Guignol & Other Sardonic Tales

by Orrin Grey, Gemma Files (Introduction)

Overview

"Enter this freakishly inventive cabinet of curiosities if you will, every story providing a redly drippy skull-window straight into the id-vortex of a modern horror master--gape in awe, laugh out loud, feel your mental mouth start to water." --Gemma Files, from the introduction

Orrin Grey has a knack for cruel stories.

Contes Cruel, to be exact.

Sardonic Tales like the fourteen collected here, ready to wrench the reader's emotions, tantalize, and terrify. Drawing inspiration from the likes of Roger Corman, Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, the Theatre de Grand Guignol, Universal's monster movies, Hammer horror, kaiju flicks, and more, all while creating something unique, intoxicating, and, yes, cruel.

Guignol & Other Sardonic Tales has something for everyone... even the most jaded readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781939905420
Publisher:	Word Horde
Publication date:	10/02/2018
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.55(d)

About the Author

Orrin Grey is a skeleton who likes monsters, as well as a writer, editor, and amateur film scholar who was born on the night before Halloween. Guignol is his third collection of weird stories. Visit him online at orringrey.com.

Table of Contents

Introduction by Gemma Files

Dream House

The Lesser Keys

Guignol

Shadders

The Blue Light

A Circle That Ever Returneth In

Programmed to Receive

The Well and the Wheel

Haruspicate or Scry

Dark and Deep

Invaders of Gla'aki

Baron von Werewolf Presents: Frankenstein Against the Phantom Planet

The Cult of Headless Men

When a Beast Looks Up at the Stars

Afterword & Acknowledgments

Editorial Reviews

07/16/2018
In this career-spanning collection, Grey (Painted Monsters and Other Strange Beasts) assembles 14 peculiar tales of horror into a veritable smorgasbord of horrific thrills and chills. Though some titles fail to launch (“Dream House”) or verge on opaque to an audience uninitiated in lesser-known aspects of the occult and classic horror (“The Well and the Wheel” and “Invaders of Gla’aki”), others are immersive and well scripted if not especially bone-chilling (“The Lesser Keys” and “Haruspicate or Scry”), and the best offer truly memorable frights (“Guignol,” “Shadders,” and “The Cult of Headless Men”). Grey has a clear penchant for intricately wrought set pieces featuring detailed backgrounds that are occasionally described at the expense of the story’s plot. Nevertheless, the dynamic prose and eye-catching worldbuilding are redeeming where his storytelling fails to satisfy. This collection is a must-read for hardcore fans of horror, though casual readers may be left puzzled by more obscure references and unexplained allusions. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly