Eric J Guignard

That Which Grows Wild collects sixteen dark and masterful short fiction stories by award-winning author Eric J. Guignard. Equal parts of whimsy and weird, horror and heartbreak, this debut collection traverses the darker side of the fantastic through vibrant and harrowing tales that encounter monsters and regrets, hope and atonement, and the oddly changing reflection that turns back at you in the mirror. Discover why, after only several years, Eric J. Guignard has developed an ardent following and earned praise by masters of the craft such as Ramsey Campbell ("Guignard gives voice to paranoid vision that's all too believable.") and Rick Hautala ("No other young horror author is better, I think, than Eric J. Guignard.") by stories such as these: In "A Case Study in Natural Selection and How It Applies to Love," a teen learns about himself while contemplating the theory of Natural Selection as the world around slowly dies from rising temperature and increasing cases of spontaneous combustion. In "Dreams of a Little Suicide," a down-on-his-luck dwarven man unexpectedly finds his dreams and love in Hollywood as a munchkin for filming of The Wizard of Oz, but soon those dreams begin to darken. In "The Inveterate Establishment of Daddano & Co.," an aged undertaker tells the true story behind Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, and of the grime that accumulates beneath our floors. In "A Journey of Great Waves," a Japanese girl encounters, years later, the ocean-borne debris of her tsunami-ravaged homeland, and the ghosts that come with it. In "The House of the Rising Sun, Forever," a tragic voice gives dire warning against the cycle of opium addiction from which, even after death, there is no escape. In "Last Days of the Gunslinger, John Amos," a gunfighter keeps a decimated town's surviving children safe on a mountaintop from the incursion of ferocious creatures... until a flash flood strikes, and their one chance may be to sail away on it. Those and ten other unforgettable tales are within these pages of That Which Grows Wild by Eric J. Guignard. Explore within, and discover a wild range upon which grows the dark, the strange, and the profound.

Hearing, sight, touch, smell, and taste: Our impressions of the world are formed by our five senses, and so too are our fears, our imaginations, and our captivation in reading fiction stories that embrace these senses. Whether hearing the song of infernal caverns, tasting the erotic kiss of treachery, or smelling the lush fragrance of a fiend, enclosed within this anthology are fifteen horror and dark fantasy tales that will quicken the beat of fear, sweeten the flavor of wonder, sharpen the spike of thrills, and otherwise brighten the marvel of storytelling that is found resonant Editor Eric J. Guignard and psychologist Jessica Bayliss, PhD also include companion discourse throughout, offering academic and literary insight as well as psychological commentary examining the physiology of our senses, why each of our senses are engaged by dark fiction stories, and how it all inspires writers to continually churn out ideas in uncommon and invigorating ways. Featuring stunning interior illustrations by Nils Bross, and including fiction short stories by such world-renowned authors as John Farris, Ramsey Campbell, Poppy Z. Brite, Darrell Schweitzer, and Richard Christian Matheson, amongst others. Intended for readers, writers, and students alike, explore THE FIVE SENSES OF HORROR

That Which Grows Wild collects sixteen dark and masterful short fiction stories by award-winning author Eric J. Guignard. Equal parts of whimsy and weird, horror and heartbreak, this debut collection traverses the darker side of the fantastic through vibrant and harrowing tales that encounter monsters and regrets, hope and atonement, and the oddly changing reflection that turns back at you in the mirror. Discover why, after only several years, Eric J. Guignard has developed an ardent following and earned praise by masters of the craft such as Ramsey Campbell ("Guignard gives voice to paranoid vision that's all too believable.") and Rick Hautala ("No other young horror author is better, I think, than Eric J. Guignard.") by stories such as these: In "A Case Study in Natural Selection and How It Applies to Love," a teen learns about himself while contemplating the theory of Natural Selection as the world around slowly dies from rising temperature and increasing cases of spontaneous combustion. In "Dreams of a Little Suicide," a down-on-his-luck dwarven man unexpectedly finds his dreams and love in Hollywood as a munchkin for filming of The Wizard of Oz, but soon those dreams begin to darken. In "The Inveterate Establishment of Daddano & Co.," an aged undertaker tells the true story behind Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, and of the grime that accumulates beneath our floors. In "A Journey of Great Waves," a Japanese girl encounters, years later, the ocean-borne debris of her tsunami-ravaged homeland, and the ghosts that come with it. In "The House of the Rising Sun, Forever," a tragic voice gives dire warning against the cycle of opium addiction from which, even after death, there is no escape. In "Last Days of the Gunslinger, John Amos," a gunfighter keeps a decimated town's surviving children safe on a mountaintop from the incursion of ferocious creatures... until a flash flood strikes, and their one chance may be to sail away on it. Those and ten other unforgettable tales are within these pages of That Which Grows Wild by Eric J. Guignard. Explore within, and discover a wild range upon which grows the dark, the strange, and the profound.