In Hollow Houses (Dark Matter, Book 1) [Mass Market Paperback]

Gary A. Braunbeck (Author)

Book Description

Series: Dark Matter | Publication Date: August 1, 2000

It's all true.
It's not a nightmare.
It's all possible.

An unspeakable evil stirs beneath the nation's capital, the gateway to a world of terror few have seen. The Hoffman Institute may be our only defense . . . but is it part of the solution or part of the problem?

Reality and paranoia collide when dark forces converge on a world that seems normal. This is In Hollow Houses, the first novel in a new line of dark, contemporary fantasy fiction.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast (August 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786916362
• ISBN-13: 978-0786916368
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,835,597 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gary A. Braunbeck is a prolific author who writes mysteries, thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mainstream literature. He is the author of 20 books -- evenly divided between novels and short-story collections; his fiction has been translated into Japanese, French, Italian, Russian, German, Czech, and Polish. Nearly 200 of his short stories have appeared in various publications.

He was born in Newark, Ohio; the city that serves as the model for the fictitious Cedar Hill in many of his novels and stories. The Cedar Hill stories are collected in Graveyard People, Home Before Dark, and the forthcoming The Carnival Within, all published by Earthling Books.

His fiction has received several awards, including 5 Bram Stoker Awards: the first for Superior Achievement in Short Fiction in 2003 for "Duty"; the second -- also for Superior Achievement in Short Story -- in 2005 for "We Now Pause for Station Identification"; his collection Destinations Unknown won the Stoker for Superior Achievement in Fiction Collection in 2006; and 2007 saw Gary winning 2 Stoker Awards; the first for co-editing the anthology 5 Strokes to Midnight, and the second for his novella "Afterward, There Will Be a Hallway." His novella "Kiss of the Mudman" received the International Horror Guild Award for Long Fiction in 2005.

As an editor, Gary completed the latest installment of the Masques anthology series created by Jerry Williamson, Masques V, after Jerry became too ill to continue.

He also served a term as president of the Horror Writers Association. He is married to Lucy Snyder, a science fiction/fantasy writer, and they reside together in Columbus, Ohio.

Gary is an adjunct professor at Seton Hill University, Pennsylvania, where he teaches in an innovative MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction.

His nonfiction writing book Fear In A Handful Of Dust: Horror As A Way Of Life has been used as a text by several college writing classes. (A revised and expanded edition of the book will be coming out in late 2010/early 2011, from Apex Books.) Gary has taught writing seminars and workshops around the country on topics such as short story writing, characterization, and dialogue.

His work is often praised for its depth of emotion and characterization, as well as for its refusal to adhere to any genre tropes; some joke that the term "cross-genre fiction" may have been invented to describe his work -- a rumor he does everything in his power to propagate.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pick this up, WotC has never had a better series, April 24, 2001

By 

"netrunner27" (Grand Rapids MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Hollow Houses (Dark Matter, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book was flat out excellent. It lost a star for having some pointlessness toward the middle, but the ending and characters can make up for everything. The actual storyline uses the campaign steeting that far exceeded the actual game's quality for a base. The Dark Matter setting is one of strict paranoia and rampant paranormal activity, and this lives up to the standard. Plus, this is the precursor to one of the most entertaining books I've ever read, If Whispers Call. Think a less overly mysterious X-files mixed with NYPD Blue. Quality.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MORE MORE MORE!, October 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: In Hollow Houses (Dark Matter, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

I picked up this book because I was curious about the RPG that it's based on and wanted to get some idea what it was all about before plunging into the game. The book just blew me away. If you've read anything from TSR/WOTC in the past, you're in for a big surprise with this book. It's a major departure for the kings of safe fantasy. It is extremely well written and surprisingly thought-provoking. I'm definitely IN and can't wait for the rest of the series. Unfortunately the game falls short of the book's promise, but the first book at least is way more than worth it.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Suspenseful Masterpiece, August 10, 2000

By 

D. Ward (Woodbridge, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Hollow Houses (Dark Matter, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is an excellent read. From the very beginning you keep wondering what will happen next. The story is full of unexpected details that truly add to the experience. The book also includes many references to actual details and environments. This makes the book a truly interesting story to read. In Hollow Houses is the perfect mix of truth and fantasy. It makes you really wonder "Could this be true or What If..." I highly recommend this book to any fans of sci-fi literature.