by Bryan Hall
CHRISTIAN A. LARSEN
Christian grew up in Park Ridge, IL and graduated from Maine South High School in 1993. He has worked as an English teacher, radio personality, newspaper reporter, and a printer’s devil. His short stories have appeared in Chiral Mad (Written Backwards), and A Feast of Frights (The Horror Zine Books) and Fortune: Lost and Found (Omnium Gatherum). His debut novel, Losing Touch, with a foreword by New York Timesbestselling author Piers Anthony, will be published by Post Mortem Press in 2013. Christian received his bachelor of science in broadcast journalism from the University of Illinois and studied secondary English education at National-Louis University. He lives with his wife and two sons in the fictional town of Northport, Illinois. Follow him on Twitter @exlibrislarsen or visit exlibrislarsen.com for more information.
LISA MANNETTI
Lisa Mannetti’s debut novel, The Gentling Box, garnered a Bram Stoker Award and she was nominated in 2010 both for her novella, “Dissolution,” and a short story, “1925: A Fall River Halloween.” She has also authored The New Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn (2011); Deathwatch, a compilation of novellas—including “Dissolution”; a macabre gag book, 51 Fiendish Ways to Leave Your Lover (2010); two nonfiction books; and numerous articles and short stories in newspapers, magazines, and anthologies. Her story, “Everybody Wins,” was made into a short film by director Paul Leyden, starring Malin Akerman and released under the title Bye-Bye Sally; the film has been posted on YouTube. Lisa lives in New York. Visit her author Web site at www.lisamannetti.com, as well as her virtual haunted house at www.thechanceryhouse.com.
SHAUN MEEKS
Shaun Meeks lives in Toronto, Ontario with his partner, Mina LaFleur. Shaun’s work has appeared in Haunted Path, Dark Eclipse, Zombies Gone Wild, and A Feast of Frights from the Horror Zine, as well as his own collection, At the Gates of Madness. He will also be featured in the anthologies A Six Pack of Stories, The Horror Zine 4, and Fresh Grounds Volume 3, and will be releasing a new collection with his brother called Brother’s Ilk in late 2012 and his new novel, Shutdown, in early 2013. To find out more, visit him at www.shaunmeeks.com.
KATE MONROE
Kate Monroe is a redheaded author and editor who lives in a quiet and inspirational corner of southern England. She has penchants for the color black, horror, and loud guitars, and a fatal weakness for red wine. Her interests in writing range from horror to erotica, taking in historical romance, steampunk, and tales of the paranormal on the way; whatever she dreamed about the night before is liable to find its way onto the page in some form or another. Check out her web site at http://kateserenmonroe.com.
CHRISTINE MORGAN
Christine Morgan divides her writing time among many genres, from horror to historical, from superheroes to smut, anything in between and combinations thereof. She’s a wife, a mom, a future crazy cat lady and a longtime gamer who enjoys British television, cheesy action/disaster movies, cooking, and crafts. Her stories have appeared in many publications, including The Book of All Flesh, The Book of Final Flesh, The Best of All Flesh, History is Dead, The World is Dead, Strange Stories of Sand and Sea, Fear of the Unknown, Hell Hath No Fury, Dreaded Pall, Path of the Bold, Cthulhu Sex Magazine and its best-of volume Horror Between the Sheets, Closet Desire IV, and Leather, Lace and Lust. She’s also a contributor to The Horror Fiction Review, a former member of the HWA, a regular at local conventions, and an ambitious self-publisher (six fantasy novels, four horror novels, six children’s fantasy books, and two role-playing supplements). Her work has appeared in Pyramid Magazine, GURPS Villains, been nominated for Origins Awards, and given Honorable Mention in two volumes of Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. Her romantic suspense novel The Widows Walk was recently released from Lachesis Publishing; her horror novel The Horned Ones is due out from Belfire; and her thriller Murder Girls was just accepted by Skullvines. She’s delving into steampunk, making progress on an urban paranormal series, and greatly enjoying her bloodthirsty Viking stories.
JM REINBOLD
JM Reinbold is the Director of the Written Remains Writers Guild in Wilmington, Delaware. She is the author of the novella “Transfusions,” published in the anthology Stories from the Inkslingers (Gryphonwood Press, 2008). “Transfusions” was nominated for a Washington Science Fiction Association Small Press Award. Her poetry has appeared in Red Fez Magazine, Strange Love (2010), and A Beat Style Haiku (2012). In 2011, she received an honorable mention from the Delaware Division of the Arts Individual Artist Fellowships for her novel Prince of the Piedmont. She has been selected twice (2008, 2012) by the Delaware Division of the Arts as a fiction fellow for the Cape Henlopen Poets & Writers Retreat. In 2009, her novel-in-progress, Summer’s End, was a finalist in the Magic Carpet Ride Magical Realism Mentorship competition. She is currently working on a mystery/crime novel, a number of short stories, and haiku. You can visit her online at www.jmreinbold.com.
