Mark Howard Jones – författare

THE CITY HAS TWO FACESOur long-cherished dream of Utopia is always just out of reach. We are doomed to know what we want but never to reach it.Inside this book are stories of cities filled with dreams that have become nightmares.THE CITY WEARS MANY MASKSFrom shining towers to filthy back alleys; from bright sunlit parks to dingy, cramped basements; this misguided tour through our dream cities is beset with dangerous pitfalls.Here are 11 diverse visions of cities that are unsettling, horrific, outlandish and bizarre in turn.Come and visit...but don''t forget your return ticket.

In these twenty tales of the weird and twisted you will visit temples dedicated to the worship of dark gods spawned under the diseased light of long-dead stars; find yourself lost in damned places where truth and sanity vanish like mist in sunlight; meet strangers who make you pray that all you think you know is wrong; and discover that love is really just another gateway to unending despair.You may even find confirmation of the dreadful fact that you are what you always feared you might be.Stories included in this collection:Beneath Black SpiresPut on the MaskThe Turn of the TideThe Cobwebbed Bird HouseThe Last OnesSunday (Early Evening Ecstasy)Taking the CureThe Rolling of Old ThunderRed WallsOut of StockFinest Garments RepairedIn the Deeps of DreamBy a Scarlet ThreadSide 1, Track 3Treading the Lost Path (Descending Aklo Songs)A Meeting Beneath the MoonFor the Love of InsectsLate Night, Caradoc StreetThe Sixth GuardianDoorgrave to the Bittersea

NIGHTMARE FICTION FROM THE RAGGED EDGES OF REALITYA sinister ice sculpture that towers a hundred feet highThe secret of the 'man' suffering from The ConditionA strange girl who welcomes you to her very unusual homeAn insane, otherworldly cure for a lingering deathAn abusive doppelgänger who refuses to lie down and dieA car park that may be one corner of a very personal hellMeet all these horrific treasures and many more in the 52 stories waiting between the covers of Tales From The Rain.This book brings back into print the collections Songs From Spider Street and Brightest Black, both of which have been unavailable for almost a decade.It also includes The Monochrome Mandarin, a previously unpublished collection from the same period, alongside a selection of 'lost' early tales.Cover illustration by Tais Teng