Brian Hodge – författare

"The Weight of the Dead" by Brian Hodge is a dystopian science fiction novelette taking place years after all electronics have been fried by the sun. Two siblings live in an enclave with their father, who’s about to be punished for a crime, sparking fierce but secret rebellion by the daughter.At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Black Country - Joel Lane"''Black Country'' is one of a sequence of weird crime stories set in the West Midlands that I''ve been working on for years," says Joel Lane. "A collection of them is forthcoming with the title Where Furnaces Burn. ''Black Country'' is also a sequel to my earlier story ''The Lost District'', which describes another narrator''s experience of Clayheath."I''d like to thank The Nightingales and Gul Y. Davis, whose words influenced this story. It was originally published as a chapbook by Nightjar Press, with an enigmatic cover illustration by Birmingham photographer Trav28."We All Fall Down - Kirstyn McDermott"I carried the bones of this story around for quite a few years before I finally stumbled upon its beating heart," explains the author. "In my head was the image of a doll house, huge and not quite right, and a woman searching desperately for something concealed inside. But I could never work a story around it that didn''t seem twee. Doll houses, you know?"But then Emma and Holly appeared - trapped within their own fractured, futile relationship - and everything just, well, fell together. Beautifully. Awfully. And now I have a doll house story. Of a kind."Telling - Steve Rasnic Tem"As for the following story," reveals Steve Rasnic Tem, "it began with a dreadful image at the end of a dream. I couldn''t remember the other details of that dream, but I was determined to find out where that image might have come from."A Revelation of Cormorants - Mark Valentine"''A Revelation of Cormorants'' first appeared in the excellent series of chapbooks published by Nicholas Royle''s Nightjar Press," explains Valentine, "and I first encountered the dark grace of the cormorant while visiting Galloway with Jo."Just Outside Our Windows, Deep Inside Our Walls - Brian Hodge"I hardly ever write extended fragments of things and then leave them indefinitely," Brian Hodge reveals, "but that''s how ''Just Outside Our Windows, Deep Inside Our Walls'' got started."I first wrote the part about the fantasised magic show, plus the earliest bit about Roni moving in, after rereading a Thomas Ligotti collection. It may not be apparent to anyone else, but some flavour of his lingered in me for a little while and wanted to come out, and the magic show was the result."Then it sat idle for three years or so before I knew what more to do with it. Maybe because I had to forget about how it had begun and get back to being myself again."

Welcome to the cool side of the 1950s, where the fast cars and revved-up movie monsters peel out in the night. Where outlaw vixens and jukebox tramps square off with razorblades and lead pipes. Where rockers rock, cool cats strut, and hot rods roar. Where you howl to the moon as the tiki drums pound and the electric guitar shrieks and that spit-and-holler jamboree ain’t gonna stop for a long, long time . . . maybe never.

This is the ’50s where ghost shows still travel the back roads of the south, and rockabilly has a hold on the nation’s youth; where lucky hearts tell the tale, and maybe that fella in the Shriners’ fez ain’t so square after all. Where exist noir detectives of the supernatural, tattoo artists of another kind, Hollywood fix-it men, and a punk kid with grasshopper arms under his chain-studded jacket and an icy stare on his face.

This is the ’50s of Pop the Clutch: Thrilling Tales of Rockabilly, Monsters, and Hot Rod Horror. This is your ticket to the dark side of American kitsch . . . the fun and frightful side!

Table of Contents includes:

“The Golden Girls of Fall” by Seanan McGuire“Sea Lords of the Columbia” by Weston Ochse“Tremble” by Kasey Lansdale and Joe R. Lansdale“The Demon of the Track” by Gary Phillips“Outlawed Ink” by Jason Starr“We Might Be Giants” by Nancy Holder“Universal Monster” by Duane Swierczynski“Draggers” by David J. Schow“The Starlite Drive-In” by John M. Floyd“Dr. Morbismo’s InsaniTERRORium Horror Show” by Lisa Morton“Hot Babe” by Bill Pronzini“The Prom Tree” by Yvonne Navarro“I’m with the Band” by Steve Perry“Mystery Train: An Arcane Investigation” by Max Allan Collins and Matthew V. Clemens“Lab Experiment Turf War” by Jeff Strand  “The She-Creature” by Amelia Beamer“Fish out of Water” by Will Viharo“I Was a Teenage Shroom Fiend” by Brian Hodge