Spontaneous Human Combustion

by Richard Thomas

Overview

A 2022 BRAM STOKER AWARD NOMINEE

A TOR NIGHTFIRE MOST EXCITING HORROR BOOK OF 2022

"In range alone, Richard Thomas is boundless. He is Lovecraft. He is Bradbury. He is Gaiman." —Chuck Palahniuk

With a Foreword by Brian Evenson

In this new collection, Richard Thomas has crafted fourteen stories that push the boundaries of dark fiction in an intoxicating, piercing blend of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Equally provocative and profound, each story is masterfully woven with transgressive themes that burrow beneath the skin.

• A poker game yields a strange prize that haunts one man, his game of chance now turned into a life-or-death coin flip.
• A set of twins find they have mysterious new powers when an asteroid crashes in a field near their house, and the decisions they make create an uneasy balance.
• A fantasy world is filled with one man’s desire to feel whole again, finally finding love, only to have the shocking truth of his life exposed in an appalling twist.
• A father and son work slave labor in a brave new world run by aliens and mount a rebellion that may end up freeing them all.
• A clown takes off his make-up in a gloomy basement to reveal something more horrifying under the white, tacky skin.

Powerful and haunting, Thomas’ transportive collection dares you to examine what lies in the darkest, most twisted corners of human existence and not be transformed by what you find.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684427543
Publisher:	TURNER PUB CO
Publication date:	02/22/2022
Pages:	248
Sales rank:	1,090,444
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Richard Thomas is the award-winning author of seven books—Disintegration and Breaker (Penguin Random House Alibi), Transubstantiate, Staring into the Abyss, Herniated Roots, Tribulations, and The Soul Standard (Dzanc Books). His over 150 stories in print include The Best Horror of the Year (Volume Eleven), Cemetery Dance (twice), Behold!: Oddities, Curiosities and Undefinable Wonders (Bram Stoker winner), PANK, storySouth, Gargoyle, Weird Fiction Review, Midwestern Gothic, Shallow Creek, The Seven Deadliest, Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories, Qualia Nous, Chiral Mad (numbers 2-4), PRISMS, Pantheon, and Shivers VI. He was also the editor of four anthologies: The New Black and Exigencies (Dark House Press), The Lineup: 20 Provocative Women Writers (Black Lawrence Press) and Burnt Tongues (Medallion Press) with Chuck Palahniuk. He has been nominated for the Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, and Thriller awards. In his spare time he is a columnist at Lit Reactor. He was the Editor-in-Chief at Dark House Press and Gamut Magazine, and lives in Mundelein, Illinois. For more information visit www.whatdoesnotkillme.com or contact Paula Munier at Talcott Notch.

Editorial Reviews

"In range alone, Richard Thomas is boundless. He is Lovecraft. He is Bradbury. He is Gaiman." —Chuck Palahniuk

"This chilling collection of short stories, with plenty of twists and turns, as well as echoes of Lovecraft and Bradbury, probes the dark corners between the horrors humans inflict on each other and those that haunt our nightmares. This volume will please Thomas's existing fans and will surely create new ones." —Shelf Awareness (starred review)

"Fans of science fiction, horror, and dark fiction will relish immersing themselves in this collection for all its grit, lyricism, and unquestionable profundity." —Library Journal (starred review)

"Equally devastating and refreshing, this is a collection to be savored by horror fans and literary readers alike." —Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)

"Horror fans will be drawn to this compelling anthology." —Booklist

"Each story is filled with vivid and evocative details and provides a fascinating journey that explores the dark places of our existence and engages its readers throughout . . . [Richard Thomas] does not disappoint." —New York Journal of Books

"A feast for the senses, this collection is simultaneously lush and terrifying. Horror and dark fantasy fans are sure to find many delights within." —A.C. Wise, author of Wendy, Darling