M.L. ROOS
Malina Roos writes everything except romance because she has problems yanking axes out of young lovers’ heads. Her work can be found in Death to the Brother’s Grimm from Omnium Gatherum Media, and Spinetingler Magazine. Her great passions are writing, reviewing books, her three dogs, and her spouse, who mysteriously dies in most of her work and now sleeps with one eye open. She is currently working on several short stories and a novel.
DANIEL I. RUSSELL
Daniel Russell has been writing horror since 2004 with many short stories published in publications such as Andromeda Spaceways, Inflight Magazine, Pseudopod, and The Zombie Feed from Apex. His debut novel Samhane and short story “By the Banks of the Nabarra” were both nominated for Western Australia Tin Duck awards in 2011, as was the story “Broken Bough” in 2012. He is the author of Come Into Darkness, Critique, and The Collector Book 1: Mana Leak. His novel Mother’s Boys is due for release in 2013 from Blood Bound Books and his work will also be appearing in Brett McBean’s final novel in his Urban Jungle trilogy. Daniel is currently the Vice President of the Australian Horror Writer’s Association and was a special guest editor of Midnight Echo.
A.P. SESSLER
A resident of North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Sessler searches for that unique element that twists the everyday commonplace into the weird. Last year, he sold his first published story, “Tourist Trap,” to the State of Horror: North Carolina anthology, edited by Armand Rosamilia. Having his second published story, “The Perfect Size,” appear in Zippered Flesh 2 enthuses him immensely.
L.L. SOARES
L.L. Soares’s fiction has appeared in dozens of magazines and anthologies, including the original Zippered Flesh collection. His first novel, Life Rage, was released in 2012 from Nightscape Press, and is available from the usual places. His second novel, Rock ‘N’ Roll, should be out by the time you read this, published by Gallows Press. His other books include the short story collection In Sickness (with Laura Cooney) and the upcoming mainstream novel, Hard, due out in May of 2013. He is an Active member of the Horror Writers Association (HWA), and a former chairman of the New England Horror Writers (NEHW). He also cowrites the Stoker-Nominated horror movie review column, “Cinema Knife Fight,” with Michael Arruda. CKF currently has an official web site, a staff of writers, and new content every weekday at http://cinemaknifefight.com. Check out his site at www.llsoares.com.
JONATHAN TEMPLAR
Jonathan Templar has written a large body of acclaimed dark and speculative fiction, much of which has been published in anthologies and compilations from a range of publishers. Jonathan’s recent work includes the story “The Meat Man” in the charity collection Horror for Good and “Basher” for the shared world anthology World’s Collider. His novella The Angel of Shadwell, the first in a series of stories for steam-punk detective Inspector Noridel, is to be published by Nightscape Press in September 2012 and his first collection of stories, The Geometry of Hell, is due later in the year. Jonathan has an author site with a full bibliography at www.jonathantemplar.com.
JEZZY WOLFE<
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Jezzy Wolfe is an author of dark fiction, with a predilection for absurdity. A life-long native of Virginia Beach, Jezzy lives with her family and quite a few ferrets. Her stories have appeared in such ezines and magazines as The World of Myth, The Odd Mind, Twisted Tongue, Support the Little Guy, and Morpheus Tales. She has also been published in a variety of anthologies, such as Smart Rhino’s first Zippered Flesh, Graveside Tales’ Harvest Hill, The 2009 Ladies and Gentlemen of Horror, The Best of the World of Myth: Vol. II, Library of the Dead’s Baconology, and the Choate Road fun book, Knock, Knock ... Who’s There? Death! She was a founding member of Choate Road.com and at one time cohosted the blogtalk radio shows “The Funky Werepig” and “Pairanormal.” Currently she writes reviews for Liquid Imagination. In addition to her brand of humor and horror fiction, she maintains both a blog and storefront for ferret owners and lovers, known as FuzzyFriskyFierce. You can visit Jezzy on her author’s blog at jezzywolfe.wordpress.com, on her FuzzyFriskyFierce blog at FuzzyFriskyFierce.wordpress.com, or visit her storefront at www.cafepress.com/3fmerchandise.
