The Man With the Barbed-Wire Fists

During the Great Depression, outlaw rivals of Bonnie and Clyde battle for their lives in a bullet-riddled cornfield that holds the secret of love and death.

In a suburban American ghost town, a frightened boy armed with a BB gun stands alone against a soul-stealing stranger.

In the Old West, a legendary gunslinger follows a trail of severed heads as he delivers a mail-order bride to a madman.

Hard-boiled thrillers. Gonzo suspense. Grisly horror. Tough yet tender character studies. Norman Partridge gives readers all this and more in his biggest and best collection of short fiction.

Known for a vivid, exuberant writing style that goes straight for the throat, Partridge's resolutely eccentric fiction is powered by an obvious affinity--and affection--for the outrageous and grotesque. But don't try to put a label on him-- Partridge is a writer who fits no category but his own.

Herein you'll find an original introduction by the author himself, twenty-plus stories, and two brand new tales from a talent The Washington Times calls "... as crazy as a scorpion on a red-hot skillet--and twice as dangerous."

Gentle reader, you're in for a ride and a half.

Winner of the 2001 Bram Stoker Award for fiction collection!