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Naked. Incoherent. Covered with blood. That's how Detective Frank Blackburn finds her - a beautiful Jane Doe brandishing a pair of scissors near the scene of a brutal murder. Is she the perpetrator? Or is she the only eyewitness to the handiwork of Vincent Van Gogh, a twisted serial killer with an "artistic" bent? To find out, Blackburn takes her to renowned psychiatrist Dr. Michael Tolan. But Tolan has problems of his own. One year ago today, his beloved wife, Abby, was savagely slaughtered by the very same serial killer.

Eight deliciously talented mystery authors have lent their skills of crafting murder and suspense to this collection of gripping short stories. Each of these eight provocative tales is designed to entertain and mystify—and maybe even chill you to your core. Get lost in the wild imaginations of such New York Times bestselling writers as Andrew Child, Heather Graham, Reed Farrel Coleman, and John Gilstrap, plus authors Rick Bleiweiss, Jennifer Graeser Dornbush, Amanda Flower, and Don Bruns.

Jonathan Quinn has had better years, but now most of the trouble is behind him. There is one issue that remains unresolved - the break between him and his partner, Nate. Quinn and his girlfriend, Orlando, are hired for a new mission, but they must include on their team the operative who is one of the few to have ever seen the face of the job’s target. This operative is unknown to the client, but not to Quinn and Orlando. Now, to stop a plan that could slaughter tens of thousands of people, they must turn to the one person who wants nothing to do with them. If they can even find him in time.

The rescue on Duran Island did not go as planned. Jonathan Quinn knows that someone is responsible. That someone decided throwing people Quinn cares about into the line of fire in a cold-hearted act of self-preservation was a good idea. He also knows that this someone has made a serious mistake. Because when Quinn gets mad, the last place anyone should ever be is in his crosshairs. He will not stop until the guilty pay. Sometimes revenge is best served now.

Straight out of today's hospitals and labs, and tomorrow's headlines, comes a frightening, scalpel-sharp thriller from medical insider Joshua Spanogle. In an astounding debut, Spanogle takes us on an all-too-real race against time as a young doctor enters the dark side of scientific research, desperate to stop a terrifying epidemic before it is too late.

Welcome to a very special issue of Weird Tales. This issue celebrates the Bram Stoker Awards, the “Oscars” of the horror trade. They are presented every year by the Horror Writers Association (horror.org), a group founded in 1985 (and incorporated in 1987) by a collective of masters of that genre, including Joe R. Lansdale, Karen Lansdale, Robert McCammon, and Dean Koontz. This issue is packed with short stories, flash fiction, poems, and an essay—all written by past winners of the Bram Stoker Award.

Chris Dreyer didn’t begin his professional journey thinking he would establish one of the most successful SEO agencies in the country. In fact, he studied history in college and landed his first job as a detention room supervisor for a local high school (this wasn’t part of the plan, either). When his Google query, “how to make money online,” directed him to digital marketing courses, Chris found his calling. Soon his own sites ranked number one for “double chin,” “stained concrete,” and “acai fruit.” The rest, as they say, is history.

From its launch in 1920 until its demise in 1951, the magazine Black Mask published pulp crime fiction. The first hard-boiled detective stories appeared on its pages. Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner and John D. MacDonald got their start in Black Mask. The urban crime stories that appeared in Black Mask helped to shape American culture. Modern computer games, films, and television are rooted in the fiction popularized by "the seminal and venerated mystery pulp magazine" ( Booklist).

Before he was the Nowhere Man, Evan Smoak was a highly trained government operative known to a few as Orphan X. But he now lives by hiding in plain sight, keeping his head down and his eyes clear. So when a local summer intern for a tabloid news site finds herself trailing an aggressive reporter into a crime zone, things go terribly awry. The only person who can help her is a man with the background and the skills of the Nowhere Man.

