The Pain Eater

The Pain Eater is the story of two brothers from Michigan reunited after the death of their father. They’ve never been close, but now they have to live together—and it gets more difficult when one discovers a strange creature, vomited from the body of a dead cat. A creature that eats human pain. It feels good: too good. Soon he wants to hurt himself more, just so the pain can be taken away. But the more the creature becomes a part of his life, the more he damages everything around him. Some wounds are too deep to ever heal.

Horror DNA

"There are moments whilst reading The Pain Eater that feel like the teenage discoveries of a Stephen King novel fused with the addictions and desires of a Chuck Palahniuk story. Yet this is very much Kyle Muntz’s story. And what a delight it is.”

Warped Perspective

“A world rendered very recognizable... as much about the horrors of failed communication as it is addiction and grief."

Brian Evenson, author of Song for the Unraveling of the World

“Playful and painful and surreally real, and great fun to read.”

Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke"What if the horror boom of the 1980s had instead exploded during the era of emo? Everybody you know would be reading and re-reading The Pain Eater. A dark slow burn of a novel."

“Absurd, grim, and wonderfully unique, Kyle Muntz’s The Pain Eater is an exceptional read from a new and distinct voice in horror.”

Peter Tieryas, author of Mecha Samurai Empire

“There’s a melodic beat to Muntz’s writing, terse descriptions of events interspersed with sudden bursts of graphic visuals, often macabre in its evocations. It’s a delicate balance, but one he masterfully navigates.”

Rhys Hughes, author of A Universal History of Infamy

“Here is prose of a high poetic intensity working in the service of a dark and cool vision… disturbing and enthralling in equal parts.”

James Pate, author of The Fassbender Diaries

“One of the strangest, most original things I’ve read this summer… a work of radical, subversive innocence.”

About the Author

Kyle Muntz is the author of Scary People (Eraserhead Press), and winner of the Sparks Prize for short fiction. In 2016 he received an MFA in fiction from the University of Notre Dame. Currently he teaches literature and writing at the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in Guangzhou, China.

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