Oliveri is, quite simply, one of the most talented authors to spring forth from this much heralded "new wave" of horror. This is grim, brutal, and emotionally wrenching stuff. Highly recommend it!

Just wanted to let everyone know that Mike Oliveri's DEADLIEST OF THE SPECIES won the 2001 Bram Stoker award in the First Novel category. Check out the book, it's a great read from a rising talent.

Deadliest of the Species was a pleasant surprise, a first novel that did not read like a first novel. Deadliest is not your typical male vs. female novel. It dug deeper, to deal with faith and belief, without being preachy or boring.

I found that Deadliest of the Species kept up a good pace throughout the novel and it was difficult to put it down without wanting to pick it right back up and see what happened next. I've been a fan of Oliveri's short stories for quite a while now, and it was nice to see that his novel did not disappoint. I'm looking forward to more like this in the future!

I just finished SORROW'S CROWN. Wow, great sequel, great story, great people. I love Jon and Anna, the two Crummlers, creepy Jocelyn and Harnes and the cops.

SORROW'S CROWN, sequel to THE DEAD PAST, continues with the crime-solving duo of Jon Kendrick and his grandmother Anna, of Felicity Grove. A kid is murdered, the killer having taken off the kid's face, and Crummler, the slow-witted cemetary caretaker, is blamed. What follows is a study in the theme of "the past is never truly dead." Jon and Anna figure out what really happened but getting there is the treat. Along the way we meet such colorful characters with wise-cracking dialogue. Piccirilli has a knack for fleshing out a character by harping on the quirks of each person, in such a way that we never forget who or what these people represent. A sequel that upholds the original theme and exceeds it by being a bit more literate and symbolic. Recommended.

Although rare book dealer Jon Kendrick left Felicity Grove as soon as he was able, he returns to the small town because of the two women in his life. His grandmother Anna Lucas, and his lover and mother of his unborn child Katie who live there and never plan to relocate. Both ladies pray that Jon will permanently relocate there, but he feels the townsfolk would not want a rare book store in their town.

Neither woman is providing much pressure on the reluctant Jon, but he presses himself to make a decision. To ignore his personal dilemma even temporarily, Jon focuses on some recent local killings. In a cemetery, the son of the most powerful local developer was recently found murdered with his face cut off. The eccentric caretaker of the cemetery is charged with the crime, but Jon cannot accept the simplicity of the solution. He begins to inquire since he knows that his gentle friend could never do such a vicious act.

Tom Piccirelli seems to get better and better with each new novel he writes. As good as his previous novels are, SORROW'S CROWN is by far his best work. This time, he cleverly allows readers free access into the mind of the protagonist, which, in turn, provides the audience an opportunity to understand what motivates and frightens Jon. Jon is a real hero and readers will admire him for being one.

Harriet Klausner

I've read several of Piccirilli's other novels and, while all enjoyable and more than worth the time and money, he really blows them out of the water with GRAVE MEN. I'll admit, I enjoy a great Western more than a horror or mystery novel. Just something naturally more gritty to be found in a Western, I think.

The characters are well-drawn here and you get a quick feel for them as people, whcih, for me, is very important. This is a compelling piece of writing and i urge you, Western fan or not, to pick it up. Also, Desperadoes and Guns Of The West, two anothologies from Gorman and Greenberg feature Western shorts by Tom and many other writers worthy of your attention.

And please, Tom, write more Westerns!!!

Okay, I've never read a so-called real western in my life before. I've liked the horror-westerns I've read before by the likes of Joe Lansdale and Richard Matheson and anthologies like Skull Full of Spurs and Razored Saddles, but this is the first straight one ever. And I loved it. Pic has a real flare for dramatic detail that makes a story come to life in a way few others ever do. You can feel all the turmoil the characters must deal with, and the humor is witty and realistic and powerful on a number of levels. Priest & Lamarr are more than friends...they're partners and soulmates of a sort who help to shore up each other's faults when the time comes. The other characters are equally unique, passionate, weird, and funny. Imagine a Grandfather who is crazy and sometimes believes he's an Apache. A teenage girl gunslinger, who's pregnant to boot. A welathy landowner who respects his black son but refuses to acknowledge him. Add into the mix a red-light house, a blood debt that needs to be paid, and two heinous killers, and you've got one incredibly fast but involving story. Definitely pick it up.

