Doomsdays [Paperback]

Jeffrey Thomas (Author), Cover: Robert Steven Connett (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 31, 2007

Every Day Is Doomsday. Every Hour Is Someone's Private Armageddon. In This collection of 22 little Apocalypses one will encounter: - An Earth buried under strange blue ash, and overrun with the blue-encrusted undead - The dead of multiple wars, returning on one Halloween night - Puppet beings made from human trash, living and loving in a secret kingdom - A ghastly graveyard cherub that won't stay put -A monstrous version of ourselves, released from a parallel dimension and bent on our destruction Haunted factories, a haunted zoo, worlds both surreal and nightmarish, stalked by phantoms, murderers, and monsters...sprung from the rich imagination of Jeffrey Thomas, the acclaimed anuthor of PUNKTOWN, LETTERS FROM HADES, and VOICES FROM HADES. With brutal elegance and chilling Subtlety, Thomas pulls his reader into his dark visions immediately from every opening line.--Paul Di Filippo, in Asimov's. Jeffrey Thomas is a writer to watch. I just can't put down his books once I start them. --Douglas Clegg, author of THE PRIEST OF BLOOD

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Dark Regions Press; 1st edition (October 31, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888993480
• ISBN-13: 978-1888993486
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,557,890 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am the author of such science fiction/horror novels as DEADSTOCK (finalist for the John W. Campbell Award), BLUE WAR, HEALTH AGENT, MONSTROCITY (finalist for the Bram Stoker Award), THE FALL OF HADES, LETTERS FROM HADES, UGLY HEAVEN/BEAUTIFUL HELL (coauthored with Carlton Mellick III), THOUGHT FORMS, and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET: THE DREAM DEALERS. My short story collections include PUNKTOWN, VOICES FROM PUNKTOWN, PUNKTOWN: SHADES OF GREY (coauthored with Scott Thomas), NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS, UNHOLY DIMENSIONS, VOICES FROM HADES, THIRTEEN SPECIMENS, DOOMSDAYS, and AAAIIIEEE!!!. Stories of mine have been reprinted in THE YEAR'S BEST FANTASY AND HORROR and THE YEAR'S BEST HORROR STORIES. Though I consider Vietnam (my wife's place of origin) my second home, I am a resident of ye olde Massachusetts. Visit my blog at www.JeffreyEThomas.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Armageddon, Apocalypse, Desolation, Dereliction, and Creeping Horror, September 3, 2008

By 

Schtinky "Schtinky" (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Doomsdays (Paperback)

I love apocalypse books of all types; nuclear wars, plagues, alien invasions, natural disasters ... whatever form they come in. While not all the stories in 'Doomsdays' are of the end of the world, they all speak to us of endings of one kind or another.

Table Of Contents

· Out Of The Blue
· Blue Sphinxes
· Harsh Light
· Insides Out
· Ouroborus
· Post #153
· Apples And Oranges (with Scott Thomas)
· Praying That You Feel Better Soon
· The Arms Of The Sun
· Twenty-Five Cents
· A Naming Of Puppets
· Gasp
· The Call Of The Worms
· Working Stiffs
· The Friend Of The Children
· The Tripod
· 300,000 Moments Of Pain
· The Fork
· The Green Spider
· Flesh Wound
· Elephants Weep
· The Schism


Here are some of my favorites.
In 'Out Of The Blue', the earth shudders and a fine blue mist begins to fall. The only survivors are those who didn't breathe in the mist, those who did turn into zombies. Excellent zombie/apocalypse story.

In 'Apples and oranges' (co-written with Scott Thomas, Jeffrey's brother and also an author), piecemeal parts and familial relationships make for a strange lover.

In 'The Arms Of The Sun', witness the apocalypse by the changing of the sun, a mercury light that burns the skin and doesn't heal, adding a star on the chest that turns the exposed into changelings.

In 'A Naming Of Puppets', discarded trash becomes self-assembled life.

In 'The Tripod', a murder mystery takes place in Thomas's imaginary world of 'Boneland'. John Board is a crime photographer who lives on Coccyx Street in the city of Metacarpus. He's assigned to a string of horrific murders in which wives and children seem to be the focus of the killer. There's something wrong with the MO though, and Board can't seem to put his finger on it.

In 'The Green Spider' a old factory is turned into apartments. Those who reside there suddenly take up projects of manual labor (carpentry, pottery, machine art, quilting, etc). They are only fulfilled when working with their hands ... just like a factory worker.

In 'Elephants Weep', man wanders through a haunted, empty zoo filled with ghosts of the past. What seems desolate and derelict could actually be teeming with unseen life.

In 'The Schism', two worlds fuse into one, during what is now known as The Shift. An otherworldly Armageddon tale, travel with Arden in his maddening search to find and kill his alternate self.

There isn't a bad story in this collection. The stories range from one to many pages, each detailing internal or external destruction, personal devastation, freaky events, fascinating landscapes, and unusual conflict. No one can paint an atmosphere or scenery quite like Jeffrey Thomas. He's truly gifted in creating a place you feel like you've been to, or are going through, or have had a nightmare of. It's also too bad that Amazon doesn't have a picture of the book cover, an exceptional piece of horror/art by Robert Steven Connett. If you love horror, especially apocalypse horror, don't wait to grab a copy of 'Doomsdays'. Highly recommended. Enjoy!