Saying Secrets is the first collection from acclaimed writer and poet Christopher Conlonfive tales of contemporary life by turns lyrical and brutal, most originally published in The Long Story literary journal. Whether taking you inside the mind of a horribly disfigured woman, bringing you along on a psychotic teenagers final rampage, or introducing you to a girl in California who both is and is not Anne Frank, Conlon is a storyteller whose words and worlds youll not soon forget. This edition features a special Introduction by William F. Nolan, author of some sixty books (including Dashiell Hammett: A Life on the Edge and the Black Mask Boys mystery series) along with an Afterword by scriptwriter George Clayton Johnson, whose screen credits range from the Sinatra Rat Pack classic Oceans Eleven to the original Twilight Zone. Together Nolan and Johnson penned Logans Run, the renowned futuristic novel later made into a highly successful film and television series.

Saying Secrets: American Stories

Literature & Fiction

Conlon, Christopher

Contemporary

iUniverse

Mona Straw has it all—beautiful daughter, caring husband, lovely home, fulfilling job as a middle-school teacher. But one day a new man enters Mona’s life and turns it upside down, their passionate affair tilting her mind to the edge of madness—and murder. Her lover’s name is Connor. He’s got blonde hair, green eyes…and he’s eleven years old. ADVANCE PRAISE FOR SAVAGING THE DARK  “If there’s a single author working in the horror genre who deserves wider notice, it might be Conlon, whose astonishing A MATRIX OF ANGELS(2011) is the most wrenching serial-killer novel of the past decade. This follow-up button-pusher would pair perfectly with Alissa Nutting’s controversial TAMPA (2013), if not for the opening scene: a terrified 11-year-old boy gagged and handcuffed to a bed while our narrator, sixth-grade English teacher Mona Straw, licks the dirt from his feet. From there, we backtrack to learn of Mona’s evolving infatuation with student Connor Blue, a kid as average and unremarkable as his teacher. Connor soon graduates from extra study lessons to yard work to an overwhelming sexual relationship, with every step utterly believable as Mona cycles through giddy elation, mordant depression, and, most of all, tortured self-justifications of her actions: ‘The top buttons are undone on the blouse but that’s because I’m just casually hanging around the house, no other reason.’ Conlon’s prose is so sturdy that Mona’s impaired viewpoint (for example, her concern that the power of their relationship is shifting to Connor) almost makes sense before it plunges them both into unavoidable disaster. Conlon writes with literary depth and commercial aplomb; his days of too-little recognition seem numbered.” — Daniel Kraus, BOOKLIST (starred review) PRAISE FOR CHRISTOPHER CONLON “The lyrical, the lingering, the stories of ghosts as well as non-supernatural hauntings you’ll never forget—that’s what Christopher Conlon gives you. Conlon is one of the best of our time and of the times to come. He is one hell of a writer.” —Mort Castle, author of NEW MOON ON THE WATER “Along with Laird Barron and John Langan, Christopher Conlon is carrying the torch for literary horror in the 21st century. Pay attention, because Conlon is one of our best, hands down.” —Joe McKinney, author of FLESH EATERS and INHERITANCE “Conlon is a consummate literary artist.” —George Clayton Johnson, author of TWILIGHT ZONE SCRIPTS AND STORIES “Christopher Conlon has a major talent...with a marvelous artistic grasp of the joys, pains, and sorrows of this world we all inhabit. His work reflects the depths of the human heart. He is a superb writer.” —William F. Nolan, author of LOGAN’S RUN

Savaging the Dark

Literary

Evil Jester Press

WILD TRACKS: UNCOLLECTED WRITINGS 1985-2014 reprints the best of Christopher Conlon’s fiction, nonfiction, and verse not available in the author’s earlier books. Published over the past three decades in a wide variety of markets—from obscure, long-defunct poetry journals to national magazines such as POETS &amp; WRITERS and AMERICA—many of these writings have been out of print and unavailable for years. This collection represents Christopher Conlon’s work at its finest, offering further evidence that, as Mort Castle (NEW MOON ON THE WATER) asserts, “Conlon is one of the best of our time and of the times to come. He is one hell of a writer.”

