prose, the jaunty, hip, rhythmic, colourful, witty, acerbic flow of writing which possesses a power all of its own. That makes reading Grau a real pleasure...
"

(Gary Fry - read the rest of the review here)

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“... Grau has managed quite a feat here: turning out a stunning collection comprised of the first group of stories he ever published. It is a testament to the breadth of quality work being done in the horror genre today that Grau has flown under the radar until now, but I believe that will change soon. This Is Horror is scheduled to publish two of Grau’s novellas next year, and I would be surprised if he isn’t nominated for some hardware (Shirley Jackson award, maybe?) next year. That’s a good thing; a writer as good as Grau should be benefiting from the current horror boom, not being hidden within it."

(Nothing Bad Is Going To Happen - read the rest of the review here)

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"With The Nameless Dark, T.E. Grau has assembled a collection of memorable stories that evoke a multitude of emotions and touch on myriad themes and issues that are more relevant today than ever. Whether it's a Mythos-inspired tale, or a Laird Barron tribute, Grau writes in a style and voice that are all his own. He has firmly planted himself in the Weird Renaissance we are currently experiencing, and should be on the radar of every reader, critic, writer, and publisher. Grau is drawing power from primordial wells, and everyone will feel it."

(Joseph Zanetti at Musings from the Outer Worlds- read the rest of the review here)

RUMINATIONS ON THE NAMELESS DARK

“Major new voices don’t come along often. This is one. Read it.”

— Michael Marshall Smith, author of Intruders and The Straw Men

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"Packed with ideas that transform the ordinary into the extraordinary, and a wide cast - a chorus of disgruntled outsiders, misfits, the put-upon, the socially unacceptable and self destructive - who totter at the edge of the life they wanted, and by doing so seem to conjure associations with things that no one would want to know. Above all, T.E. Grau has that special touch that leaves part of a reader trapped inside his tales, and that's always a sign that others should proceed, wide-eyed, into these stories. For me, he's right up there with the best new generation of horror writers. A must have collection."

— Adam Nevill, author of No One Gets Out Alive and House of Small Shadows

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"The Nameless Dark isn't a great debut collection, it's a great collection, full stop. T.E. Grau's writing is dynamic and vital and reinforces the notion that the 2000s and 2010s are a high water mark in the tradition of horror and the weird."

— Laird Barron, author of The Croning and The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All

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"What's most impressive about T. E. Grau's stunning debut collection is the range of his settings and histories, and of the desperate and authentic voices of his doomed characters. The cumulative effect of these smart, evocative, unsettling creepers is a sense of dread as deep as the secret ocean underneath Nebraska."

— Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Little Sleep

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"Debut collections rarely exhibit such literary deftness and raw power. The Nameless Dark is brutally poetic and poetically brutal. The shadows evoked by T.E. Grau have teeth, and they shall endure."

— Richard Gavin, author of At Fear's Altar

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"Some authors become contemporary favorites of mine on the merits of only a story or two. Such was the case with T. E. Grau. With his first story I was exposed to, 'Free Fireworks,' he seized my attention, and when I read 'The Screamer' I was flat-out sold. He’s never disappointed me since. Even as a relative newcomer, he’s writing stories that can stand tall alongside those of much more established writers of modern weird fiction. His stories are sometimes tragic, sometimes blackly humorous, often cast a probing gaze at society, and may very well do all these things within the borders of a single tale. His range is especially to be admired, his settings diverse but always convincing and immersive. A story like 'The Mission' reads like a feverish blend of Cormac McCarthy and H. P. Lovecraft, but is all Grau: wildly imaginative, fiercely gripping, brazenly unpredictable.”

— Jeffrey Thomas, author of Punktown

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"T.E. Grau's stories range across time and space, from Victorian-era London to contemporary Los Angeles, from America's western frontier to the bohemian gatherings of Beat-inflected San Francisco. In prose elegant and engaging, he details the lives of men and women, children and adults, who have arrived at places where the world they know peels away to reveal another, darker place. It is a place where childhood fairy tales converge with stories of things older still, where the history we know is a mask for things better left concealed. Grau's attention to character makes their discovery of this other place resonate long after each story is done. There are echoes of Bradbury in here, Lovecraft and Chandler, among others. But it is Grau's success to evoke these writers without lapsing into pastiche. Instead, he has produced an impressive, gripping collection of fiction. I recommend it highly."

