Present Day / Alan I came to this remote cabin in the middle of the Scotland wildlands as a means of escaping my dark past. I never expected to see the kind of sight greeting me now. It was a boo...

I was out on a hiking trip a few days ago. The thirteen of us were spread out across three cabins. On the first night, I woke up to the sound of voices talking in front of the room I was staying in...

A madman claims to create a portal between a small American town and Paris – using the Eiffel Tower. To achieve this, he buys the Eiffel Tower and adorns its top with an upside-down black pyramid....

I’ll admit there’s always something a bit special when digging into self-published fiction, or just fiction by lesser-known authors. I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a matter of kinship – unlike me,...

The year is 1997. The winner of the 3rd Mephisto Prize has just been published. Although the book is selling well – far above expectation – the judges of the competition were facing an unprecedente...

I’ve dug too deep. The abyss has stared back. To be completely honest, I’m not sure if I really want to talk about Tomoyuki Shirai’s works. It’s more that I find myself needing to. Not just becaus...

Me standing in a random Seattle bookstore, looking at an all-in-one collection of five Ellery Queen novels, isn’t much of a story-opener. For that matter, this isn’t much of a story, but there’s a ...