If it gets into enough hands, Michael Shean’s Shadow of a Dead Star is going to have a huge following. That's because it's well-written, nicely paced, and offers some surprising turns in a genre often referred to as tech or future noir. A list of fitting reference points you'll see mentioned will include Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (or Blade Runner if you prefer), Neal Stephenson, Cyberpunk, William Gibson, CSI, maybe even some work by Warren Ellis.

Like the chameleon altering its paint job to deal with stress or to fool predators, humans are equipped with their own coping camouflage. Each of us is capable of adapting to most reasonable situations by simply adjusting our personality to suit the moment. It's a survival technique that allows us to shape ourselves in response to a variety of people and environments. But what if we had the ability to summon from within a completely disparate personality to deal with a seemingly insurmountable challenge or trauma?

Work is HELL. We may not need the affirmation from Bram Stoker award finalist Michael McCarty, but it's a comfort coming from a fellow horror and science fiction nerd. The cast of workplace demons we encounter in real life is certainly enough to fill volumes. We grind it out alongside them day in and day out. From blood-sucking vampire CEOs to zombified office drones, monsters are everywhere. No environment is safe, not our commute routes, conference rooms, break areas, or cubicles.

Throughout the evolution of the ghost story, we fans of the macabre have been given literary gifts from some damned fine writers. A number have met universal success, regarded by folks who wouldn't normally touch scary books. Some have even gone on to become definitive touchstones in the genre. Classic novels such as The Yellow Wallpaper, Hell House, and, more recently, 20th Century Ghosts are regarded as benchmarks in the genre.

I’m a sucker for stories set in the wilderness. It’s not that I’m especially rugged, but I did spend a large portion of my life surrounded by nature. In order to achieve an authentic feel, the trick is to get the small details right. This is where award-winning novelist Stephen Graham Jones excels in It Came from Del Rio, his first entry in the “Bunnyhead Chronicles.” When he describes life in the desert, we know right away that he’s a man who’s been there. Whether or not he’s ever participated in the illicit activities of the central characters remains to be seen.

Glory’s Crossing in Tasmania is a place where time would normally stand still were it not for “progress” beating at its door. Generations of the town’s inhabitants find themselves displaced to make way for a hydroelectric dam. As a man-made lake encroaches upon them, submerging the town piece by piece, dark secrets are unleashed from beneath the water’s murky surface.