— John Langan, author of The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies

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"In The Nameless Dark, T. E. Grau finds the sweet spot between terror and acceptance, horror and beauty, the unusual and the familiar—both frightening and touching at the same time. Not an easy task. These unsettling stories grab your heart and squeeze—a sensation that is both terrifying and like coming home.”

— Richard Thomas, author of Disintegration

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"T.E. Grau's odd, edgy stories shine a new light into the dark corners of human experience. These stories shine with smart prose, clever - often quirky - insights, and enough weirdness to make any genre fan froth at the mouth with glee. Start reading Grau before he hits big, then you can say you were one of the first.”

— Gary McMahon, author of Pretty Little Dead Things and The Concrete Grove

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"More than any other genre, perhaps, horror is defined by its places -- from the snowy streets of Lovecraft’s Kingsport to the windswept beaches of James’ Seaburgh or the ancient hills around Machen’s Caermaen. In such places the alien exists alongside the familiar and the horrific mingles with the beautiful. T.E. Grau’s The Nameless Dark follows in this same tradition, evoking within its pages a world of haunted landscapes: blasted cities and barren deserts, suffocating jungles and sun-bleached plains. The horrors Grau describes are likewise diverse, encompassing ghosts, monsters, and existential despair. Perhaps most notable of all is Grau’s willingness to engage the all-too-human problems of cruelty and brutality, with the lyrical qualities of his prose providing a startling and effective counterpoint. Thrilling and memorable."

— Daniel Mills, author of The Lord Came at Twilight

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"The Nameless Dark is a horribly good collection from the incredibly versatile T.E. Grau, featuring stories ranging from the nihilistically bleak to the darkly humorous. You’ll find harrowing accounts of modern day life alongside stories of an old west that’s wild with monstrous things, Lovecraftian horror holding hands with the Ligottian. Each story is written with a clear love for language, the prose evocative, heartfelt, and often heartbreaking, providing observations of human nature that are wickedly astute and well considered. The stars must have been right when he wrote this because Grau has created magic here, magic of a very dark kind. The Nameless Dark is an excellent collection – I loved it."

— Ray Cluley, author of Probably Monsters and Within the Wind, Beneath the Snow

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"I have a bad habit of putting off books that receive a lot of hype. Grau's THE NAMELESS DARK has received high praise across the board, as well as a foreword from Nathan Ballingrud (one of my favorite authors) that lavishes praise, to boot. But I've made an effort to read short story collections this year (13 so far) and so I jumped on TND.

And it more than lives up to the hype! This is a fantastic collection. Grau has an uncanny way of turning seemingly 'straight' literary stories odd/weird on a dime. He even caught me off guard a few times - after I was well into the book and should have seen it coming. Engrossing stuff.

I'm very much looking forward to what Grau puts out next. This is a collection to grab and take your time with this winter. Highly recommended.

Favorites:

Tubby's Big Swim

Free Fireworks

The Mission"

— Christopher Irvin, author of Safe Inside the Violence and Burn Cards

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"Grau is one of the great horror writers working today, and his collection represents some of the best dark fiction out there. I'm a sucker for authors that know how to shoot S. California's best side in the correct light-- that is, the weird, noir, horrific aspect of its grotesque face. THE NAMELESS DARK does this and more...

Grau has substantial weird horror chops, his skills on full display here. He juggles the pulpiest of pulp lit’ with a concise grasp of language—THE NAMELESS DARK is fiction that Robert E. Howard would have jealously read and poets like George Sterling would have discussed within Bohemian circles. This is a phenomenal collection, and one I imagine will be much talked about and republished in many a 'Best Of' anthology."

— Christopher Slatsky, author of Alectryomancer and Other Weird Tales

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KIND WORDS ABOUT 'THE MISSION'

Laird Barron said:

"The Mission--an unholy union of Cormac McCarthy's annihilating moral vistas and filmmaker JT Petty's dark vision of the West."

Laird Barron wrote in Locus:

"Grau tackles the realities of frontier life during Reconstruction and the terrible divides between white, black, and red, and between the warrior caste and everybody else. He’s at the top of his game here with a panoply of the lurid, the gritty, and the grotesque. On the surface ‘The Mission’' is a critique of colonial America and Manifest Destiny, the invasion of a Christ-anointed army and the ordained obliteration of indigenous civilization. Digging deeper, stripping the meat from the bone, we’re left with the oldest abiding truth – wilderness is an altar of death."