This book takes western stereotypes and really spins them on their ears.

Grave Men is by turns dark, moving, complex, and humorous, and it's like nothing you've ever read before in the western field. The story concerns Priest McClaren, a somewhat reformed drunk who watched his parents die five years earlier at the hands of two desperadoes...In a bizarre showdown finale, all these strange elements come together in a wonderfully readable action-packed style that will knock you out of your seat.

If you're a fan of Joe Lansdale or Ed gorman (both of whom blurbed the book) you'll love Tom Piccirilli's take of westerns in Grave Men.

This one is a real cornerstone to the surreal southern gothic genre that includes horror/fantasy authors like Manly Wade Wellman, Michael Bishop, Elizabeth Massie, etc. But there's quite a difference as Piccirilli adds a New York edge to his tale of a backwater swamp town full of superstition, ghosts, and just plain weird characters. His writing is fluid and accessible, and the story is extremely fun and bizarre in the extreme. Equal parts mystery, dark fantasy, tragi-comedy and southern funk, you'll love to listen to this strange choir sing its song.

This is an incredibly important piece of literary horror that all true fans of dark fantasy and speculatve fiction should be on the lookout for. Piccirilli pulls together and entwines a number of dark genre elements to give us a terrific (and terrifying) novel of small town evils filtered through an eye of normality. This is the type of effectve, brooding, literate work that is populated by characters so bizarre and yet authentic that it reads like a non-fiction tale of murder, vengeance, and swamp water superstition and magic. This is as luscious, delicious, freakish, and gripping as the works of Harry Crews or Flannery O'Connor. Go now and enjoy!

The first book that I ever read by Piccarilli was Hexes, and remember saying to myself, in near shock, "this guy can actually write!" Since then, I've read all of his available books and have not yet found any of his works which did not live up to the first impression. His prose is good enough to be enjoyed just on its own, never dull or hackneyed, and most of his stories, even the most horrific, are spiced with malicious wit and dark humor. Piccarilli certainly does write terrific stories, and he has that rare ability to endow his characters with flesh and blood in only a few well chosen lines. So we've got great stories, excellent prose , humor and wit,and utterly real characters. What more do you want? You could ask for versatility, which is another facet of Deep into That Darkness Peering. The stories, which are as elegantly structured as fine architecture, range from thrillers to out and out blood and guts horror to sensuous prose poems. And then there are the Self stories, which alone are worth the price of this book. You simply have to read these, they are so amazingly original, and so....I'm searching for adjectives here...let's just say that you will believe them. Absolutely. The Necromancer is real, and so is Self. This is probably the best collection of horror stories by one author I have encountered since those by Lovecraft and Derleth . And, if anybody in the film business is reading this, take note: there are several stories in this volume which would make much more interesting movies than most of the thriller/horror movies I have seen recently.

I read a lot of horror short fiction but this has got to be the BEST collection I've ever come across...and it's huge so you really get your money's worth. Very dark, great atmosphere. Stories that stay with you long after you've finished reading. I especially love the section of short stories with his nameless necromancer and Self the demonic familiar, these stories alone would make the book worth the cost. (Mr. Piccirilli says in the interview on the last pages that he's working on a novel with these two charachters and I can't wait!)Mr. Piccirilli has such a poetic voice so it's no suprise there's a few of his poems included here. I can't recomend this book highly enough.

I've read several "how to" books in the field of writing, and the majority of them are full of (what should be) common sense things like grammar, structure, and format. Or, they center on one element, say characterization, and drone on and on at length with needless filler. Finally someone has come along and written a book filled with solid advice in a clear, concise format. Piccirilli addresses everything from voice and signature to oft-ignored things like research and reading others' books. It's an entertaining book as well, not just a stuffy textbook. A great primer for the beginning writer.