Wild Tracks: Uncollected Writings 1985-2014

Mango Biscuit Press

At age 36, Ben Fall is a man in torment. Overstressed, out of shape, in the middle of a bitter divorce, and carrying a secret that weighs heavily on his psyche, he's convinced he's a failure. He can hardly get out of bed in the morning to make his way to the high school where he teaches English. But suddenly one gray afternoon, a mousy, nondescript new girl appears in his classroom. She seems fascinated by everything he says and does--disturbingly so. Yet, though she gazes obsessively at him and hangs on his every word, she won't even tell him her name...just that she's "The Rain Girl." Who is she? Where does she come from? What does she want?  "We could call this book a 'contemporary metaphysical mystery' or a 'modern fantasy,' but it's far more...Lullaby for the Rain Girl resonates like the Expat Paris of Hemingway in A Moveable Feast and the 1960s College Crazy of Richard Farina's Been Down So Long Looks Like Up To Me: detailed recall of 'what was' interwoven with 'what should have been.' There's a rough 20th century romanticism, too, something like Richard Matheson's sensibility filtered through Henry Miller's libidinous viewpoint. It gives us the hauntings of not-quite-ghosts, lingering regrets and remembrances, and the documentation of the results of not so wise but always human choices. It is one hell of a story told by one hell of a writer, a novel that feels more evocatively true than many memoirs." - Mort Castle, author of Moon on the Water and The Strangers  "This powerful novel is both innovative and a fine example of world-class storytelling: it's about life and the restless shadows it casts; it's about death and ghosts who aren't ghosts. Gripping, nuanced, and deep, Conlon's novel delivers." - John Shirley, author of Bleak History and In Extremis

Lullaby for the Rain Girl

Genre Fiction

Dark Regions Press

Christopher Conlon, author of poetry collections "Gilbert and Garbo in Love," "The Weeping Time," and "Mary Falls," and the novel "Midnight on Mourn Street" turns his attention to the short, violent lives of Charles Starkeweather and Caril Ann Fugate. With a haunting depth and sensitivity, Conlon explores the possibilities that made human beings turn savage in the middle of America, and follows the doomed pair on a bloodthirsty journey made all the more tragic by its reality.

Starkweather Dreams

Poetry

Creative Guy Publishing

At age 36, Ben Fall is a man in torment. Overstressed, out of shape, in the middle of a bitter divorce, and carrying a secret that weighs heavily on his psyche, he's convinced he's a failure. He can hardly get out of bed in the morning to make his way to the high school where he teaches English. But suddenly one gray afternoon, a mousy, nondescript new girl appears in his classroom. She seems fascinated by everything he says and does--disturbingly so. Yet, though she gazes obsessively at him and hangs on his every word, she won't even tell him her name...just that she's "The Rain Girl." Who is she? Where does she come from? What does she want? "We could call this book a 'contemporary metaphysical mystery' or a 'modern fantasy,' but it's far more...Lullaby for the Rain Girl resonates like the Expat Paris of Hemingway in A Moveable Feast and the 1960s College Crazy of Richard Farina's Been Down So Long Looks Like Up To Me: detailed recall of 'what was' interwoven with 'what should have been.' There's a rough 20th century romanticism, too, something like Richard Matheson's sensibility filtered through Henry Miller's libidinous viewpoint. It gives us the hauntings of not-quite-ghosts, lingering regrets and remembrances, and the documentation of the results of not so wise but always human choices. It is one hell of a story told by one hell of a writer, a novel that feels more evocatively true than many memoirs." - Mort Castle, author of Moon on the Water and The Strangers "This powerful novel is both innovative and a fine example of world-class storytelling: it's about life and the restless shadows it casts; it's about death and ghosts who aren't ghosts. Gripping, nuanced, and deep, Conlon's novel delivers." - John Shirley, author of Bleak History and In Extremis

The Oblivion Room: Stories of Violation

Macabre Ink

Mona Straw has it all-beautiful daughter, caring husband, lovely home, fulfilling job as a middle-school teacher. But one day a new man enters Mona's life and turns it upside-down, their passionate affair tilting her mind to the edge of madness-and murder.Her lover's name is Connor. He's got blonde hair, green eyes¿and he's eleven years old.***"One of the 50 Best Horror Novels of All Time" -Paste Magazine"Top Ten Horror: 2015" -Booklist (starred review)

Bare Bones #8: Fall 2021

Humor & Entertainment

Schow, David J.

Enfantino, Peter

Zahler, S. Craig

Schoell, William

Scoleri, John

Bradley, Matthew R.

Krauss, Richard

Hill, Derek

Movies

Independently published

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