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The skinless man counts to 5 - and other tales of the macabre
For more than twenty years, Paul Jessup has been dreaming of people and places that shouldn’t exist. From an infection that allows lost children to see beyond the pale in The Silence That Binds or the way the universe bends and gives birth when stars explode in Open Your Eyes or the tragic consequences of imbuing the inanimate with an all-too-human need to be loved in Glass House, his writing explodes with a surreal energy.
In his latest collection, The Skinless Man Counts to Five and Other Tales of the Macabre, there are ghosts and butterflies, serial killers and dying stars, mermaids and monsters. You will find death cults, sewer elves, the apocalypse of youthful fervor, card games that require blood sacrifices, and self-immolation as an expression of devotion. Paul Jessup’s fiction eviscerates, shatters, and slurps the marrow from the bones of the world.
In his latest collection, The Skinless Man Counts to Five and Other Tales of the Macabre, there are ghosts and butterflies, serial killers and dying stars, mermaids and monsters. You will find death cults, sewer elves, the apocalypse of youthful fervor, card games that require blood sacrifices, and self-immolation as an expression of devotion. Paul Jessup’s fiction eviscerates, shatters, and slurps the marrow from the bones of the world.
Unknown Binding
Published March 1, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
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March 30, 2024Filled with slivers of nightmares and scenes from fever dreams, THE SKINLESS MAN COUNTS TO FIVE by Paul Jessup holds stories laden with evocative, lingering images. It will pull you into forests of fear where branches heave with webs of vivid verse, and every tree hides something behind it. Don't get lost...
March 22, 2024
Dead Mermaids? Vampire Hunting? Alien Zombie Machines? This has a little bit of everything. 24 short stories packed in less than 300 pages. https://youtu.be/Q_TdXQfIRNA
April 13, 2024
To say that Underland Press specializes in publishing books that swim on the fringes of genre, both literary and weird, is a bit of an understatement. The Skinless Man Counts to Five And Other Tales of the Macabre is a testament to that. Within its pages, readers will find ghosts and monsters, aliens and elves, card games with deadly consequences, and other fear inducing horrors.
Some of the standout stories, in both idea and execution, include The House at the End of the World, which involves a young girl in a new town with creepy mask wearing residents; Glass Coffin Girls, about a girl who takes over every inch of her boyfriend's apartment; When Max Was Hungry Again, about a spell that's supposed to increase hunger but sometimes to a detrimental effect; This Hunted World, where shapeshifting wolves stalk a man and his kid; and Fake Plastic Trees, where a strange parasitic infection crosses over from gorillas to humans.
This was my first time reading Jessup's work and while there were some truly stunning stories, I found the majority of the collection to be rather uneven and frustrating, feeling more like an anthology than a single authored collection. Some of the stories were difficult to follow, others felt like they were rushed and needed more than a handful of pages to become more fully fleshed out. But those that were good were just so damn good!
If you end up picking this one up, I'd love to hear which stories you connected with the most. There's definitely something in here for everyone.
Some of the standout stories, in both idea and execution, include The House at the End of the World, which involves a young girl in a new town with creepy mask wearing residents; Glass Coffin Girls, about a girl who takes over every inch of her boyfriend's apartment; When Max Was Hungry Again, about a spell that's supposed to increase hunger but sometimes to a detrimental effect; This Hunted World, where shapeshifting wolves stalk a man and his kid; and Fake Plastic Trees, where a strange parasitic infection crosses over from gorillas to humans.
This was my first time reading Jessup's work and while there were some truly stunning stories, I found the majority of the collection to be rather uneven and frustrating, feeling more like an anthology than a single authored collection. Some of the stories were difficult to follow, others felt like they were rushed and needed more than a handful of pages to become more fully fleshed out. But those that were good were just so damn good!
If you end up picking this one up, I'd love to hear which stories you connected with the most. There's definitely something in here for everyone.
July 31, 2024
I loved this book! I don't usually read much horror, but I gave this a chance and was not disappointed! I love weird stuff, and this was SUPER weird!! Each story is so strange in its own way and leaves me thinking about it for days afterwards. I'm STILL thinking about the coffin girl and the card game! If you like strange stories that make your brain do flip flops, I recommend this book!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews