Cimarron Street Books is pleased to bring you ZOOPRAXIS , the latest collection from #1 bestselling author R.C. Matheson. ZOOPRAXIS gathers stories of dread, menace and the surreal — with a distilled style that is fierce and hypnotic. From prisoners executed with a hi-tech twist, to the ravages of empathy, an uncooperative parrot, a shapeshifter’s carnal diary, a man who can’t stop talking, a murderer devoured by ice, to a romantic embalming machine, a bizarre Infomercial, and a mind-bending Swami. ZOOPRAXIS includes 35 stories (13 new to this edition, 5 appearing for the first time), along with Introductions from John Shirley and Chet Williamson, and Afterwords from illustrator Harry O. Morris and R.C. Matheson. STORIES IN THE COLLECTION: How to Edit - 133 - Transfiguration - Infomercial!!! - Shrapnel - Golden Time - Dead to Me - Listen - Making Cabinets - Dream - Candy Mountain - New Tricks - Venturi - Swami - Demise - Sea of Atlas - Kriss Kross Applesauce - The Embalming Machine - Slain Lions - Bulimia - Pronoia - Slaves of Nowhere - Man’s Best Friend - Fan Letter - Last Words - Ground Zero - Interrogation - Felicia - Evil Twins, Temporary Blindness, Bikers, and Amnesia - Bedtime Story - Gone - Murderers - Heal - Cry - The Talking Man R.C. Matheson is an acclaimed screenwriter/producer for film and television and the author of over 125 short stories featured in the award-winning collections SCARS and Other Distinguishing Marks (introduced by Stephen King), and #1 bestseller DYSTOPIA . His novels and novellas include CREATED BY , THE RITUAL OF ILLUSION and BOMBYX . “There are, occasionally, writers who are able to combine both story and style. They are, of course, the best. You get a spectacular view and you also get to look at it from the backseat of a chauffeur-driven Cadillac. In the field of fantasy those writers . . . are even rarer. Theodore Sturgeon, early Ray Bradbury and R.C. Matheson. He is remarkable . . . a brilliant chip off the old block.” — Stephen King “If the reputation of writers were based on quality rather than quantity, Richard Christian Matheson would be the pre-eminent contemporary writer in the field of dark fiction.” — Chet Williamson “Richard Christian Matheson is one of a handful of resourceful, fear-minded authors helping to create a new sensibility in horror fiction that is as frightening and merciless as the modern world itself.” — ROLLING STONE “A great horror writer.” — THE NEW YORK TIMES “Similes and metaphors so engaging and deeply descriptive it puts me to shame. I have been writing for over forty years and in my own opinion have never written anything as complex or darkly interesting. I stand in awe of Richard’s impressive talent; his unbelievable ability to slam a verb up against a noun, putting words and thoughts together in ways never intended. But somehow, every time he ends up with nuanced perfection and excels magnificently. I’m jealous.” — Stephen J. Cannell: bestselling novelist, writer, producer and creator of THE ROCKFORD FILES, BARETTA, THE A-TEAM, and WISEGUY “R.C. is a master of compression. He knows how to catch a moment in words and convey it straight to the reader’s head or heart; often both. Devastating.” — Clive Barker “While I am talking, he is rounding the bases with another home run. His imagination simply cannot stop.” — Ray Bradbury “Imagine a Rosetta microchip. Compact, succinct, precise. Universes in there. R.C.’s stories are like a drop of biowar culture. Like a speck of neutron star that weighs a million tons. Start reading. You’re already behind.” — David J. Schow