This Flesh Unknown [Paperback]

Gary A. Braunbeck (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2001

What happens when we dream of our spouse as he or she once was? Does a door in the universe open, letting these secret fantasies become all to real?
Paul and Vanessa Howe are about to find out what happens when their erotic passions and fantasies go to far and take on a unique life of their own.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Gary A. Braunbeck is the author of over 170 published short stories, as wellthree short story collections and the novels THE INDIFFERENCE OF HEAVEN, IN HOLLOW HOUSES, and THIS FLESH UNKNOWN (forthcoming from Foggy Windows Books). He has been nominated for both the Horror Writers AssociationBram Stoker Award and the International Horror Guild Award. To quote Publisher's Weekly: "Braunbeck's fiction stirs the mind as it chills the marrow.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Foggy Windows Books (March 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930947070
• ISBN-13: 978-1930947078
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,356,476 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

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing, Evocative and Chilling, August 4, 2005

By 

Daniel R. Robichaud II (Worcester, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: This Flesh Unknown (Paperback)

Marriage dilutes romance. At least it has for the main characters in this volume. Well, let's be honest: Marriage and life shattering accidents dilute romance.

This book is brief. It is beautifully written, and at various times delightfully erotic, sweetly romantic, soul numbingly sad and downright chilling. Parts of the book demand to be read aloud -- a courtship scene climaxing at a duck pond was so endearing, I had to read it aloud to my wife. We still grin about it.

However, the ending feels... Hmmm. The ending does not flow seamlessly from the rest of the book. It feels... Revised? I'm not sure how else to say it. In a film, I might say that it is a carryover from some other screenplay draft, but here it feels artificial. Inorganic.

Perhaps I missed something, perhaps I need to read through again. In fact, there are parts I look forward to revisiting. Alas, the ending is not one of them.

If I could, I would rate this book 4.5 stars. It is absolutely engrossing.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A chilling, enthalling novel, November 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: This Flesh Unknown (Paperback)

Gary Braunbeck is one of the best of the new crop of fantasists. His work is always a blend of detailed characterization and stunning ideas. You owe it to yourself to read anything he writes!