The Autopsy and Other Tales [Hardcover]

Michael Shea (Author), Laird Barron (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2008

Michael Shea has demonstrated an unnerving facility for the macabre, the cerebral, and the whimsical, and he possesses the deceptively effortless ability to conjure scenes of horror and dread leavened by sly humor. Over 590 pages long, this collection features all of Shea’s best award-winning horror, fantasy, science fiction, and Cthulhu Mythos tales, with two complete novels and several stories that have never been collected.

Laird Barron’s insightful introduction provides a unique look at this remarkable, visionary storyteller. Combined with the illustrations of John Stewart, as well as several color photographs and devices, this marks the most important collection yet from an undisputed master of the short story.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael Shea is an award-winning writer of fantasy, science fiction and horror. He lives in Healdsburg, California. Laird Barron was born in Alaska, where he raised Huskies. He currently lives in Washington state, where he writes critically-acclaimed stories and poetry.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 590 pages
• Publisher: Centipede Press; Limited edition (November 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 193361837X
• ISBN-13: 978-1933618371
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 7.5 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,447,762 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael A. Shea's writing career began when he was thirteen, and his published writing career commenced in 1973 with the publication of A Quest For Simbilis--an hommage to the great Jack Vance, and sequel to his Eyes of the Overworld. Shea callowly offered Mr. Vance co-credit if he allowed Shea to publish it. Mr. Vance, graceful and kind, assured the novice that he should sell it if he could, and the neophyte contented himself with an acknowledgment that introduced the text.

Shea quit his natal L.A. and repaired to Frisco's Mission District, where he met his life-mate, artist and author Linda Cesar. They lived by teaching, painting, and writing--preponderantly the former two. Through the years of their union, and the growth of their remarkable son and daughter, Shea produced his works of science fiction and fantasy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Essential, March 15, 2009

By 

Marc Laidlaw - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Autopsy and Other Tales (Hardcover)

Can you get by without owning all of Michael Shea's finest short fiction in one handsome, sturdy volume? Personally, I cannot. When "The Angel of Death" showed up in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, my best friend got and read his copy ahead of me, and called to tell me I had to read this story. When "The Autopsy" appeared, I felt psychic pain at the thought that others had read it but I had not...because everyone who'd read it, told me about it with great urgency. I hope this review pains you in the same way. You simply must read these stories and the many others, from across a career that is only getting better.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Collection, January 13, 2009

By 

Christian Nielsen - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Autopsy and Other Tales (Hardcover)

This volume contains the following stories:

The Angel of Death
The Horror on the #33
Fast Food
Grunt-12 Test Drive
Salome
Fat Face
Uncle Tuggs
Fill it with Regular
Nemo Me Impune Lacessit
Polyphemus
That Frog
The Extra
The Growlimb
The Autopsy
The Rebuke
Delivery
For Every Tatter in its Mortal Dress
The Pearls of the Vampire Queen
I Said the Fly
'Tsathoggua
The Color Out of Time

According to Centipede Press, there are only 500 copies of this book. Each book is signed and numbered by the author, with the signature and number appearing at the end of the book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW! WHAT A GREAT BOOK!, May 28, 2011

By 

W. H. Pugmire "I never can be tied to raw, ne... (Sesqua Valley) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Autopsy and Other Tales (Hardcover)

This was the first Centipede Press book that I purchased, and I was absolutely stunned by the contents and by the book's design, with the beautiful sinister artwork (much reproduced in color). Following an excellent Introduction by Laird Barron, we are presented with a number of works that span Shea's career. One early work presented here is the complete novel, THE COLOR OUT OF TIME, a fine novel of Lovecraftian horror that I had originally read when it came out in paperback from DAW Books in 1984. I loved it then and I love it now. It is truly evocative of Lovecraft's age-old cosmic horror, yet the novel brings that nameless horror superbly into the modern world. Shea's classic shoggoth story, "Fat Face," is also included -- and it never loses its eldritch appeal. Gawd, he is such a brilliant writer of Cthulhu Mythos fiction, true to the Mythos and yet utterly modern in his approach. Perilous Press published an entire book of Shea's Cthulhu Mythos tales, COPPING SQUID -- another book that I can HIGHLY recommend! Michael Shea is one of weird fiction's true masters, and this masterful collection contains much of his brilliant work. A fabulous book, breathtakingly beautiful, and one that I return to time and time again.