Welcome to Hell reads like a conversation. Tom Piccirilli talks to the readers of this book--and he doesn't talk down. He discusses the business of writing and he makes it fun. The book covers everything from where to get ideas to networking to writer's block, but he never claims to hold the ultimate secret to being a fantastic writer. That's what makes this book so great. Tom is sincere in what he says and it comes through wonderfully. Told in a down-to-earth style, it seems like he's talking directly to you.

With chapter titles like "Technique, Style and Watching Bob's Face Get Eaten," it's sure to make you smile--or even laugh out loud--as you're reading. It's nice to know that a professional can remain grounded after being so successful.

All beginning writers should give this a try. It's a fun read that's packed with helpful advice--and not very expensive at all.

Fourth in the Necro Publications chapbook line, "Bastards of Alchemy" is a collection of two short stories from a couple of wonderful horror writers, Tom Piccirilli and Gerard Houarner. This is not the gross-out fest of the first Necro chapbook "Partners in Chyme," nor are the stories linked by theme as in the "Skins of Youth" chapbook. Instead, we're treated this time to something simple--well, simple in that there's no overriding theme to carry the stories along, no connecting bond between stories other than them appearing in the same book--two horror stories written by two authors. Nothing more than that.

Tom Piccirilli's "Alchemy" is, quite possible, the best short story I've ever read. A story about suppressed emotions and hidden rage, all finally coming to the surface in what can only be described as a horrible example of early-adult one-upmanship, this is what I hope to see horror fiction become very soon--literary horror. This isn't the spooky stories of your youth, nor one of the bloody, anger-fueled gore-fests of the late 80s and 90s. This is a piece of literary fiction--it just happens to be a horror story.

Brilliant. I've noticed a move lately in some horror fiction toward a more literary approach, horror as a serious method of communication. No longer do you need to read the "mainstream" novels or the serious poets to find the real voice of a generation, because a lot of horror writers seem to BE that voice, and Tom Piccirilli is definitely one of the ones at the forefront.

Gerard Houarner's "The Bastard" is a different breed altogether. While it could probably also be considered literary horror, Gerard Houarner has never written like everyone else. I don't know WHAT'S going on in his mind when he sits down, but it's certainly far removed from what most of us horror writers are thinking about. I knew that 3 years ago when I reviewed his "Road to Hell." And later when I read one of his stories in the first (and only) issue of "Midnight Hour" magazine. Whatever's going on in his head, it's nothing I'm familiar with.

Gerard Houarner is not writing easy fiction, this isn't stuff you sit down and pound out in an hour or so. It never has been, at least not from what I've read of him. All I can say for sure about Gerard Houarner's work is that secret organizations and magic seem to be important to him. Other than that, I'm lost as to how to figure out this man. But that's the way I like it, just so long as he keeps turning out work of this quality.

If Necro Publications keeps publishing work like this (along with the Ed Lee's Quest for Sex, Truth, and Reality chapbook), I'm going to begin thinking maybe Dave Barnett, Necro's owner and publisher, is growing up a little bit. I don't know if the world's ready for a mature Necro. But I hope we get to find out.

Mean Sheep is an impressive and literate collection of intense, provocative, and edgy short stories and poems. Each carefully crafted story and poem comprising this Tom Piccirilli (a nominee for the World Fantasy Award and winner of the first Bram Stoker Award for Outstanding Achievement in Poetry) literary anthology, captivates the imagination in ways that are sometimes exciting, sometimes disturbing, and always page-turning. Mean Sheep is especially recommended for those discerning readers who appreciate originality, wit, and emotional impact in their fantasy, mystery, and suspense.