"Nothing will prepare you for Richard Thomas' stories, for the brutality, for the intense white-hot horror, for the blood-soaked gorgeous beauty of his writing. Reading his fiction is like sinking into a fever dream, filled with an alien-yet-familiar wondrousness to it all that makes you long to be back inside those seductive terrors long after they've ended. I was not prepared: I can't wait to return." —Livia Llewellyn, author of Furnace 

"Thomas masterfully combines noir and horror. He paints the beauty and the meanness of human life with an ease that belies how damned hard a trick it is to accomplish. Spontaneous Human Combustion is a bottle of the top shelf stuff—smooth, but it burns. Burns all the way to the bottom." —Laird Barron, author of Swift to Chase 

"By turns poetic and brutal, this is a stellar collection." —Lucy A. Snyder, author of Sister, Maiden, Monster

"Richard Thomas brings us expertly crafted tales steeped in violence and beauty. Each richly detailed story teases the reader with equal parts emotion and stoicism. Spontaneous Human Combustion is truly a work of dark wonder." —Mercedes M. Yardley, Bram Stoker Award–winning author of Little Dead Red 

"The stories in Spontaneous Human Combustion sizzle and burn. Richard Thomas is a narrator of the human condition at its most feral, and a master at the damnation game." —Usman T. Malik, award-winning author of Midnight Doorways: Fables from Pakistan

"Richard Thomas's Spontaneous Human Combustion is a marvelous monster made of blood, anger, fear, guilt, grief, hunger, and pain. These gritty, blood-soaked stories pull readers into the darkness of the single black heart beating at the core of horror and noir, and somehow makes them love every second of it." —Gabino Iglesias, author of Coyote Songs

"Richard Thomas gives us a timely and eloquent reminder that, no matter how far we run, we take our darkness with us." —Priya Sharma, author of Ormeshadow

“The stories in Richard Thomas’s Spontaneous Human Combustion marry a dark noir sensibility with unusually wide-ranging horror and fantasy tropes. The results are impressive, not only because of their originality, but in the way he is able to elicit our empathy for the grotesque sufferings of deeply flawed characters torn between impulses of petty revenge and sacrifice, creation and destruction. The language here is dense and richly evocative, achieving at times a transgressive and surreal quality reminiscent of Rimbaud in its beauty and brutality.” —Steve Rasnic Tem, author of Figures Unseen: Selected Stories and Thanatrauma

“Dark, but rarely bleak. Punishing, but never sadistic. Thomas’s stories drag you into the light as often as they knock you into the abyss. A necessary collection.” —Doug Murano, Bram Stoker Award–winning editor of Behold!: Oddities, Curiosities & Undefinable Wonders

“If you dig Black Mirror or any surrealist, neo-noir fiction, then you definitely need to check this out, because this would be right up your alley.” —Jenny Ashford, 13 O'Clock podcast 

"Richard Thomas is a seasoned professional . . . He is such a fantastic writer with so much depth and subtext in every single paragraph. Every single line has punch to it . . . This collection is damn near perfect!" —Edward Lorn, author of Life after Dane

"Imaginative and propulsive, the stories of Spontaneous Human Combustion confront universal human fears in supernatural, futuristic worlds." —Foreword Reviews

"Transgressive, dark and masterfully written—with Spontaneous Human Combustion, Thomas forces the reader to run the gamut of human emotions. With beguiling and devastating prose one can’t help but see the beauty in the macabre morsels Thomas has given us to consume. A truly breathtaking collection." —Ross Jeffery, Bram Stoker Award–nominated author of Tome

 

“In this collection, Richard Thomas leads us through a vivid sequence of ever-darkening dreams. Strange, surreal, terrible and beautiful—I didn't want to wake.” —Karen Runge, author of Doll Crimes

 

“Raw and shocking, each story takes us deeper into the human psyche and our darkest instincts. Favorites included 'Ring of Fire' and 'Requital,' however, the strength of the collection overall make this a disturbingly satisfying read.” —Kathleen Kaufman, author of The Lairdbalor, Hag, and the Diabhal Trilogy

