Cemetery Dance Publications has come up with the idea of asking some of their favorite authors to hand pick a few of their favorite short stories for inclusion in this new series. CD also asked each author to provide their reasons for including each story and included those reasons in the afterword.
If the Tim Waggoner edition of this new venture is any indication this series should be around for quite some time.
Tim's three selections begin with his first published work...
Mr. Punch - Do you remember Punch and Judy? If not, Google it, I'll be here when you get back. The opening line of this short is one of the best I've read in a while...
Mr. Punch swung the bat one more time, just to be sure Judy was dead, then stepped back to admire his handiwork.
Mr. Punch is a very clever story of both the violence of a Punch and Judy show and its influence on one young man.
The Tongue Is the Sweetest Meat - is a wonderfully complex tale complete with hanging out with the dead and a trip back in time, and blood, plenty of blood.
Tom was surprised to find himself relaxing and even humming along with the music, as if they were out for a simple night drive instead of traveling through a nightmarish landscape from one of Satan's wet dreams.
The Great Ocean of Truth - features an unusual writing style that even Tim finds hard to describe, but it certainly works for the story.
If entropy always increased you reasoned, then anything anyone did, no matter how constructive it seemed, only helped to hasten the process of breaking the universe down into nothing. And there wasn't anything anyone could do about it.
A story about life and fighting back against entropy.
I can honestly say I have never been disappointed by one of Waggoner's works. The only complaint I have about Cemetery Dance Select: Tim Waggoner is that it was only three stories, but that's the way this series works. It's a quick read and a great way to get to know Tim Waggoner.
Recommended.
Cemetery Dance Select: Tim Waggoner is currently available as an e-book from, let me guess, Cemetery Dance Publications.
From the author's bio - Tim Waggoner is the published author of over thirty novels and three collections of short stories. He writes original fantasy and horror, as well as media tie-ins. He’s been a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award and the Scribe Award, and his fiction has received numerous Honorable Mentions in volumes of Best Horror of the Year. In 2016, the Horror Writers Association honored him with the Mentor of the Year Award. In addition to writing, Tim is also a full-time tenured professor who teaches creative writing and composition at Sinclair College.
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