Michael Cadnum

This is a collection of poems about animals--most of the poems have appeared in national publications. They are collected here in a single book for the first time.

Michael Cadnum's Earthquake Murder is a collection of short fiction published in a variety anthologies and magazines in recent years and collected here for the first time. Featuring a foreword by radio and publishing force Andrew Tonkovick, these surprising, often ironic stories capture a world of danger and discovery. From flash fiction (Burn and Believe) to tales of crime (Criminal Lovers, Your Secret Wish) Earthquake Murder will let readers who enjoy Saint Peter's Wolf, Seize the Storm and Ghostwright discover Cadnum bringing to life tight-paced revelations as electrifying as tomorrow.

Paul Wright’s family sends him to find his cousin, a photographer whose subjects have become increasingly macabre. Paul investigates Len’s last known address, a cabin in California’s Napa Valley, only to discover the frightening and sinister truth behind his cousin’s obsession with the past.

Richard Stirling is a successful lawyer who specializes in defending the rights of the underprivileged. He falls in love with the pianist Rebecca Pennant, and as their romance develops, a tragic event takes Rebecca out of his life. In the wake of this dramatic misfortune, Richard re-encounters an heirloom, an astonishing mirror. This is a vampire story unlike any other, a tale of this contemporary world reflected from that other land where the dead are more alive than any dreamer.

Hamilton Speke is a successful playwright and composer—an extraordinary creative force. He lives and works on an estate south of San Francisco, secure in a woodland sanctuary where, to his surprise, he receives a visitor from his past, an old friend and former partner. Then everything changed. Speke’s life of celebrity and vision is ruptured by bloodshed and insanity, in a world where it’s revealed that no one, and no career, is far from danger.

San Francisco Bay Area archaeologist Davis Lowry has everything—success, a fascinating profession—but he is troubled by a bout of sleepwalking. For a change of scenery, he travels to York, England, where a bog man has been unearthed. A series of macabre accidents plague the site, and Davis finds himself enmeshed in a modern-day horror with roots in the bloody past.

San Francisco architect Stratton Fields has just discovered that a contest was rigged against him and that the man who engineered the cheat, Ty DeVere, is determined to keep Stratton from success. But when Stratton’s enemies, including Ty, start dying mysteriously—and Stratton encounters several apparitions—he wonders if he unknowingly made a deal with a supernatural force. Or maybe he murdered these people himself and has no memory of his deeds. Stratton must confront both the humans and the spirits who are causing mayhem to discover the destructive truth.

Collector Benjamin Byrd has added a new and eerie item to his archives: a set of fangs embedded in silver. As he grows more and more obsessed with his new treasure, he finds himself experiencing dreams and visionary adventures. Soon, Benjamin’s normal, successful routine is transformed beyond anything he ever imagined; he has to confront the truth that he is no longer simply human. This powerful and lyrical story brings into our own day-to-day lives the story of the werewolf.

Red Patterson is a TV psychiatrist, a video force, and a famous healer. His newest patient, Curtis Newns, is an artist with a damaged soul. Red is so intrigued by Curtis that he seeks to separate the artist and his wife and claim Curtis’s creative talent as his own. He decides to hold troubled, talented Curtis in his desert estate, where the macabre secrets of Red’s life are waiting to be unearthed. Set in the San Francisco Bay Area and the California desert, this is a story of love pitted against corruption—the essential battle of our time.