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Nathan Ballingrud said:

"'Goddamn a thief that salutes you first.'

THE MISSION, by Ted E. Grau, reads like a classic weird tale. It has echoes of Howard, Lovecraft, and even a hint of Clark Ashton Smith's "Tsathoggua," but written with greater worldliness and sharper, cleaner prose. A band of unlikely soldiers set off to track down two Lakota warriors in Nebraska, and stumble across something fantastically strange and terrifying. Creepy, bizarre, and fast-paced, this novella satisfied on all fronts.

'Ebke snorted. He had no dog in this fight. Didn't care for a damn thing in the whole wide world, including his own hide. The kind of man who was just born hollow, who just went where he was supposed to. Didn't matter, though. When the chips were down and the dander up, it was always light against dark. To hell with this New World.'

'Farm boys ain't exactly expert trackers. Good to have at your side in a saloon dust up, as those coffee can fists always found purchase, but rosy-cheeked plowboys weren't born bloodhounds like those with a more suspicious nature.'

Coffee-can fists. I love that. This is the first in what will be a series of stories about Salt Creek, according to the back-cover copy of this sadly out-of-print novella. I'm on board for the full ride."

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Jeffrey Thomas said:

"Last night I finished THE MISSION. I can’t express how much I enjoyed it – it’s a knockout. Just one of the most engrossing, riveting, creepiest stories I've read in a long time. Truly, this is the most muscular, gritty, thrilling approach to horror I've experienced since I read Laird’s latest collection (and I include the entire contents of CHILDREN OF OLD LEECH in that assessment...). I was out there WITH those guys, in that hard landscape… experiencing one mind-boggling mystery after another.

Grau packed an incredible amount of strange revelations and dangerous encounters into one novella, without it ever feeling crowded or overdone. He just pulled that Wild Bunch of cowboys in deeper and deeper, took them further and further, and me as a reader along with them. I hope to see a return to this location and these thoroughly intriguing mysteries in future work, as the back cover hints.

So very impressed. He just consistently impresses…but this one is especially noteworthy. I don’t know if it quite tops THE SCREAMER, which I have a special fondness for and consider a modern masterpiece, but I’d say it’s pretty damn close.

Again, I’m proud to possess #1 of this chapbook, which somewhere in the near future could become quite the collector’s item!"

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Rodney Turner of Daring Defenders said:

"I recently acquired The Mission, a weird western by T. E. Grau published by Dunhams Manor Press. I’m sad that it was a limited run because this is a fucking excellent little book. If you didn't get your hands on it, light a candle and mourn your loss.

OK, that is quite enough mourning. Let’s get to it!

The Mission is the tale of a rag-tag group of soldiers on the trail of a pair of Native-American fugitives. A chance encounter in a town that shouldn't exist sets in motion a chain of events that shatters the sanity of our protagonists.

This not the West of 1950’s cinema with its bright blue skies and crimson mesas. From the first paragraph, Grau drags the reader into an ugly world. A world in which humanity’s self-inflicted horrors walk hand in hand with the ancient secrets lurking in the frontier.

Grau’s pacing is frenetic, evoking the sense of urgency felt by the narrator and his companions. Like any good story, The Mission made me feel less like a reader and more like a powerless observer carried along inside the narrator’s head. It is not until the characters arrive at the titular mission that we really catch our breath. Grau gives us a brief moment of wonder and discovery, but it is a moment colored by the fact that the light at the end of the tunnel is just the reflection of the Reaper’s scythe.

I’m going to give this one a 5 of 5."

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The Arkham Digest said:

"I've always been partial to the Weird Western... T.E. Grau’s The Mission serves as prime example of what can be done when these two genres collide. The novella starts off with a typical Western plot; a group of Army men are on the hunt for a couple of Native Americans. Grau shows what can be accomplished when combining the West with the horrors of Lovecraft, as the men make some strange discoveries.

The tension of the group is already thick when the novel begins, with some members clashing over racial differences and just skimming the boiling point. Once the stage is set, the already palpable tension ratchets into overdrive for the remainder of the novella. As the group is beset by strange occurrences, such as finding an out of place town where a town shouldn't be, the Captain does his best to stay cool and keep his group from tearing each other apart.

