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Chiral Mad
Chiral Mad is an anthology of psychological horror containing twenty-eight short stories by established authors and newcomers from around the world. All profit from sales of this anthology go directly to Down syndrome charities. Featuring the imaginations of Jack Ketchum, Gary Braunbeck, Gene O'Neill, Gary McMahon, Gord Rollo, Jeff Strand, Michael Bailey, and many others, with an introduction by Thomas F. Monteleone.
FUN WITH YOUR NEW ASYMMETRIC HEAD
Thomas F. Monteleone
WHITE PILLS
Ian Shoebridge
LOST IN A FIELD OF PAPER FLOWERS
Gord Rollo
THE PERFECTION OF SYMMETRY
Andrew Hook
SOME PICTURES IN AN ALBUM
Gary McMahon
FIVE ADJECTIVES
Monica J. O’Rourke
ENCHANTED COMBUSTION
Amanda Ottino
THERE ARE EMBERS
Chris Hertz
BRIGHTER HER AURA GROWS
David Hearn
UNDERWATER
Barry Jay Kaplan
EXPERIMENTS IN AN ISOLATION TANK
Eric J. Guignard
NEED
Gary A. Braunbeck
NOT THE CHILD
Julie Stipes
THE WHITE QUETZAL
Gene O’Neill
MIRROR MOMENTS
Christian A. Larsen
ALDERWAY
Patrick O’Neill
SIGIL
P. Gardner Goldsmith
THE PERSISTENCE OF VISION
Jon Michael Kelley
THE BAD SEASON
A.A. Garrison
STORM OF LIGHTNING
Aaron J. French
INEVITABLE
Meghan Arcuri
SEND YOUR END
Patrick Lacey
A FLAWED FANTASY
Jeff Strand
CUBICLE FARM
R.B. Payne
THE APOLOGIES
Erik T. Johnson
THE SHOE TREE
Pat R. Steiner
GAIA UNGAIA
John Palisano
AMID THE WALKING WOUNDED
Jack Ketchum
UNDERWATER FERRIS WHEEL
Michael Bailey
FUN WITH YOUR NEW ASYMMETRIC HEAD
Thomas F. Monteleone
WHITE PILLS
Ian Shoebridge
LOST IN A FIELD OF PAPER FLOWERS
Gord Rollo
THE PERFECTION OF SYMMETRY
Andrew Hook
SOME PICTURES IN AN ALBUM
Gary McMahon
FIVE ADJECTIVES
Monica J. O’Rourke
ENCHANTED COMBUSTION
Amanda Ottino
THERE ARE EMBERS
Chris Hertz
BRIGHTER HER AURA GROWS
David Hearn
UNDERWATER
Barry Jay Kaplan
EXPERIMENTS IN AN ISOLATION TANK
Eric J. Guignard
NEED
Gary A. Braunbeck
NOT THE CHILD
Julie Stipes
THE WHITE QUETZAL
Gene O’Neill
MIRROR MOMENTS
Christian A. Larsen
ALDERWAY
Patrick O’Neill
SIGIL
P. Gardner Goldsmith
THE PERSISTENCE OF VISION
Jon Michael Kelley
THE BAD SEASON
A.A. Garrison
STORM OF LIGHTNING
Aaron J. French
INEVITABLE
Meghan Arcuri
SEND YOUR END
Patrick Lacey
A FLAWED FANTASY
Jeff Strand
CUBICLE FARM
R.B. Payne
THE APOLOGIES
Erik T. Johnson
THE SHOE TREE
Pat R. Steiner
GAIA UNGAIA
John Palisano
AMID THE WALKING WOUNDED
Jack Ketchum
UNDERWATER FERRIS WHEEL
Michael Bailey
374 pages, Paperback
First published October 11, 2012
About the author
Michael Bailey
108 books62 followersMichael Bailey is a recipient of the Bram Stoker Award (and eight-time nominee), a multiple recipient of the Benjamin Franklin Award, a four-time Shirley Jackson Award nominee, and a few dozen independent publishing accolades. He has authored numerous novels, novellas, novelettes, and fiction & poetry collections. Recent work includes Agatha’s Barn, a tie-in novella to Josh Malerman’s Carpenter’s Farm, a collaborative novella with Erinn L. Kemper called The Call of the Void, and Sifting the Ashes, a collaborative and lengthy poetry collection with Marge Simon. He runs the small press Written Backwards and has edited and published twelve anthologies, such as The Library of the Dead, the Chiral Mad series, and Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors. He lives in Costa Rica where he is rebuilding his life after surviving one of the most catastrophic wildfires in California history, which is explored in his memoir Seven Minutes.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 28, 2013
A lot of charity anthologies aren't very good. There, I've said it. A lot aren't bad either, but it's rare to find one that's actually a superior book in its own right. Chiral Mad is raising money to support Downs Syndrome charities, and while that's very worthy I don't recommend that you buy the book for that reason. Instead, I recommend it as that rarest of things - a vastly superior collection of smart, stylish modern horror. You should buy and read it, because it's a phenomenally good book. That's all the reason you need. These stories show just how intelligent and relevant the horror genre can be when it frees itself from shock, gore, and an obligation to actually scare you. These are stories that look at your life and the world you live in, peel back the edges, and say something about what's underneath. Like the best of science fiction, these are stories that comment on the world.
They're fun too, and constantly surprising. My own highlights start with Megan Arcuri's witty and disturbing 'Inevitable', which takes an entertaining body swap scenario and uses it to poke at what identity is. Gary McMahon delivers 'Some Pictures In An Album', in which photographs are examined for forgotten truths and tell a disturbing story full of blanks that you as the reader have to complete as you see fit. Gary A. Braunbeck gives snapshots of a different life that is rotting at the centre in 'Need'. There are many more I loved. Amidst the twenty-seven tales here there were perhaps five that didn't work for me at all, draping vast quantities of style over too little substance, but that's a a staggeringly good hit rate. It's a real pleasure finding the genre I love (but often get frustrated with, due to lack of ambition from so many practitioners) presented with such relevance and skill.
