That Which Grows Wild: 16 Tales of Dark Fiction

by Eric J Guignard

Overview

That Which Grows Wild collects sixteen dark and masterful short fiction stories by award-winning author Eric J. Guignard. Equal parts of whimsy and weird, horror and heartbreak, this debut collection traverses the darker side of the fantastic through vibrant and harrowing tales that encounter monsters and regrets, hope and atonement, and the oddly changing reflection that turns back at you in the mirror.

Discover why, after only several years, Eric J. Guignard has developed an ardent following and earned praise by masters of the craft such as Ramsey Campbell ("Guignard gives voice to paranoid vision that's all too believable.") and Rick Hautala ("No other young horror author is better, I think, than Eric J. Guignard.") by stories such as these:

• In "A Case Study in Natural Selection and How It Applies to Love," a teen learns about himself while contemplating the theory of Natural Selection as the world around slowly dies from rising temperature and increasing cases of spontaneous combustion.
  
• In "Dreams of a Little Suicide," a down-on-his-luck dwarven man unexpectedly finds his dreams and love in Hollywood as a munchkin for filming of The Wizard of Oz, but soon those dreams begin to darken.
  
• In "The Inveterate Establishment of Daddano & Co.," an aged undertaker tells the true story behind Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, and of the grime that accumulates beneath our floors.
  
• In "A Journey of Great Waves," a Japanese girl encounters, years later, the ocean-borne debris of her tsunami-ravaged homeland, and the ghosts that come with it.
  
• In "The House of the Rising Sun, Forever," a tragic voice gives dire warning against the cycle of opium addiction from which, even after death, there is no escape.
  
• In "Last Days of the Gunslinger, John Amos," a gunfighter keeps a decimated town's surviving children safe on a mountaintop from the incursion of ferocious creatures... until a flash flood strikes, and their one chance may be to sail away on it.

Those and ten other unforgettable tales are within these pages of That Which Grows Wild by Eric J. Guignard. Explore within, and discover a wild range upon which grows the dark, the strange, and the profound.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781949491005
Publisher:	Harper Day Books
Publication date:	07/17/2018
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.67(d)

About the Author

ERIC J. GUIGNARD is a writer and editor of dark and speculative fiction, operating from the shadowy outskirts of Los Angeles, where he also runs the small press, Dark Moon Books. He's twice won the Bram Stoker Award, won the Shirley Jackson Award, and been a finalist for the World Fantasy Award and International Thriller Writers Award. He has over one hundred stories and non-fiction author credits appearing in publications around the world. As editor, Eric's published multiple fiction anthologies, including his most recent, PROFESSOR CHARLATAN BARDOT'S TRAVEL ANTHOLOGY TO THE MOST (FICTIONAL) HAUNTED BUILDINGS IN THE WEIRD, WILD WORLD and A WORLD OF HORROR, each a showcase of international horror short fiction. His latest books are LAST CASE AT A BAGGAGE AUCTION and the short story collection THAT WHICH GROWS WILD: 16 TALES OF DARK FICTION (Cemetery Dance). Outside the glamorous and jet-setting world of indie fiction, Eric's a technical writer and college professor, and he stumbles home each day to a wife, children, dogs, and a terrarium filled with mischievous beetles. Visit Eric at: www.ericjguignard.com, his blog: ericjguignard.blogspot.com, or Twitter: @ericjguignard.

Table of Contents

A Case Study in Natural Selection and How It Applies to Love

Vancouver Fog

Last Days of the Gunslinger, John Amos

A Curse and a Kiss

Momma

Whispers of the Earth

Footprints Fading in the Desert

A Serving of Nomu Sashimi

The House of the Rising Sun, Forever

Certain Sights of an Afflicted Woman

The Inveterate Establishment of Daddano & Co.

A Journey of Great Waves

Last Night . . .

A Quaint Ol’ Bigfoot Tale

Those Who Watch From On High

Dreams of a Little Suicide

Editorial Reviews

“I feel privileged to have read That Which Grows Wild by Eric J. Guignard. The defining new voice of horror has arrived, and I stand in awe.” —Nancy Holder, NYT bestselling author, Wicked

“Eric J. Guignard crafts storytelling into a timeless masterpiece: That Which Grows Wild: 16 Tales of Dark Fiction is a brilliant collection of haunting stories that will captivate readers that relish dark fiction.” —Fanbase Press

“A good story evolves, develops, grows into an adventurous journey that the reader can become absorbed in and think about long after the last page is turned. And that’s just what the book That Which Grows Wild: 16 Tales of Dark Fiction by Bram Stoker Award-winner Eric J. Guignard does for the reader.” —Amazing Stories Magazine

From the Publisher