Dark Ride is a brand new signed limited hardcover collection of short fiction by one of the brightest young writers in the genres of horror and dark fantasy. These stories range from the horrific to the surreal, and prove Michael Laimo to be a compelling stylist and relentless storyteller.
None have been collected previously and some are original to this volume. It features an introduction by Brian Keene and is signed by him as well as the author. “Summer Fling” is not just another monster tale, and wraps up with a resolution that is as wicked as it is unexpected. In “The Rash,” the author re-examines a personal nightmare to create a universal tale of biological terror—illuminating that moment when we discover something is going very wrong with our own bodies.
Other tales which explore this territory are “Contact Lenses” and “Scarred for Life.” Laimo uses his knowledge as a native New Yorker to summon up a frightening and memorable subway ride in “End of the Line.” Then he switches gears in “Something in the Air” to examine a small town visited by a very original kind of evil. Other tales range from the playful, such as “Aftermath,” to the extreme, as in “The Exploitations of George Frederick Leighton,” and the oddly experimental “I Exude in Partials.”
In addition, a new novelette, “The Startling Supplements to Brione Heloise’s Depictions” appears here for the first time. Written as an homage to the work of H. P. Lovecraft, it reveals yet another aspect of Laimo’s admirable talent.
