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Different Kinds of Dead and Other Tales
A mysterious and beautiful girl who teaches arrogant young men about true love, a lonely traveling salesman who learns that his passenger is death, children who can absorb the psychic pain of their parents, a desperately pursued serial killer who hides his face under gauze in a hospital room, and a woman who loves the alien infant nobody else wants. These stories and ten others make up this new collection by award-winning Gorman, stories that have earned him such accolades as, "One of the most original writers in crime fiction today" by Kirkus Reviews. Here you'll find the extraordinary range of storytelling skill and powerful emotions that won Gorman the prized International Fiction award. Ed Gorman has written eighteen novels and published seven short story collections. He lives with his wife Carol in Cedar Rapids.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published July 11, 2005
4 people are currently reading
32 people want to read
About the author
Ed Gorman
469 books122 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Edward Joseph Gorman Jr. was a prolific American author and anthologist, widely recognized for his contributions to crime, mystery, western, and horror fiction. Born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Gorman spent much of his life in the Midwest, drawing on that experience to set many of his novels in small towns. After working over two decades in advertising, political speechwriting, and industrial filmmaking, he published his first novel, Rough Cut, in 1984 and soon transitioned to full-time writing. His fiction is often praised for its emotional depth, suspenseful storytelling, and nuanced characters. Gorman wrote under the pseudonyms Daniel Ransom and Robert David Chase, and contributed to publications such as Mystery Scene, Cemetery Dance, and Black Lizard. He co-founded Mystery Scene magazine and served as its editor and publisher until 2002, continuing his “Gormania” column thereafter. His works have been adapted for film and graphic novels, including The Poker Club and Cage of Night. In comics, he wrote for DC and Dark Horse. Diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2002, he continued writing despite his illness until his passing in 2016. Critics lauded him as one of the most original crime writers of his generation and a “poet of dark suspense.”
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Edward Joseph Gorman Jr. was a prolific American author and anthologist, widely recognized for his contributions to crime, mystery, western, and horror fiction. Born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Gorman spent much of his life in the Midwest, drawing on that experience to set many of his novels in small towns. After working over two decades in advertising, political speechwriting, and industrial filmmaking, he published his first novel, Rough Cut, in 1984 and soon transitioned to full-time writing. His fiction is often praised for its emotional depth, suspenseful storytelling, and nuanced characters. Gorman wrote under the pseudonyms Daniel Ransom and Robert David Chase, and contributed to publications such as Mystery Scene, Cemetery Dance, and Black Lizard. He co-founded Mystery Scene magazine and served as its editor and publisher until 2002, continuing his “Gormania” column thereafter. His works have been adapted for film and graphic novels, including The Poker Club and Cage of Night. In comics, he wrote for DC and Dark Horse. Diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2002, he continued writing despite his illness until his passing in 2016. Critics lauded him as one of the most original crime writers of his generation and a “poet of dark suspense.”
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 8, 2024
This book, despite being finely produced and containing a frank Foreword from the author, suffers from a terrible malady.
All its memorable tales were already there in 'The Dark Fantastic'— a collection that I had read only a day before!
Apart from those tales, it had only one classic Gorman tale— sharp as a knife, dark as a lump of coal. That's "Riff". It's solid. But otherwise the collection is inferior to its predecessor in terms of original content.
So, in my opinion, this is a good book, but there it stops.
All its memorable tales were already there in 'The Dark Fantastic'— a collection that I had read only a day before!
Apart from those tales, it had only one classic Gorman tale— sharp as a knife, dark as a lump of coal. That's "Riff". It's solid. But otherwise the collection is inferior to its predecessor in terms of original content.
So, in my opinion, this is a good book, but there it stops.
August 26, 2017
This is a pretty good collections of dark stories. I have enjoyed Rex Linn, the narrator on several other works, but his deep, rich voice is especially effective in these stories.
You can classify this as horror, and rightly so, but it is dark with out the gore and graphic visuals I have come to expect of the genre. Gorman drags you into the characters' world quickly and thoroughly , with his abilities.
This is a good read.
You can classify this as horror, and rightly so, but it is dark with out the gore and graphic visuals I have come to expect of the genre. Gorman drags you into the characters' world quickly and thoroughly , with his abilities.
This is a good read.
February 14, 2026
There are 15 short stories; I read 13 of them. The two I skipped were strait science fiction and that's not my bag. I read a different collection of short stories by this writer and I'm sure half or more of the stories overlapped. It had been a while so re-reading wasn't an issue.
A fairer rating would be 2.5 stars. For some reason I expect more from the writer. I think I read something I really liked by him at one point. So not bad overall but not fantastic either.
A fairer rating would be 2.5 stars. For some reason I expect more from the writer. I think I read something I really liked by him at one point. So not bad overall but not fantastic either.
October 12, 2017
Some creepy stories here!
December 23, 2019
I listened to the unabridged audiobook. The writing was okay. The narrative performance by the voice actors was superb.
August 3, 2023
Usually with short story collections thee is a mixture of great, good and mediocre but in this one they were all excellent. Bravo for strange tales with good endings.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews