Taverns of the Dead

Taverns of the Dead
edited by Kealan Patrick Burke

About the Book:
Taverns are timeless places, as familiar and welcome as the spirits that rest themselves atop the bar. Through the ages, in times of war, of famine, of love and death, they have stood in silence, radiating the promise of a soporific sojourn from the horrors and the worries of the outside world. We are drawn to them by this promise, by the notion that we may be protected and comforted by the light, the animated chatter and the warmth inside those smeared glasses. When we go there, it is with no fear at all.

But taverns can be deadly places, where ghosts walk, the shadows talk and not everyone is your friend.

With Taverns of the Dead, editor Kealan Patrick Burke has reserved a table and gathered together some of the finest writers in modern horror and dark fantasy to share their most terrifying bar stories with you, the unsuspecting patron.

Pull up a chair and prepare to be regaled by tales of monsters, madness, ghosts and gore, in a place we know all too well...

" Burke (Quietly Now) offers an intoxicating blend of original and reprint fiction in an anthology with an all-star cast of contributors who know that the damnedest stories come out in bar settings, where inhibitions are low and emotions run the gamut from hilarity to despair. An Irish pub whose air is supernaturally tainted by the political hatreds of its patrons infects musicians who gig there with the will to kill in Chet Williamson's "The Smoke From Mooney's Pub." Paranoia runs deep in Ramsey Campbell's "The Winner," where a wanderer who makes his way into a local watering hole misinterprets the customs of the locals and finds cryptic bar talk leading him to a dismal fate. In Gary Braunbeck's haunting "The King of Rotten Wood," a tavern is just a convenient locale where the dead lecture the living about the proper way to remember them. There are stories to suit just about every taste here, ranging from the comic Lovecraftian inflections of Neil Gaiman's "Shoggoth's Old Peculiar" to the light dark fantasy of Charles L. Grant's "Friday Night at the Wicked Swan." There's even a spectacularly choreographed barroom brawl in Norman Partridge's "Bucket of Blood," a straight-no-chaser shot of dark suspense. Horror readers who appreciate both vintage and nouveau will find this book well stocked and well worth tapping."
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Table of Contents:
"Introduction" by F. Paul Wilson
"Foreword" by Kealan Patrick Burke
"The Lingering Scent of Apples" by P.D. Cacek
"The Winner" by Ramsey Campbell
"The Souls of Drowning Mountain" by Jack Cady
"Kristine's Kwiet Korner" by Melanie Tem
"Shoggoth's Old Peculiar" by Neil Gaiman
"Gas Station Carnivals" by Thomas Ligotti
"Bucket of Blood" by Norman Partridge
"The King of Rotten Wood" by Gary A. Braunbeck
"Front-Page McGuffin and the Greatest Story Ever Told" by Peter Crowther
"Des Lors" by Roberta Lannes
"At Home In the Pubs of Old London" by Christopher Fowler
"Spirited" by Steve Rasnic Tem
"Times of Atonement" Yvonne Navarro
"That Was Radio Clash" by Charles de Lint
"Friday Night at the Wicked Swan" by Charles L. Grant
"Bar Talk" by Peter Straub
"Time Was" by David Morrell
"Shades of the Past" by C. Bruce Hunter
"Luke: Homeward Angel" by Chaz Brenchley
"The Last Good Times" by Tim Lebbon
"Two In the Eyes" by Tom Piccirilli
"Welcome to the Masque" by Jeff VanderMeer
"The Order of Nature" by Edward Lee
"A Fine and Private Place" by Thomas F. Monteleone
"The Family Room" by Nicholas Royle
"The Smoke From Mooney's Pub" by Chet Williamson
"The Snug" by Terry Lamsley

Born and raised in Dungarvan, Ireland, Kealan Patrick Burke is an award-winning author described as "a newcomer worth watching" (Publishers Weekly) and "one of the most original authors in contemporary horror" (Booklist).

Some of his works include the novels Currency of Souls and The Hides, the novellas The Turtle Boy (Bram Stoker Award Winner, 2004), Vessels and Midlisters, and the collections Ravenous Ghosts and The Number 121 to Pennsylvania & Others.

Kealan also edited the anthologies: Taverns of the Dead (starred review, Publishers Weekly), Quietly Now (International Horror Guild Award Nominee, 2004), the charity anthology Tales from the Gorezone and Night Visions 12 (starred review, Publishers Weekly, British Fantasy Award & International Horror Guild Award nominee).

A movie based on his short story "Peekers", directed by Mark Steensland (DEAD @ 17), and scripted by veteran novelist Rick Hautala is currently scheduled for screening at a variety of international film festivals.

Published in three states:
• Trade Edition bound in full cloth ($40)
• Limited Edition of 400 signed and slipcased copies ($150)
• Traycased Lettered Edition of 52 signed and lettered copies bound in leather with a satin ribbon page marker ($400)