Here is the debut collection of stories by Joe Hill, who immediately put the author on a par with such luminaries of the mystic genre as Howard Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury, Stephen King . Fourteen stories, each of which will keep you in suspense along with their heroes. As Joe Hill said in an interview with Locus magazine: “A lot of people in my stories are unhappy. I like to write about people who are somehow bad — they make the wrong moral decisions, treat their friends badly, and lie to themselves. Many stories are about bad people trying to make their way back to the good..."The collection was awarded the Bram Stoker Award and the British Fantasy Award, and its author in 2006 received the William L. Crawford Award for Best Debut Author. The novella “Voluntary Conclusion” was awarded the “World Fantasy Award” "Better than at home" brought the author "A. E. Coppard Long Fiction Prize". "Black Phone" and "Hear the Locust Singing" were nominated for the 2005 British Fantasy Award.