Check 'em out, Folks

Been meaning to drop a line here about some recent reads that I really enjoyed.

Here's two from Chizine:

Tim Lebbon's THE THIEF OF BROKEN TOYS is a haunting, surreal novella-length tale about a grief-stricken father trying to find some way to come to terms with the death of his young son. With his marriage on the outs and little left to live for, he meets a mysterious stranger who somehow manages to retrieve the boy's broken toys and fix them, which returns good memories in the father to help replace his pain and sorrow. Poignant, honest, and with a truly emotionally impacting ending, give this one a whirl.

Also, Paul Tremblay's collection IN THE MEAN TIME. I've been a big fan of Paul's since reading his novels THE LITTLE SLEEP and NO SLEEP TILL WONDERLAND, which follow the dubious investigations of a narcoleptic PI. Now he tears up the scene with short fiction that is striking, original, enigmatic, surreal, and horrific in all the best ways. If you're a fan of the likes of Dennis Etchison, Donald Barthelme, Thomas Ligotti, or Kelly Link, you'll love Paul's work. In any case, scarf up his books, you can't go wrong.

Dave Zeltserman's OUTSOURCED is a speedy, gritty, hardboiled bank robbery tale that bops and weaves along as a group of out-of-work computer programmers decide to get their hands dirty and find they like it a lot. As with Zeltserman's previous novels SMALL CRIMES, PARIAH, and KILLER, his greatest storytelling skill is in the small true, emotional details that every reader will understand. He will definitely keep you flipping pages as fast you can, and once you finish one book you'll be racing on to the next.

Max Allan Collins' iconic hitman QUARRY returns in a series of reprints including all of Quarry's earlier adventures: QUARRY, QUARRY'S LIST, QUARRY'S CUT, QUARRY'S DEAL, and QUARRY'S VOTE. If you were lucky enough to get hooked on the Quarry novels published by Hard Case Crime over the past few years, then here's your chance to go back to the beginning and fall in love with our favorite killer all over again.

For you lovers of old school horror, try Harry Shannon's A HOST OF SHADOWS. His tales are fun, affectionate throwbacks to the kind of horror you dug back in the 80s and 90s: nasty, dark as hell, and action-packed ripsnorters. Monsters a'plenty with some thoughtful psychological threads to balance them out.