THE ILLUSTRATOR
SHELLEY EVERITT BERGEN
The magnificent book cover graphic was created by Shelley Bergen, who was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She still lives there today with her husband of nearly thirty years. They have one son.
“I have always been artistic to some degree, dabbling in painting with acrylics, poetry, tapestry, and, finally, digital photomanipulation,” she said. “Discovering digital photomanipulation in 2000 opened a whole new door artistically for me. I now specialize in dark/macabre portraits, but am not limited to just that. In 2003, I was invited to join an online art community called Twisted Realmz, which is where I met fellow artists Antti Isosomppi and Matt Shealy. Great friendships ensued as well as collaborated artwork. This led to the launch of our company, Groundfrost Illustration & Design, in 2004. In the years since, we have had the privilege of creating artwork for projects for The Black-Eyed Peas, Kanye West, John Legend, God Forbid, Fragments of Unbecoming, The Killers, Dead Eyed Sleeper, Cutting Block Press, and Telus Publishing, to name but a few. In 2008, we created the artwork for the graphic comic Lobster Girl, story written by Jon Morvay. The comic went on to become the best-selling independent comic of that year. We are still going strong to this day, with no end in sight!”
Groundfrost can be found at www.groundfrost.net, or Shelley can be contacted personally for commissioned work at [email protected] or on Facebook under her full name.
“Hardcore studies of shocking monstrosities that will enthrall and entice even the most hardened horror fan.” — FANGORIA
“If director David Cronenberg edited an anthology,
this would be that book.” — HORROR WORLD
ZIPPERED FLESH:
TALES OF BODY ENHANCEMENTS GONE BAD!
In this dark anthology of demented stories, bizarre body enhancements play pivotal roles in the plots—and things are never pretty or pain-free. The 20 stories in this collection are not for those who are faint of heart or squeamish, or who are easily offended by disturbing imagery, bloody violence, and freakish body augmentations. Love chilling tales? You’ll savor this anthology!
Michael Bailey * Michael Laimo *
Adrienne Jones * Charles Colyott *
Christopher Nadeau * Scott Nicholson *
J. Gregory Smith * John Shirley * L.L. Soares * Aaron J. French * Graham Masterton *
Michael Louis Calvillo * Jezzy Wolfe *
Elliott Capon * Armand Rosamilia *
Lisa Mannetti * P.I. Barrington *
Jonathan Templar * Rob M. Miller *
Weldon Burge
Available in paperback and
Kindle eBook from Amazon.com.
Also visit smartrhino.com for the latest from Smart Rhino Publications.
“There’s something to love for crime and mystery fans alike.”
— CRIME FICTION LOVER
UNCOMMON ASSASSINS
Hired killers. Vigilantes. Executioners. Paid killers or assassins working from a moral or political motivation. You’ll find them all in this thrilling anthology. But these are not ordinary killers, not your run-of-the-mill hit men. The emphasis is on the “uncommon” here—unusual characters, unusual situations, and especially unusual means of killing. Here are 23 tales by some of the best suspense/thriller writers today.
Stephen England * J. Gregory Smith *
Lisa Mannetti * Ken Goldman *
Christine Morgan * Matt Hilton *
Billie Sue Mosiman * Ken Bruen * Rob M. Miller * Monica J. O’Rourke * F. Paul Wilson *
Joseph Badal * Doug Blakeslee *
Elliott Capon * Laura DiSilverio *
Michael Bailey * James S. Dorr *
Jonathan Templar * J. Carson Black *
Weldon Burge * AL Boudreau * Charles Colyott * Lynn Mann
Available in paperback and
Kindle eBook from Amazon.com.
Also visit smartrhino.com for the latest from Smart Rhino Publications.
Table of Contents
Praise
Copyright
DEDICATION
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THE MODERN ADONIS
TAUT
THE HUNGER ARTIST
SKIN DEEP
THE SUN-SNAKE
KNOWLEDGE
PROSTHETICS
AFTER DARQUE
THE AFFAIR OF THE JADE DRAGON
THE FUTURE OF FLESH
WE’RE ALL MAD HERE
SEEDS
PERFECTION
UNDERNEATH
THE PERFECT SIZE
PIPER AT THE GATES
BABYDADDY
THE LITTLE THINGS
CLOCKWORK
LUSCIOUS
RAPTURE
PRIMAL TONGUE
THE WRITERS
THE ILLUSTRATOR