 

"With Spontaneous Human Combustion, Richard Thomas bravely leads us into the darkest recesses of the human soul. As always his writing is superb—precise, evocative, and moving." —Kate Jonez, author of Lady Bits

 

"Richard Thomas isn't just writing stories in his new collection, he's taking that part of yourself you look away from, the dark thoughts and forgotten nightmares, and showing them to you with the clarity and power only our best working writers possess. Take it from a guy who's actually been on fire—Spontaneous Human Combustion delivers." —Fred Venturini, author of The Heart Does Not Grow Back and To Dust You Shall Return

 

"Soaked in dread and wonder, Richard Thomas' work has a way of worming deep into your heart to take hold like a beautiful sickness. And true to form, every piece in his magnificent Spontaneous Human Combustion hits like a fever dream you wish would never end." —Matthew Lyons, author of The Night Will Find Us and A Black And Endless Sky

From the Publisher

★ 12/17/2021

With vivid imagery and unsettling familiarity, Thomas's (Breaker) new collection features 14 stories that transport readers and include an innocuous annual poker game among friends that takes a horrifying turn, a family gathering in a Northern Illinois cornfield to view a meteor shower whose consequences are unforeseen and inescapable, and a professional clown whose true nature is revealed as the makeup comes off. Thomas structures his stories to work in service of the theme and emotion that is at the heart of each. The writing is beautiful and poignant, each story requiring due attention and reflection. Readers who found themselves hypnotized, horrified, and haunted by Eric LaRocca's The Strange Things We Become need look no further for a read-alike. VERDICT Fans of science fiction, horror, and dark fiction will relish immersing themselves in this collection for all its grit, lyricism, and unquestionable profundity.

Library Journal

★ 10/11/2021

Thomas (The Soul Standard) breathes fresh air into the genre of dark speculative fiction with a brilliant collection that teems with haunting elements, dark nostalgia for lost love, dysfunctional families, and self-torment. These 14 stories ably demonstrate Thomas’s skill at conjuring visceral emotion through immaculate detail work. The gut-wrenching “Repent,” about a crooked ex-cop who makes the ultimate sacrifice to save his dying son, is told with an artist’s attention to scene setting. “Hiraeth,” about a farm boy with a “hole in his chest” who is robbed and subsequently punished by the men in the family, bristles with astonishing detail, realistic characters, and emotional depth. In “Ring of Fire,” an isolated scientist with an altered memory runs strange experiments on minerals, splicing horror and science fiction elements into an eerie tale about the evolution of the human mind amid isolation and interference. Equally devastating and refreshing, this is a collection to be savored by horror fans and literary readers alike. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

This collection of 14 sci-fi, horror, and fantasy stories by Richard Thomas is in the hands of seven capable narrators who carry the listener through these darkly themed tales. From gravelly to quietly straightforward to simply eerie, the motley voices of the various narrators provide a distinctive experience for each story, and both complement and perpetuate the noir atmosphere the author has created with themes such as aliens and recently acquired magical powers. A foreword by Brian Evenson sets the stage for the stories, along with whimsical music at the opening and closing of the audiobook. Notes from the author after each story’s conclusion provide additional context and insight. S.E.G. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

MAY 2022 - AudioFile

This collection of 14 sci-fi, horror, and fantasy stories by Richard Thomas is in the hands of seven capable narrators who carry the listener through these darkly themed tales. From gravelly to quietly straightforward to simply eerie, the motley voices of the various narrators provide a distinctive experience for each story, and both complement and perpetuate the noir atmosphere the author has created with themes such as aliens and recently acquired magical powers. A foreword by Brian Evenson sets the stage for the stories, along with whimsical music at the opening and closing of the audiobook. Notes from the author after each story’s conclusion provide additional context and insight. S.E.G. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

MAY 2022 - AudioFile