"All my life I've dreamed of the dead."
Thanatrauma: the dread of it erodes you, the shadows waiting at the end, the impending conclusion, the troubling dream from which you will not wake.
These 21 stories - four published here for the first time - explore some of our fundamental fears: death, loss, grief, and aging.
In "Reflections in Black," a man takes a phantasmagoric Halloween journey in search of a former love.
In "The Parts Man," a man enters a desperate contract with a sinister entity in a long, vintage automobile.
The darkly beautiful "The Dead Outside My Door" is a haunting post-apocalyptic tale unlike any you've ever read.
Other offerings include "Whatever You Want," in which a Christmas wish has terrible consequences;
"Torn," a bizarre vision of a highly personalized hell;
and "The Way Station," a tribute to the legendary Stefan Grabinski.
Also featured is a special bonus, "August Freeze," from the lost, undistributed Winter 1985 issue