Dark Arts

The Horror Writers Association Presents: Dark Arts
edited by John Pelan

Cover artwork by Jill Bauman
Illustrated endsheets by Alex McVey

About the Book:
From the grimmest of the Greek tragedies to contemporary death metal horror has held a fascination with artists of all disciplines. From Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and Edith Nesbit's "Man Made in Marble" to the recent works like Secret Window and Skin the muses of creativity and the furies of terror have been closely linked.

In this anthology, award-winning editor John Pelan invites his colleagues in the Horror Writers Association to contribute their darkest thoughts on the creative processes. Step into the gallery and view twenty-two of the most disturbing visions that can be conjured by these dark artistes... Stay as long as you dare....

"Artists of various stripes give the uncanny shape and dangerous substance in this pleasing horror anthology from Pelan (Lost on the Darkside). Steve Rasnic Tem leads off with "The Disease Artist," a Kafkaesque account of a performance artist in an antiseptic future who simulates disease symptoms to reacquaint people with their mortality. Matt Cardin and Mark McLaughlin close the book with "Nightmares, Imported and Domestic," a cleverly inverted story about an artist whose dreams of an alternate life in a depressingly bleak and ordinary world begin to overwhelm his waking hours. These two fine tales serve as bookends for 20 stories that tend to feature gruesome works of art that prove to have a basis in real life or artists whose dark visions expose the grim reality of existence, notably Brian Hodge's "With Acknowledgments to Sun Tzu" and Lucy Taylor's "I Hear You Quietly Singing." Other contributors include Gerard Houarner, Tim Lebbon, Jeff VanderMeer and David Niall Wilson."
— Publishers Weekly

Table of Contents:
"The Disease Artist" by Steve Rasnic Tem
"The Shape of the Empty Heart" by Gerard Houarner
"For Art's Sake" by John Pelan
"With Acknowledgements to Sun Tzu" by Brian Hodge
"Hurdy Gurdy" by Peadar Ó Guilín
"The Art of Madness" by Edo van Belkom
"The Power of Preserving Pictures" by Leah Cutter
"The Death Technique" by John B. Rosenman
"Body" by Tim Lebbon
"The Final Staging of Ascent" by Tom Piccirilli
"I Hear You Quietly Singing" by Lucy Taylor
"Learning to Leave the Flesh" by Jeff VanderMeer
"The Hoplite" by Paul Finch
"Chained Melody" by Patricia Macomber
"Works of Art" by J.F.Gonzalez
"The Disinterment of Ophelia" by Michelle Scalise
"If You Were Glass..." by David Niall Wilson
"A Splash of Color" by Michael Oliveri
"The Mist Machine" by Charlee Jacob
"Scratching the Surface" by Michael Kelly
"Kodachrome" by Lorelei Shannon
"Nightmares, Imported And Domestic" by Mark McLaughlin and Matt Cardin

Born is Seattle in 1957, John Pelan was inspired to become a writer at age thirteen when he discovered that Arkham House had published a book submitted by Ramsey Campbell at age sixteen. Not as precocious as Mr. Campbell, it was another two decades before he would begin writing seriously. Prior to launching his writing career he worked as a sales trainer, mixologist, steel-worker, and antiquarian bookseller. In 1986 he founded Axolotl Press and published several well-received volumes by authors such as Tim Powers, Charles de Lint, Michael Shea, and James P. Blaylock. He is the editor of several popular anthologies, including the Bram Stoker Award winning The Darker Side.

His novella, The Colour out of Darkness, is available from Cemetery Dance Publications, with a second novella, Breaking the Lines, in the works. A major collection of his ghostly fiction Darkness, My Old Friend is forthcoming from Ash-Tree Press. As a researcher and historian of the horror genre John has edited over two-dozen single author collections including collections by Russell Kirk and Violet Hunt for Ash-Tree Press. He is currently working on assembling collections by Richard B. Gamon, Uel Key, and Daniel F. Galouye for publication by Darkside Press and Midnight House. John lives with his wife Kathy (and their six cats) in Seattle where they have just celebrated their twenty-fourth wedding anniversary.

Published in two states:
• Trade hardcover edition bound in cloth ($35)
• Traycased Lettered Edition of 26 signed and lettered copies bound in leather with a satin ribbon page marker, issued without a dust jacket ($175)