Some of The Mission brought to mind The Men From Porlock or Blackwood’s Baby by Laird Barron. All three stories are period pieces featuring groups of tough guys coming face to face with horrors beyond their comprehension. Grau nails the rough tone required to portray these types of characters, making for a story that has already moved high up on my list of favorite Weird Westerns."

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David Anderson said:

"A few months back, in the thick of summer, I was given a copy of T.E. Grau’s THE MISSION and happily accepted it. Limited to 50 hard copies (I got a digital review copy) I was excited to be able to dig into this tasty gem from Dynatox Ministries’ Dunhams Manor Press...

Grau, who’s work I've read before, not only continues to amaze me with this story but sets a new precedent. The ending is terrifying, and stuck with me for long after the story. I can look back on that feeling of hopelessness and cosmic doom and smile because it was invoked so well. Anchored by a really well done Western Story motif, THE MISSION has a cast of characters that immediately launched off the page and held my interest throughout. The pace is amazing, and given the smaller format here we are just HANDED the goods right away and they keep coming. Fans of Lovecraftian fiction will love, love, LOVE this, as it invokes the dread of the Mythos in a very classic way. There have been a lot of experimental Lovecraftian releases like Jordan Krall’s NIGHTMARES OF A LOVECRAFTIAN MIND that explore different ways to tackle the Mythos, but here Grau delivers what fans of classic Lovecraftian Fiction crave most – cosmic monsters! And scary stuff! There’s still enough to tickle your cranium, mysteries to explore, but we still get some hair raising chills.

THE MISSION is a valuable edition to your collection."

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David Binks said:

"I highly recommend it. Well written, good pace and it seemed to have a hint of Clive Barker which is always a good thing. Everville comes to mind. The characters were believable and flawed like most of us. Grau takes the reader into the flat lands of Western Nebraska, a part of the world he knows and describes very well, building up the suspense as he adds more ingredients to the mix. And if that weren't enough, we realize that we are reading a Lovecraftian work. My only hope is that this becomes a full length novel one day."

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KIND WORDS ABOUT 'MONOCHROME'

Alison McBain of TOUGH CRIME said:

"While I enjoyed a number of stories in the issue, I must say that the real star of the collection for me was 'MonoChrome'by T.E. Grau. From vivid scene-setting to superb pacing, this story is told in a slow, literary reveal that incorporates a somewhat surrealistic narrative and elements reminiscent of the best horror movies. To give you a small taste of Grau's style, here is a stark picture of the home of the main character, Henry Ganz, an alcoholic and former cop whose best days are behind him.

'Pico Union was left to rot by inches through the gutting of post-war factory jobs that drove out the blue collars, filling the gaps with style-blind investors and immigrants from Guatemala and El Salvador, on the run from brutal civil wars and therefore unconcerned with such bourgeois notions as curb appeal. Los Angeles was full of neighborhoods like this, mixed-race middle class bastions gone to shit, with a preponderance of them circling downtown like a rusted halo.' (37)

I enjoyed the mystery of Grau's piece, the description and dialogue, the small hints and motifs throughout the story, and the building of tension that leads to a spectacular and satisfying ending."

KIND WORDS ABOUT 'THE LOST AKLO STORIES'

Christopher Slatsky said:

"Trying to catch up on my growing stack of Dunhams Manor Press titles. This afternoon was T.E. Grau's The Lost Aklo Stories.

FLUTES offers that cosmic paranoia we all know and love, but mixed with government spook noir, and sci-fi Haldronesque madness. Time travel shenanigans with Lovecraftian gods and apocalyptic dread in all the right doses.

IN THE CAVE, SHE SANG delivers up Manson, maelific entities, the Family, and the S. California desert. I appreciate how Grau has created this growing body of work that paints CA as an ominous, mysterious, weird place. The prose here drips like poetic, sleazy, hallucinogenic sweat from a mad god's brow. Great read.

Dunhams Manor Press delivers again."

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Jason Williams said:

"Two very different, but entertaining, works of weird fiction. Both are quite short but they show off the writers talents quite nicely.

I look forward to seeing longer pieces from this author.