A friend of mine, a Scott Urban, asked me to read "A Student of Hell" and give my opinion about it. I read it and I am impressed. I have never read Tom Piccirilli's work. All I am aware of is this book of poems of his: "A Student of Hell." I am also skeptical of glowing reviews, such as the one given in the introduction of "A Student Of Hell," by Charlee Jacob. The introduction is well written, and well-intentioned, but I was a bit skeptical. I read the following selection, "Most of all, the poems connect. They find the ineluctable nexus between shortchanged life and estranged death," and I thought to myself, "Right. Whatever." Then I read the first poem in the book: "Poised On The Division Bridge." Wow! I read the lines, "how your sister stares in disbelief,/ your wife holding a broken wine glass, your brother/ still ready to kick your ass, your son pointing, neighbors/ peering throught the back window fainting, the cops/ breaking in your front door, mother wailing,/ your dead fish gaping, the dog needs to be fed/ and you have absolutely no idea/ just what the hell you might have done or said" I thought to myself: Wow! That's a poem! It sucks you in, and then hits you in the face in the end! That's one thing I found out about Tom Piccirilli: He hooks you in, sucks you down to his level, and punches you at the end. He has end lines that hit you like 2 softballs in the eyes. I'll give you another example from "Judgment:" "rising on the hill where the town meets without a sound/ ringing the cross stand two men with hammers/ and ten-penny nails" 2 black eyes- 2 fists to remind you that you're reading a poem by God! Tom also has great lines that stand out: An example: From "Marrow:" "There are more ghosts at my fingertips/ than I care to admit" I wish I could have written that, and I consider myself a good poet! Tom also writes moving stanzas. One that appeals to me is from "Lazarus, Beckoning:" "When Lazarus beckons me to the right/ I head left into the old hall/ and listen to my father fall/ choking in the bathroom/ and in the morning I'm no further along than before/ as Dad and Lazarus wake me in my bed/ shuddering, not quite one of the dead,/ no longer waiting for a fight/ and we sit to discuss some of this during the longest/ darkest tempest night" I like this stanza because it throws in rhyme at an unexpected place: from rhyming aa couplets down to a the last 3 lines rhyming aba. Not the usual thing in today's poetry. And if rhyme is done in today's poetry, it's usually too obvious and this isn't. All in all, this is a strong book of poems by a writer I now admire.

wo side effects from reading "Inside the Works" are blindness, resulting from the weird font, and nausea, resulting from horror so hardcore that you want to wash your hands after putting the book down. Edward Lee along with Tom Piccirilli and Gerard Daniel Houarner, are the writers featured in this "3-way collection of hard core horror". All three have a kind of genius for writing almost pornographic horror that is intense, gut-wrenching, and scary, yet strangely compelling. Although these stories are like skinny dipping in a pool of blood and other bodily fluids, I kept getting the sensation that I was reading something NEW and FRESH. Edward Lee's novella The Pig was drenched in torture and mutilation but amazingly enough these elements were used in service of a great story rather than the other way around! Also worthy of mention i! s that many of the situations in the story had me laughing out loud! Counterbalancing Lee is Tom Piccirilli, whose five short stories were grim little journeys into hellish back alleys of New York. At this time, I have yet to read all of Gerard Daniel Houarner's contribution but I will soon! If he's as good as the company he keeps than I am in for a ride!

The Pig was one of the most disgusting stories ever. Buy it. The "Plugger" scene in this story is unmatched to date.

Two side effects from reading "Inside the Works" are blindness, resulting from the weird font, and nausea, resulting from horror so hardcore that you want to wash your hands after putting the book down. Edward Lee along with Tom Piccirilli and Gerard Daniel Houarner, are the writers featured in this "3-way collection of hard core horror". All three have a kind of genius for writing almost pornographic horror that is intense, gut-wrenching, and scary, yet strangely compelling. Although these stories are like skinny dipping in a pool of blood and other bodily fluids, I kept getting the sensation that I was reading something NEW and FRESH. Edward Lee's novella The Pig was drenched in torture and mutilation but amazingly enough these elements were used in service of a great story rather than the other way around! Also worthy of mention is that ! many of the situations in the story had me laughing out loud! Counterbalancing Lee is Tom Piccirilli, whose five short stories were grim little journeys into hellish back alleys of New York. At this time, I have yet to read any all of Gerard Daniel Houarner's contributions but I will soon! If he's as good as the company he keeps than I am in for a ride!