Spontaneous Human Combustion

A 2022 BRAM STOKER AWARD NOMINEEA TOR NIGHTFIRE MOST EXCITING HORROR BOOK OF 2022 "In range alone, Richard Thomas is boundless. He is Lovecraft. He is Bradbury. He is VanderMeer." —Chuck PalahniukWith a Foreword by Brian EvensonIn this new collection, Richard Thomas has crafted fourteen stories that push the boundaries of dark fiction in an intoxicating, piercing blend of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Equally provocative and profound, each story is masterfully woven with transgressive themes that burrow beneath the skin. A poker game yields a strange prize that haunts one man, his game of chance now turned into a life-or-death coin flip. A set of twins find they have mysterious new powers when an asteroid crashes in a field near their house, and the decisions they make create an uneasy balance. A fantasy world is filled with one man’s desire to feel whole again, finally finding love, only to have the shocking truth of his life exposed in an appalling twist. A father and son work slave labor in a brave new world run by aliens and mount a rebellion that may end up freeing them all. A clown takes off his make-up in a gloomy basement to reveal something more horrifying under the white, tacky skin. Powerful and haunting, Thomas’ transportive collection dares you to examine what lies in the darkest, most twisted corners of human existence and not be transformed by what you find.

Chuck Palahniuk

"In range alone, Richard Thomas is boundless. He is Lovecraft. He is Bradbury. He is VanderMeer."

Shelf Awareness (starred review)

"This chilling collection of short stories, with plenty of twists and turns, as well as echoes of Lovecraft and Bradbury, probes the dark corners between the horrors humans inflict on each other and those that haunt our nightmares. This volume will please Thomas's existing fans and will surely create new ones."

Library Journal (starred review)

"Fans of science fiction, horror, and dark fiction will relish immersing themselves in this collection for all its grit, lyricism, and unquestionable profundity."

Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)

"Equally devastating and refreshing, this is a collection to be savored by horror fans and literary readers alike."

Booklist

"Horror fans will be drawn to this compelling anthology."

New York Journal of Books

"Each story is filled with vivid and evocative details and provides a fascinating journey that explores the dark places of our existence and engages its readers throughout . . . [Richard Thomas] does not disappoint."

A.C. Wise, author of Wendy, Darling

"A feast for the senses, this collection is simultaneously lush and terrifying. Horror and dark fantasy fans are sure to find many delights within."

Livia Llewellyn, author of Furnace

"Nothing will prepare you for Richard Thomas' stories, for the brutality, for the intense white-hot horror, for the blood-soaked gorgeous beauty of his writing. Reading his fiction is like sinking into a fever dream, filled with an alien-yet-familiar wondrousness to it all that makes you long to be back inside those seductive terrors long after they've ended. I was not prepared: I can't wait to return."

smooth, but it burns. Burns all the way to the bottom."

"Thomas masterfully combines noir and horror. He paints the beauty and the meanness of human life with an ease that belies how damned hard a trick it is to accomplish. Spontaneous Human Combustion is a bottle of the top shelf stuff

Lucy A. Snyder, author of Sister, Maiden, Monster

"By turns poetic and brutal, this is a stellar collection."

Mercedes M. Yardley, Bram Stoker Award–winning author of Little Dead Red

"Richard Thomas brings us expertly crafted tales steeped in violence and beauty. Each richly detailed story teases the reader with equal parts emotion and stoicism. Spontaneous Human Combustion is truly a work of dark wonder."

Usman T. Malik, award-winning author of Midnight Doorways: Fables from Pakistan

"The stories in Spontaneous Human Combustion sizzle and burn. Richard Thomas is a narrator of the human condition at its most feral, and a master at the damnation game."

Gabino Iglesias, author of Coyote Songs

"Richard Thomas's Spontaneous Human Combustion is a marvelous monster made of blood, anger, fear, guilt, grief, hunger, and pain. These gritty, blood-soaked stories pull readers into the darkness of the single black heart beating at the core of horror and noir, and somehow makes them love every second of it."

Priya Sharma, author of Ormeshadow

"Richard Thomas gives us a timely and eloquent reminder that, no matter how far we run, we take our darkness with us."

Steve Rasnic Tem, author of Figures Unseen: Selected Stories and Thanatrauma

“The stories in Richard Thomas’s Spontaneous Human Combustion marry a dark noir sensibility with unusually wide-ranging horror and fantasy tropes. The results are impressive, not only because of their originality, but in the way he is able to elicit our empathy for the grotesque sufferings of deeply flawed characters torn between impulses of petty revenge and sacrifice, creation and destruction. The language here is dense and richly evocative, achieving at times a transgressive and surreal quality reminiscent of Rimbaud in its beauty and brutality.”

Doug Murano, Bram Stoker Award–winning editor of Behold!: Oddities, Curiosities & Undefinable Wonders

“Dark, but rarely bleak. Punishing, but never sadistic. Thomas’s stories drag you into the light as often as they knock you into the abyss. A necessary collection.”

Jenny Ashford, 13 O'Clock podcast

“If you dig Black Mirror or any surrealist, neo-noir fiction, then you definitely need to check this out, because this would be right up your alley.”

Edward Lorn, author of Life after Dane

"Richard Thomas is a seasoned professional . . . He is such a fantastic writer with so much depth and subtext in every single paragraph. Every single line has punch to it . . . This collection is damn near perfect!"

Foreword Reviews

"Imaginative and propulsive, the stories of Spontaneous Human Combustion confront universal human fears in supernatural, futuristic worlds."

with Spontaneous Human Combustion, Thomas forces the reader to run the gamut of human emotions. With beguiling and devastating prose one can’t help but see the beauty in the macabre morsels Thomas has given us to consume. A truly breathtaking collection."

"Transgressive, dark and masterfully written

I didn't want to wake.”

“In this collection, Richard Thomas leads us through a vivid sequence of ever-darkening dreams. Strange, surreal, terrible and beautiful

Kathleen Kaufman, author of The Lairdbalor, Hag, and the Diabhal Trilogy "With Spontaneous Human Combustion, Richard Thomas bravely leads us into the darkest recesses of the human soul. As always his writing is superb

“Raw and shocking, each story takes us deeper into the human psyche and our darkest instincts. Favorites included 'Ring of Fire' and 'Requital,' however, the strength of the collection overall make this a disturbingly satisfying read.”

About the Author

Richard Thomas is the award-winning author of seven books―Disintegration and Breaker (Penguin Random House Alibi), Transubstantiate, Staring into the Abyss, Herniated Roots, Tribulations, and The Soul Standard (Dzanc Books). His over 150 stories in print include The Best Horror of the Year (Volume Eleven), Cemetery Dance (twice), Behold!: Oddities, Curiosities and Undefinable Wonders (Bram Stoker winner), PANK, storySouth, Gargoyle, Weird Fiction Review, Midwestern Gothic, Shallow Creek, The Seven Deadliest, Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories, Qualia Nous, Chiral Mad (numbers 2-4), PRISMS, Pantheon, and Shivers VI. He was also the editor of four anthologies: The New Black and Exigencies (Dark House Press), The Lineup: 20 Provocative Women Writers (Black Lawrence Press) and Burnt Tongues (Medallion Press) with Chuck Palahniuk. He has been nominated for the Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, and Thriller awards. In his spare time he is a columnist at Lit Reactor. He was the Editor-in-Chief at Dark House Press and Gamut Magazine, and lives in Mundelein, Illinois. For more information visit www.whatdoesnotkillme.com or contact Paula Munier at Talcott Notch.

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