ABOUT THIS BOOK The Mad Butterfly’s Ball is an essential compendium of stories dedicated to the lurking horror and profound wonder of those that live, largely unseen, in the world around us—the enigmatic insect! Featuring original and new works by Clive Barker, Jeffrey Thomas, Kaaron Warren, Paul Di Filippo, Eugen Bacon, and many more, alongside classics of the subgenre, The Mad Butterfly’s Ball is the largest and most comprehensive anthology of its kind, with stunning illustrations by Richard Kirk and Yoshika Nagata. CONTENTS HEAD Insects and the Poetics of Estrangement - Preston Grassmann Hive Politics – Chris Kelso THORAX Upon a Milk Warm Dawn – Clive Barker Hivehead – Paul Di Filippo The Wings of Mourning – Jeffrey Thomas The King’s Walkingstick – Richard A. Kirk Butterflies of Eastern Texas – Kij Johnson The Nature of Bees – Priya Sharma The Absent Swarm – Tom Over The Dream of Akinosuke — Lafciado Hearn The Man From Nowhere – Eugen Bacon Lysergic is The Circle of My Secret – Joe Koch After the Flood – Anna Tambour Eejelé – Nuzo Onoh Possum – Matthew Holness Warning Wings – Arlton Eadie Scarabaeus – Rumi Kaneko (translated by Preston Grassmann) The Roaches – Thomas M. Disch The Ladybug – D.R.G. Sugawara Mantis Wives – Kij Johnson Jenny Longlegs – Chris Kelso & Brian Evenson Not Just the Stars that They Devour – Matt Neil Hill Honeydew — Dempow Torishima The Empire of the Ants – H.G. Wells The Parliament of Wasps – Preston Grassmann Caterpillars – E.F. Benson The Ruins with a Spectator – Kaaron Warren The Hollow Electricity of Tiny Papery Wings or the Pinprick in the Powder — Christopher Young An Egyptian Hornet – Algernon Blackwood Wrapped Up — Ramsey Campbell Decomposer – Alvaro Zinos-Amaro Death is like the Insect – Emily Dickinson ABDOMEN The Praying Mantis – Henri Fabre Entomophilia: A Case for the Defence – Preston Grassmann The Death of Conrad Unger – Gary J. Shipley Mimic and Starship Troopers: Us and Them – Jon Greenaway The Ancient Cockroach – Chris Kelso "The 35 shorts in this star-studded anthology focus on the innate horror and pathos of the insect kingdom . . . The stories are by turns horrifying and heartbreaking, sweet and brutal, and without exception thought-provoking. This otherworldly anthology establishes a wonderfully surrealistic atmosphere that readers are unlikely to find anywhere else. Fans of weird fiction should snap it up." —Publishers Weekly