Nice atmospheric cover by Paul Carrick (Nightserpent on Deviant Art)."

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KIND WORDS ABOUT 'TRANSMISSION'

Publishers Weekly (starred review) said:

"... Some stories are as creative as they are disturbing, including T.E. Grau’s “Transmission,” in which a lonely man confronts a transmission that mentions supernatural forces. The authors play with the unnameable and unmentionable; there are no cheap scares or easy answers. The complex setups lead to satisfying payoffs that leave readers intrigued and shaken, as good horror is meant to do. This satisfying collection is a welcome addition to the genre."

KIND WORDS ABOUT 'RETURN OF THE PRODIGY'

Amazon reviewer Sprag80 said:

"The standout story is, without question, T.E. Grau's 'Return of the Prodigy,' which is by turns mordantly funny and terrifying. Talk about a delayed honeymoon going horrifically wrong. The ending is also stunning. Grau's minor masterpiece is my favorite story of the year."

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Amazon reviewer Peter Olafson said:

"Scott R. Jones’s 'Assemblage Point' and T.E. Grau’s 'The Return of the Prodigy' are particular delights..."

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KIND WORDS ABOUT 'LOVE SONGS FROM THE HYDROGEN JUKEBOX'

Gabino Iglesias of Horror Talk said:

“'Love Songs from the Hydrogen Jukebox' is what you'd get if you threw Barron, H.P. Lovecraft, and William S. Burroughs in a blender with LSD-laced blades and mixed them all into a magic, bloody pulp. From the vibe to the slang and rhythm, Grau nails 1950's beatdom and delivers a surprising tale that left me wishing it was only the first third of novel, and placed him high on my list of authors whose new work I'll be eagerly waiting for:

'What we think we know is BULLSHIT, and what we don't know is our salvation. The West ain't the best. The West is a gerbil wheel. Knowledge from the older places is what we need right now. I'll be good goddamned if we scorch ourselves off this marble and leave only a black smudge with nothing underneath. I want to go deeper, find out how to rise above.'"

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CM Muller said:

“'Love Songs from the Hydrogen Jukebox' by T.E. Grau was an unexpected and wholly original surprise, and lives up to its hip title. The tale is told from the point of view of a card-carrying member of the Beat Generation named Nelson Barnes, who is caught under the spell of a Dean Moriarty-esque vagabond named Doyle. The language and milieu of the 1950s is perfectly captured by Grau, whose writing is muscular, witty and metaphorical in all the right ways. This is a 'love song' to a lost generation, and scarier than hell."

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Crows N' Bones said:

"A beat generation tale of a group of hepcats looking for enlightenment and a mysterious guru who is waaaay more than they can handle. Love Songs… is creepy, fun and has a satisfyingly dark conclusion that Sir James Frazer would find perfectly appropriate. Perhaps my favourite story in the collection."

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Black Gate said:

"Another good tale is T. E. Grau’s 'Love Songs from the Hydrogen Jukebox.' If Barron ever gets lazy, he should hire Grau to be his ghostwriter. I've read and re-read a lot of Barron, and Grau sounds almost exactly like him in this story. If Barron had put his name on it, I don’t think I would've ever known the difference. Good job, Mr. Grau!"

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Lillian Csernica of Tangent said:

"A mob of hippies and stoners in San Francisco adore Doyle, who travels the world and seems possessed of some secret higher knowledge. Nelson is that rare member of the mob who owns a car. That wins him the special status of Doyle's driver. On this particular night Doyle leads the way to a gathering where a guru whom even Doyle respects will offer the brave and the willing a special blessing known as The Embrace. Nelson is smart enough to realize Doyle is holding back secrets that could be very dangerous. The ending is a mind bender.

When I see T.E. Grau's byline, I know I'm in for a wild ride. The writing style here is smooth and very readable. I love the title. In some ways the story reminds me of Harlan Ellison's "Shattered Like A Glass Goblin" if that commune had been occupied by a secret cult from Laird Barron's cosmos."

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Kristi DeMeester said:

"T.E. Grau’s cosmic horror in 'Love Songs from the Hydrogen Jukebox' was a tripping balls kind of experience that isn’t often replicated in the written word. One of the more specific connections to Old Leech. Fantastic."