Read this.
They're fun too, and constantly surprising. My own highlights start with Megan Arcuri's witty and disturbing 'Inevitable', which takes an entertaining body swap scenario and uses it to poke at what identity is. Gary McMahon delivers 'Some Pictures In An Album', in which photographs are examined for forgotten truths and tell a disturbing story full of blanks that you as the reader have to complete as you see fit. Gary A. Braunbeck gives snapshots of a different life that is rotting at the centre in 'Need'. There are many more I loved. Amidst the twenty-seven tales here there were perhaps five that didn't work for me at all, draping vast quantities of style over too little substance, but that's a a staggeringly good hit rate. It's a real pleasure finding the genre I love (but often get frustrated with, due to lack of ambition from so many practitioners) presented with such relevance and skill.
Read this.
November 25, 2012
Being one of those bleeding heart liberals, I am always looking for a way to help out. "Chiral Mad" has earmarked all proceeds to charities that aid those with Downs Syndrome. That was the gravy. The real meat is the stories inside the anthology. An extra added delight, for me, was the careful placement of the stories. One story ends with a mother ending the life of her children and the next one is about a woman who is fighting to save her unborn child. It is a subtle but beautifully flowing juxtaposition of stories. Another story ends with a man speeding in his car, the next starts with boys careening around a room on a handcart. I'm not sure I've read another anthology that was as pleasingly edited as this one by Michael Bailey. It is chiral, by definition.
Chiral means that something is asymmetric in such a way that the structure and its mirror image are not superimposable. Just when you think you understand where the author is going, your realize the story has totally turned around, but not quite. I had to immediately reread some of the stories; they were that good. "The Shoe Tree" by Pat R. Steiner, for example, leads you to believe it is a monster story when in actuality, it is a heartbreaking tale of loss--almost. One of my other favorites was "Five Adjectives" by Monica J. O'Rourke. I am a teacher, so this story was uncomfortable but required reading. We are often too busy to read beyond the grammar and syntax to grasp what the child is really saying. I loved the formatting of the story, and as usual, Ms. O'Rourke's prose is impeccable. Another favorite in this anthology was "Lost in a Field of Paper Flowers" by Gord Rollo. I love a good revenge tale and this one was good enough to have me retelling the story over dinner.
There are thirty great reasons to buy this anthology. Twenty eight of them are the stories it contains, the twenty-ninth is the editing, and the thirtieth is because you need to be looking out for your fellow travelers on this planet.
Chiral means that something is asymmetric in such a way that the structure and its mirror image are not superimposable. Just when you think you understand where the author is going, your realize the story has totally turned around, but not quite. I had to immediately reread some of the stories; they were that good. "The Shoe Tree" by Pat R. Steiner, for example, leads you to believe it is a monster story when in actuality, it is a heartbreaking tale of loss--almost. One of my other favorites was "Five Adjectives" by Monica J. O'Rourke. I am a teacher, so this story was uncomfortable but required reading. We are often too busy to read beyond the grammar and syntax to grasp what the child is really saying. I loved the formatting of the story, and as usual, Ms. O'Rourke's prose is impeccable. Another favorite in this anthology was "Lost in a Field of Paper Flowers" by Gord Rollo. I love a good revenge tale and this one was good enough to have me retelling the story over dinner.
There are thirty great reasons to buy this anthology. Twenty eight of them are the stories it contains, the twenty-ninth is the editing, and the thirtieth is because you need to be looking out for your fellow travelers on this planet.
May 8, 2022
I really liked 7 out of 28 stories:
- "Not the Child" by Julie Stipes
- "Experiments in an Isolation Tank" by Eric J. Guignard
- "Need" by Gary A. Braunbeck
- "Underwater Ferris Wheel" by Michael Bailey
- "White Pills" by Ian Shoebridge
- "The Perfection of Symmetry" by Andrew Hook
- "Some Pictures in an Album" by Gary McMahon
Discovered this book via Twitter. Loved the cover and learning a new word (chiral).
Second exposure to Jack Ketchum. I don't think he's for me.
- "Not the Child" by Julie Stipes
- "Experiments in an Isolation Tank" by Eric J. Guignard
- "Need" by Gary A. Braunbeck
- "Underwater Ferris Wheel" by Michael Bailey
- "White Pills" by Ian Shoebridge
- "The Perfection of Symmetry" by Andrew Hook
- "Some Pictures in an Album" by Gary McMahon
Discovered this book via Twitter. Loved the cover and learning a new word (chiral).
Second exposure to Jack Ketchum. I don't think he's for me.
November 23, 2012
A book full of good stories done for a great cause, what’s not to love? My full review can be found here: http://horrorworld.org/hw/2012/11/chi...
August 10, 2024
Chock full of stories where an individuals internal reality is incongruent with actual reality. Much like a pair of chiral images that mirror one another but cannot be superimposed.
November 8, 2022
Great
These were great stories. Some made me cringe, some made me laugh, but all were very interesting. I look forward to more
These were great stories. Some made me cringe, some made me laugh, but all were very interesting. I look forward to more
July 16, 2013
Excellent collection. Now, off to write something in hopes of being part of the second volume....
March 6, 2017
Chiral Mad Anthology of Psychological Horror by Michael Bailey
A book full of good stories, excellent collection. Wrote for a good reason.
A book full of good stories, excellent collection. Wrote for a good reason.
Want to read
September 10, 2018Just finished 'Red Runner v The Surgeon', absolutely phenomenal.
January 20, 2019
4.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews