Haunted Worlds

by Jeffrey Thomas, Ian Rogers (Introduction)

“Jeffrey Thomas haunts me. He will do the same to you.”—From Ian Rogers’s introduction


Jeffrey Thomas is renowned for his novels and tales set in Punktown, a terrifying, crime-riddled city of the future, where humans and aliens mix in every sense of the word, with often horrific results.


Including two stories set in Punktown, this volume features works long and short that are among Thomas’s most intimate and intense weird tales. “Saigon Dep Lam” is a poignant Christmas story set in Vietnam, a city which Thomas has visited often. Art takes a central role in “Mr. Faun” and “Drawing No. 8,” both of which suggest that paintings may be quite a bit more than what you see on the canvas.


This book also includes several unpublished stories. “The Temple of Ugghiutu” is a Lovecraftian tale that bears relations to Thomas’s Punktown novel Monstrocity. The distinctively titled “riaH gnoL” hints at the disturbing psychosis of a young woman employed by an arcade. “Good Will toward Men” makes us wonder about the real differences between heaven and hell.

Genres: Fiction, Horror

248 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2017

About the author

Jeffrey Thomas is an American author of weird fiction, the creator of the acclaimed setting Punktown. Books in the Punktown universe include the short story collections Punktown, Voices from Punktown, Punktown: Shades of Grey (with his brother, Scott Thomas), and Ghosts of Punktown. Novels in that setting include Deadstock, Blue War, Monstrocity, Health Agent, Everybody Scream!, Red Cells, and The New God. Thomas’s other short story collections include The Unnamed Country, Gods of a Nameless Country, The Endless Fall, Haunted Worlds, Worship the Night, Thirteen Specimens, Nocturnal Emissions, Doomsdays, Terror Incognita, Unholy Dimensions, AAAIIIEEE!!!, Honey Is Sweeter Than Blood, Carrion Men, Voices from Hades, The Return of Enoch Coffin, and Entering Gosston. His other novels include The American, Boneland, Subject 11, Letters From Hades, The Fall of Hades, The Exploded Soul, The Nought, Thought Forms, Beyond the Door, Lost in Darkness, and A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Dealers.

His work has been reprinted in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII (editor Karl Edward Wagner), The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror #14 (editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling), and Year’s Best Weird Fiction #1 (editors Laird Barron and Michael Kelly). At NecronomiCon 2024 Thomas received the Robert Bloch Award for his contributions to weird fiction.

Though he considers Viet Nam his second home, Thomas lives in Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Donald · Rating 5 out of 5]

For my money, there's no one writing horror today that is as versatile as Jeffrey Thomas, and this collection, more than any of his (many) others, showcases exactly why. He touches nearly every facet of horror, from the Lovecraftian ("The Temple of Ugghiutu"), to a lovely take on a modern ghost story ("Saigon Dep Lam"), to existential corporate horror in the vein of Ligotti ("Carrion" and "The Left-Hand Pool"), to even a story touching on the childhood fear of abandonment and the way a young mind processes trauma ("Redemption Express"). These stories are at times literary, and at other times the very best kind of pulp. There's something for nearly any sort of horror fan in this book.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another strong collection of weird tales and bleak vignettes by Thomas. Consistently reliable and effortlessly readable. Of particular note are “Spider Gates”, “Drawing No. 8”, and “Redemption Express”.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute standout collection that clearly demonstrates Thomas's ability to write deeply-affecting, visceral horror without genre crossover. Not that there's anything wrong with Punktown, of course. But this particular collection highlights the sheer versatility of Thomas's writing and serves to establish him as a master of modern horror in the short form.

[Des Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This still provocatively resonating story is along the creative reciprocal xenophilia parameters of ‘Carrion’ earlier in this book, featuring a very strikingly written genius-loci of a wooded lake divided into two by a road, splitting it into two dissimilar pools, as named left-hand and right-hand pools. Tellingly, those two arbitrarily named bodies of water, named by the male sensitive loner of a protagonist on his regular way to work, are still named thus on his return journey from work. One pool is more ominous than the other. What he sees in one will haunt you.

The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.
Above is one of its observations at the time of the review.

[Selene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disturbing and beautiful

Not every story in this collection is a perfect five star, but so many are so close it hardly matters. Subtle and lingering, with a finer touch than the genre might suggest.

[Jason Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection. I was excited to see that it included a few new Punktown stories.

The stand out story in this book is The Green Hands. Haunting and atmospheric. Very much like pouring out a nightmare onto paper.

A must-have book for any weird fiction fan.

[7thTrooper · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jeffrey Thomas var en av de första författare jag läste när jag började med E-böcker. Då var det Punktown och Monstrocity, som båda hade sina skavanker men överlag var läsvärda. Haunted Worlds var tyvärr inget jag skulle rekomendera. Ingen av novellerna är rent ut dåliga men inte heller sticker någon ut som riktigt bra. Det är först i de två sista novellerna - speciellt då Redemption Express - som Thomas reser sig upp ordentligt; den är väl egentligen ganska lökig, den handlar om en 10-årig hemlös flicka och hennes funna familj, men den funkar. Liksom Drawing No. 8 utspelar den sig i författarens Punktown-universum, som förrvisso inte är i klass med Miévilles Bas-Lag men ändå intressant. Genreblandningar är alltid en bra grund.
Som titeln antyder är det mest skräck det handlar om, förutom den nämnda Redemption... och en julnovell om en vietnamesisk flicka. De flesta är berömvärt korta och nästan mer skissar än hela noveller, och det är nog riaH gnoL som är bäst; nästan en Klintbergare om en hemsökt arkadhall. Den enda som faktiskt var seg att ta sig igenom var The Green Hands, den längsta i samlingen, som är alldeles för lång trots en atmosfärisk andra halva. Om man är intresserad av New Weird och redan läst Miéville och Vandermeer är Thomas värd att utforska, men börja med de två jag nämnde i början.