He was one of the greatest figures of his generation and arguably the greatest baseball hitter of all time. But what made Ted Williams a legend and a lightning rod for controversy in life and in death? New York Times best-selling author Leigh Montville delivers an intimate, riveting account of this extraordinary life.

Philadelphia Homicide Sergeant Matthew Payne is paired with a Texas Ranger to bring down a murderer with Mexican cartel connections. The odd couple of the Philly cop and the Texas lawman must run down the killer and his gang-before the body count rises again.

By the time playwright and actor Shawn Frost had won two Tony Awards by his late 20s, he was seen as a theater prodigy—a meteoric rise that the performing arts community had not witnessed in almost a hundred years. His work? Shakespearean in scope, character, and popularity—boundless and beautiful. His own character? Flawed. And in a place like New York City, where failings get magnified, Shawn Frost finds that, even from the heights of artistic sublimity, no one is insulated from the demons that have caused the best of entertainers to fall from grace.

From its launch in 1920 until its demise in 1951, the magazine Black Mask published pulp crime fiction. The first hard-boiled detective stories appeared on its pages. Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner and John D. MacDonald got their start in Black Mask. The urban crime stories that appeared in Black Mask helped to shape American culture. Modern computer games, films, and television are rooted in the fiction popularized by the magazine.

In vignettes both comic and sexy, the owner of a coffee shop recalls the day his first wife seemed to achieve a moment of simple perfection, while she remembers the women's softball game during which she was stricken by the beauty of the shortstop. A young couple spends hours at the coffee shop fueling the idea of their fierce love. A professor of philosophy, stopping by for a cup of coffee, makes a valiant attempt to explain what he knows to be the inexplicable workings of the human heart.

The Custer Hill Club is a men's club set in a hunting lodge whose members include some of America's most powerful leaders. One fall weekend, the club gathers to talk about 9/11 - and to finalize a retaliation plan, known only by its code name: WILD FIRE. That same weekend, a member of the Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force is found dead. Soon it's up to Detective John Corey and his wife, FBI Agent Kate Mayfield, to unravel a plot that ends with American cities locked in the crosshairs of a nuclear device.

In the future, two scientists are accompanied by a team of Navy SEALs to position critical tectonic equipment on a deserted island in the Galapagos and find themselves immersed in a brutal war for survival that could determine the fate of the world.

Even those who make bodies disappear for a living need a vacation. To Quinn and Orlando, the offer of a private villa on a quiet island beach sounds like heaven, and they jump at the chance for some family time with their six-month-old daughter and Orlando's teenage son. At first it seems as though their holiday will be even better than they'd hoped. The water is warm, the house is beautiful, and the view is spectacular. But when revenge is in the air, things have a way of going sideways.

A cleaner’s tasks are simple: get rid of the body so that it will never be found, and make the scene of the kill look like nothing happened. Rule Number One: Don’t get caught. With Jonathan Quinn’s career in question, his apprentice Nate has successfully taken on the role of full-fledged cleaner, using Quinn’s name to keep the business working seamlessly in case his boss decides to return.But Nate’s latest job is not what it seems, and he finds himself on the wrong side of a trap.

He thought his final assignment would be simple: Transport a package from Japan to Amsterdam. But for Orlando's mentor, Abraham, the job was not at all like he expected and ended up haunting him. Seven years later, Quinn and Orlando know something is up when Abraham asks for a favor. At his age, he should be sitting on a beach, enjoying his retirement, not working. After he tells them of his search for the last package he ever delivered, they help him unravel the truth, but soon realize they can't simply look for answers...

Jonathan Quinn is the best at what he does: making bodies disappear. Within the espionage world, his reputation is impeccable. There was a time, though, when that reputation was still being built under his mentor, Durrie. A time when the very man who had taught Quinn all he knew could have derailed the young cleaner’s future. Fifteen years ago, Quinn was offered a job. On the surface, a straightforward mission to stop a terrorist. But the client gave Quinn the additional task of taking on Durrie as his number two, as a last chance for the veteran agent to be rehabilitated.