After You've Gone and Other Outré Tales — John Peyton Cooke

The weird. The strange. The outré. AFTER YOU'VE GONE AND OTHER OUTRÉ TALES presents 10 stories of men and monsters, goths and ghouls, violence and vengeance ... and a touching tale of a boy and his dentist. These are all part of the world of John Peyton Cooke, best known for his dark thrillers TORSOS and THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER. Selections include: After You've Gone, the original tale of the bad Samaritan, which was reprinted in BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES 2003; A Doll's Tale, which reveals everything we ever wanted to know about demon dolls but were afraid to ask; The Penitent, which shows what happens when an inventive sadist joins with an insatiable masochist; The Strawberry Man, about two gay skatepunks in love and in thrall to the power of an addictive fruit; and Serostatus, in which Tom, a middle-aged gay New Yorker and AIDS widow, finds himself spooked by the ghosts of tricks past; plus five other tales of the weird ... the strange ... the outré.