Cold to the Touch is a sewn hardback of 212 pages, printed lithographically, with silk ribbon marker, head and tailbands, and d/w.

 

Limited to 300 copies.

 

ISBN 978-1-905784-15-8

 

Sorry - out of print

Cold to the Touch

by

Simon Strantzas

 

Reality is a thin translucent membrane that separates this world from the one beyond, and that membrane bends and buckles as we thrust ourselves against it. Through the barrier we see distorted visions, the merest glimpse of which is enough to infect our minds. . . .

 

Thirteen tales of strangeness and surrealism await the reader of this book; stories of loss, despair, and what happens when those without hope meet that which they cannot understand.

 

Two women vacationing far away encounter the mysteries of island life. . . . A trip north of the city to woods and a lake and a sky hungry for more. . . . Snow is falling, reminding the dying of all they’ve lost, or the young of all they have yet to lose. . . .

 

The other world, it awaits you in the dark, cold to the touch.

 

Contents: 'Under the Overpass', 'The Other Village', 'The Uninvited Guest', 'A Seed on Barren Ground', 'Writing on the Wall', 'A Chorus of Yesterdays', 'The Sweetest Song', 'Pinholes in Black Muslin', 'Fading Light', 'Poor Stephanie', 'Like Falling Snow', 'Here’s to the Good Life', 'Cold to the Touch, and 'Afterword'.

Cover photograph by R.B. Russell.

 

Reviews:

"Readers who prefer subtlety to shocks and suggestion over explicitness in horror fiction will find much to enjoy") - Publishers Weekly

"...Strantzas succeeds in imbuing his strange tales with the sense of intellectual fear...", Dead Reckonings 6

"Dark but with frequent glimpses of light and beauty creating a dazzling mix of heady highs and tragic lows. . . . A work of great quality." - Tales from the Black Abyss

"An impressive collection of stories that subtly unsettles." - Flux magazine.

"This exceptional collection is highly recommended." - Grim Rictus Reviews

"Overall, the thirteen stories in this collection offer the reader strange rewards. There are no easy explanations, which is realism of a sort. There are no simple payoffs or cheap twists. There are shadows everywhere, and few signposts that can be trusted. But there are moments of humour and humanity amid the darkness and decay. " - David Longhorn, Supernatural Tales 16

"Mr. Strantzas is an amazing writer . . . Cold to the Touch is easily one of the best books I have read this year. Rating: 10/10" - The Speculative Fiction Junkie

"Cold to the Touch is a formidable gift to the field of weird literature." - The Grim Blogger, Grim Reviews

"One thing is certain, Mr. Strantzas ripped out a bit of his soul and threw it onto the page with a violent beauty. Such stories could come from no other place. This collection is evocative, endearing, strange and horrifying all at once. . . All of the stories in this collection are delightfully dark and wonderfully weird. - Sarah L. Gerhardt, She Never Slept

 "Say hello to a new and important voice in the canon of weird fiction." - Michael Kelly, FearZone.

"An excellent writer who likes to deal with the weirdest and more mysterious aspects of human condition, who likes to disturb and upset and manages to do that very effectively by emphasizing the dark shades lurking behind the light of everyday reality." Mario Guslandi at The Short Review.

Cold to the Touch has been the subject of a Weirdmonger "real-time" review by Des Lewis.

 

 

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