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Scott R. Jones said:

"T. E. Grau’s Love Songs from the Hydrogen Jukebox telegraphs its punches a bit: before you’re a third of the way in, you can see what’s coming, but the trip there is pure amphetamine-fueled beatnik joy. This isn’t the only story in TCoOL to feature a boundary-busting orgy of weirdness... but the energy Grau expends getting his proto-Cassady guru and his nebbish-y protégé out of San Francisco and up to the fateful world-ending party in the mountains, and the crunchy imagery he deploys once they’re there with the Truth and the Horrors, is great stuff. A good ride leading into the book’s very satisfying center."

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Benito Corral said:

"Both Love Songs from the Hydrogen Jukebox and Firedancing feature protagonists that are caught up in the rapturous spell of their worldly mentors, leading them to higher places and unknown fates. In Love Songs, T.E. Grau perfectly captures the feeling of the 1950s and delivers a truly horrifying climax."

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J.T. Glover said:

"Pilgrimage, witting or unwitting, was at the heart of several stories in this collection. 'Love Songs from the Hydrogen Jukebox,' by T.E. Grau, is a tale of trip to see the guru, filtered through the drop-out culture of the 1960s and after. It’s got some of the same feel as Nick Mamatas’ Move Under Ground, though Nick’s story felt a bit more Burroughs, and Ted’s feels a bit more Kerouac."

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KIND WORDS ABOUT 'THE TRUFFLE PIG'

Received an Honorable Mention by renowned editor Ellen Datlow for her 2013 Best Horror of the Year.

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Locus Online Reviews said:

"In T.E. Grau’s clever 'The Truffle Pig', the Ripper’s murders are explained as the handiwork of immortal assassins laboring to rid our world of a malignant 'fungal stain' straight out of Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft."

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John Claude Smith said:

"When I finished reading 'The Truffle Pig,' I actually paused and said aloud, 'Goddamn!' A Jack the Ripper tale that takes a decidedly different turn, this might be my favorite JtR tale Ever."

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Justin Steele said:

"T.E. Grau's The Truffle Pig is one of my favorite stories in the collection, and a pure weird fictional take on the Ripper. Blending bits of Lovecraftiana with a confident narrative voice, Grau's Ripper is a misunderstood defender of mankind, constantly on the hunt to slice away the darkness."

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Dr. Amy H. Sturgis said:

T.E. Grau's 'The Truffle Pig' alone is worth the price of admission, as it were. This nightmarish piece reveals Jack the Ripper and H.H. Holmes to be two faces of the same creature - and he's the good guy! - pitted against dread forces of the Lovecraftian mythos. There is a method to the madness of our protector, it seems. Fantastic."

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Scott R. Jones said:

"'The Truffle Pig' by T.E. Grau lets a little Lovecraft into the book, and for that I was surprised and grateful. This story is great fun, riffing on the ritualized aspects of the murders, but taking things much further than the standard 'Freemasons did it'conspiracy theory, into the realms of the cosmic and deep into the past."

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KIND WORDS ABOUT 'THE SCREAMER'

Jeffrey Thomas said:

"'The Screamer' is one of the best modern horror stories I've read. Ever. I keep wanting to discuss it at greater length and detail, to acknowledge its remarkable construction, its superb prose voice, its volcanic build-up of power (from subtle anxiety to all-stops-pulled-out-madness), and its brilliant sense of metaphor, but I have been too distracted. Oh wait...I kinda just did, a little.

That one story is better than entire short story collections I've read by respected and (so far) better known writers. If you took all the stories in those collections and condensed them into one small mass like a collapsed star, you'd have 'The Screamer'. For real.

I liked how characters I thought were merely placed in there for background detail (and that would have been fine) reappeared later under other... circumstances. I liked the prose voice. I liked the masterfully tuned shift in volume from 0 to 11... The beautifully balanced ending. It is one of my favorite modern horror stories.

I wish I'd written this."

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Matt Cardin said:

"I read 'The Screamer' today and it was a massive enjoyment. T.E. Grau's use of language, his unfolding of the cosmically apocalyptic-horrific premise, the delectable evocation of honest-to-gods dread -- all were wonderful. Hats off! The words 'the real deal' are prominent in my thoughts as I come away from Grau's depiction of a truly harrowing urban-cosmic undoing of everything."

