NEW hardcover

Magic Terror: 7 Tales Straub, Peter

No one tells a story like Peter Straub He dazzles with the complexity of his plots He delights with the sophistication and eloquence of his prose He startles you into laughter in the face of events so dark you begin to question your own moral compass Then he reduces you to jelly by spinning a tale so terrifyingand surprisingyou wind up sleeping with the lights onWith Magic Terror, the bestselling author of Ghost Story and The Talisman with Stephen King has given us one of the most imaginatively unsettling collections in years The terrain of these extraordinary stories is marked by brutality, heartbreak, despair, wonder, and an unexpected humor that allows empathy to blossom within the most unlikely contextsBunny Is Good Bread takes us into the mind of a small boy trapped in grotesque circumstances to portray the creation of a serial killer in a manner that compels pity, sorrow, comprehension, and griefas well as judgment Hunger, an Introduction, narrated by the ghost of a pompous, selfpitying murderer, evokes a profoundly beautiful vision of earthly life, one appreciated far more by the dead than the living The awardwinning novella Mr Clubb and Mr Cuff, a masterpiece of black comedy, draws upon Melvilles Bartleby the Scrivener to create a revenge tale in which torture is a moral art and the revenger undergoes a transforming, albeit painful, educationIn the words of Mrs Asch, the visionary narrator of Ashputtle, The main feature of adventure is that it goes forward into unknown country Straubs devotees will be entranced by what their fearless guide has in store for them Those as yet uninitiated are in for a harrowing literary journey Enjoy the ride