Christopher Conlon

A woman finds herself alone in a pitch-black room without doors or windows, completely cut off from human contact... A man wakes one morning certain that today is the day he must commit and unspeakable atrocity... A gifted jazz musician runs from her past-but even she has no idea how lethal that past really is. The Oblivion Room: Stories of Violation collects six of Christopher Conlon's most nightmarish works, tales in which the horrific can come from anywhere-or from everywhere at once." Every piece in the volume bears the stamp of Conlon's gift for combining subtle terror with unforeseeable plot twists. Connoisseurs of cutting-edge horror will not want to miss it." -Booklist

Frances Pastan is a mess. Though a celebrated author of children's books, she's arrived at middle age depressed and alcoholic, alienated from her daughter and lost in regret for events of long ago. To conquer her demons Frances must undertake a journey both physical and emotional-a journey into her deepest past, to the small town of her childhood where she discovered her first real friend, Lucy Sparrow. To remember their happy, crazy times together. And to find Lucy's killer. A Matrix of Angels is a harrowing, beautifully written novel of love, loss, and the fierce power of memory.