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Michael Marshall Smith said:

"Very, very powerful indeed. One of the best breakdown stories I've read in a long time - I love the richness of the collapse, the blurring of reality/unreality, the sense of terrible cataclysm both within and without the main character - and the language and description is suggestive of a lot more going on beneath the surface. I'm not surprised 'The Screamer' is being put up for nomination."

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Gary Fry said:

"In ‘Transmission’ ... a guy seeking answers in life heads into a desert when his car radio starts picking up an intriguing broadcast. Where this leads, in a breathless finale, yields a real sense of the otherworldly and one which can be considered a genuine contribution to the field of cosmic horror."

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Marc Nocerino said:

"'The Screamer' by T.E. Grau is the best story I have read all year. In fact, it tops any short story I read the year before, too! Grau masterfully weaves a tale of terror and madness with a sneaky surprise ending that I definitely did not see coming."

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Brian Sammons said:

"I want to group up three authors right at the start, as there are a lot of similarities between them for me. I became aware of each of them around the same time (about a year to year and a half ago), I’ve read a quite a few things by them since then, often in the same books, and they have never disappointed me with their story telling skills. In fact, they consistently blow me away. They are Glynn Owen Barrass, Pete Rawlik, and T.E. Grau and their stories here, 'Carcosapunk', 'The Statement of Frank Elwood' and 'The Screamer' respectively. These three are the best of the bunch here. When I suggested that there were young Turks in this book, these guys are the ones I was thinking of. They have each rapidly become three of my favorite writers. All fans of Lovecraftian fiction should consider them bright shining stars that need to be carefully followed."

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Morgan Scorpion said:

"The second wonderful story is 'The Screamer' by T. E. Grau... I spent a lot of time trying to second-guess the storyline, and failed to do so. Epically. The denouement was so much better than anything I imagined."

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KIND WORDS ABOUT 'FREE FIREWORKS'

Wilum H. Pugmire said:

"T. E. Grau is a fine writer with a potent imagination. Imagination, that can evoke a personal style and vision, is one of the primal keys to writing tales that are original. In 'Free Fireworks' he conjures forth a tale of a man who has a unique talent: 'He had grown to hate the smell of smoke, of burning things, which now filled him with horror when it was such a pleasant experience in his youth. He hated that he was an expert in smoke, noticing the nuanced differences of chemicals and wood, rubber and flesh.' The story becomes deliciously Lovecraftian and is a thrilling read."

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Michael J. Tresca said:

"If you can imagine the post-apocalyptic freedom fighters led by John Connor in the Terminator series than you have an idea of what "Free Fireworks" by T.E. Grau is all about. But it has a Mythos twist that makes it so much more than a Fourth of July tale. 5 out of 5."

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Matthew T. Carpenter said:

"Mr. Grau is a highly regarded author who works in LA... Free Fireworks is story that uses the classic trick of indirection, much like Gaiman's A Study in Emerald. A religious war makes celebrating the 4th of July rather poignant. Nicely written, it is an enjoyable read."

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KIND WORDS ABOUT 'TRANSMISSION'

S. T. Joshi said:

T.E. Grau's 'Transmissions' effectively utilizes the remoteness of the parched Southwest to evoke horror - a horror that comes from the chilling and potentially cataclysmic message heard on a radio transmission. - Dead Reckonings No. 10, Fall 2011

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W. H. Pugmire said:

It astonishes me that 'Transmission' is T. E. Grau's first published story. He is off to a brilliant beginning. He has been working for a decade as a screenwriter in Hollywood, but that is a very different kind of writing than the short story form. This is one of the creepiest stories in the book, superbly told.

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KIND WORDS ABOUT 'MONOCHROME'

Hellnotes said:

"Starting with W.H. Pugmire’s 'These Harpies of Carcosa,' a tale of an artist whose visions of dead Carcosa travel from his dreams to his canvas and ending with T.E. Grau’s flavescent crime noir 'MonoChrome,' Barrass has chosen 18 auriferous stories, nearly 350 pages of madness, mayhem and inevitable doom. The TOC reads like a who’s who in modern horror..."

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Ian Casey said:

"Grau’s effort... delivered a dose of genuine characterisation to an anthology otherwise short on it. The sense of knowing and slightly caring about the protagonist enhanced the impact, as did the broader sense of scope and scale, with the horror growing from a few isolated mysteries to the implication of something world-changing."

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