Hot Blood: Tales of Erotic Horror

Hot Blood: Tales of Provocative Horror Edited By Jeff Gelb & Lonn Friend

Permissions

Graham Masterton, 'Changeling.' Copyright © 1989 by Graham Masterton.

Richard Matheson, 'The Likeness of Julie.' Originally published in Alone by Night. Copyright © 1962 by Richard Matheson. Reprinted by permission of the author and Don Congdon Associates, Inc.

Robert R. McCammon, 'The Thang.' Copyright © 1989 by Robert R. McCammon.

F. Paul Wilson, 'Menage a Trois.' Originally published in Weird Tales, Vol. 50, no. 1. Copyright © 1987 by F. Paul Wilson. Reprinted by permission of the author and Terminus Publishing Company, Inc.

Richard Christian Matheson, 'Mr. Right.' Originally published in Whispers. Copyright © 1988 by Richard Christian Matheson. Reprinted by permission.

Chet Williamson, 'Blood Night.' Copyright © 1989 by Chet Williamson.

Mick Garris, 'Chocolate.' Copyright © 1989 by Mick Garris.

Ramsey Campbell, 'Again.' Originally published in Rod Serling's Twilight Zone Magazine. Copyright © 1981 by Ramsey Campbell. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Lisa Tuttle, 'Bug House.' Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Copyright © 1983 by Lisa Tuttle. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Theodore Sturgeon, 'Vengeance Is.' Copyright © 1980 by Theodore Sturgeon. Reprinted by permission of the author's estate: Jayne Sturgeon and Marion Sturgeon, co-trustees.

J. N. Williamson, 'The Unkindest Cut.' Copyright © 1989 by J. N. Williamson.

Michael Garrett, 'Reunion.' Originally published in Chic Magazine. Copyright © 1987 by Flynt Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the author and L.F.P., Inc.

Harlan Ellison, 'Footsteps.' Copyright © 1980 by the Kilimanjaro Corporation. Reprinted by permission of and arrangement with the author and the author's agent, Richard Curtis Associates, Inc., New York. All rights reserved.

Mike Newton, 'Pretty Is…' Copyright © 1989 by Mike Newton.

Gary Brandner, 'Aunt Edith.' Copyright © 1989 by Gary Brandner.

Dennis Etchison, 'Daughter of the Golden West.' Copyright © 1973 by Dugent Publishing Corporation; copyright © 1982 by Dennis Etchison. Reprinted by permission of the author.

John Skipp and Craig Spector, 'Meat Market.' Copyright © 1987. Reprinted by permission of the authors.

Rex Miller, 'The Voice.' Copyright © 1989 by Rex Miller.

Robert Bloch, 'The Model.' Originally published in Gallery Magazine. Copyright © 1975 by Montcalm Publishing Corporation and Robert Bloch. Reprinted by permission.

Steve Rasnic Tem, 'Carnal House.' Copyright © 1989 by Steve Rasnic Tem.

Les Daniels, 'They're Coming for You.' Originally published in Cutting Edge, edited by Dennis Etchison. Copyright © 1986 by Les Daniels. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Jeff Gelb, 'Suzie Sucks.' Originally published in Hustler Letters Magazine. Copyright © 1987 by Jeff Gelb. Reprinted by permission of the author and L.F.P., Inc.

Ray Garton, 'Punishments.' Copyright © 1989 by Ray Garton.

David J. Schow, 'Red Light.' Originally published in Rod Serling's Twilight Zone Magazine. Copyright © David J. Schow, 1986. Reprinted by permission of the author.

This book is dedicated to Joyce and Terry, who put up with our sexual idiosyncracies.

Special thanks to… Dennis Etchison, David Schow, Richard Lange, Michael Garrett, Claire Zion, and Kurt Busiek.

Introduction

Only two topics can be of least interest to a serious and studious mind — sex and the dead.

— W. B. Yeats

Readers of fiction have long been drawn to a mix of the taboo topics sex and horror. Experienced vicariously from armchairs (or, more appropriately, beds), generations of readers and film lovers have found sex and horror a marriage made in Heaven… or perhaps Hell. In such literary classics as Dracula and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and box-office smashes like Psycho and Halloween, sex and horror have made for perfect, if strange, bedfellows.

Hot Blood is the first major anthology to ask the world's premier horror writers to share their secret sexual nightmares. The masters are here: Robert Bloch, Richard Matheson, Harlan Ellison, even a contribution from Theodore Sturgeon, whose 1979 story Vengeance Is. is a prophetic tale of perversion that hints of a disease similar to the modern plague of AIDS. In addition, Hot Blood features a collection of '80s visionaries, from Ramsey Campbell, Robert R. McCammon, F. Paul Wilson, and Graham Masterton, to sizzling new talents like David J. Schow, Skipp and Spector, and Rex Miller.

Sexual attraction is, perhaps, one of the most powerful and mysterious forces of nature, an element carefully interwoven between these pages. Those readers who happen to be in the market for a new lover are urged, upon completion of this book, to reevaluate qualities most often sought in the opposite sex and to consider adding «human» to the top of the list. In fact, these days, reading Hot Blood may be one of the few remaining forms of 'safe sex' available. And isn't that a scary thought?

CHANGELING Graham Masterton

The elevator door opened and there she was, looking directly into his eyes as if she had known that he was standing on the other side. Tall, beautiful, dressed utterly in white. He hesitated for a moment and then stepped back one half-shuffle to allow her to pass.

'Pardon mivrouw,' he acknowledged. She smiled briefly but didn't reply. She