From the author of "Two Degrees Closer to Hell" and "Edging Past Reality." Highly recommended to be read just before bedtime.

Speculative fiction writer, David Fingerman, is back with a series of short stories guaranteed to curl your toes and raise your hair. If you’re looking for some quick thrills, let these stories take you on a ride that will bring you two degrees closer to Hell.

Louise Miller is an ex-cop whose life could not be more of a mess. Unemployed and addicted to gambling, she comes home from the casino to find her front door unlocked and a corpse sitting on her sofa. Even worse, the dead man is Walter Farkos, a man she arrested shortly before resigning from the Minneapolis PD.

Now Farkos’ murderer is obsessed with a sadistic game of cat and mouse. The ultimate goal: to destroy Miller piece by piece. If miller doesn’t stop this madman she may not only forfeit her own life, but the lives of everyone she cares about.

Meet Spyder—a street-wise antihero of inner city society. Experience his strange wisdom, and his twisted sense of humor.

Spyder doesn’t waste time thinking how much lower he can sink. When he finds his girlfriend dead as the result of drugs he supplied, Spyder contemplates his life and decides it’s time to do what he’s avoided most of his days-join mainstream society. All he needs to do is kick the drug habit, find a job, a place to live, and earn some money. Easy. He’s done it hundreds of times, but never all at once.

As always, Fate steps in and knees him in the groin. All the dregs he’s ever known want their say. George won’t stop his pestering, Sal needs a huge favor, Coon is hunting for a certain arachnid, and Spyder’s dealer doesn’t want to lose one of his best customers. As things spiral out of control, Spyder tangles himself in a web so tight that even he might never be able to escape.

Police must follow a labyrinth, leading into the darkest tunnel of a twisted mind. A mind that carries no value for human life....

Minneapolis police officer Louise Miller has attitude. Not only does she have to deal with the good old boy mentality of the department, but she’s also a gay police officer who has to deal with harassment on a higher level. When one of her few friends on the force goes missing Miller investigates, despite her captain's order to leave it to the detectives.

As Miller scours the precinct for any sign of the missing officer, Elias Boughton is on a psychopathic rampage. Kidnapping and murder are games he plays, blindly obeying a voice from his past. As the body count rises, Miller is convinced the detectives are heading in the wrong direction. Trying to fit the puzzle together, each clue revolves around a particular Rottweiler. As the mystery unravels so does her life, and the case becomes more personal than she ever dared imagine. …

Get ready to expect the unexpected when you read this collection of chilling short stories. The short stories of Edging Past Reality will take you to the precipice of reason and then push you over the edge.

If you think you can always believe your eyes, and you’re sure that what you believe is true, it’s time to check your certainties at the door … and start Edging Past Reality. In this collection of short stories, as you’re warned in the introduction, ”the most common and familiar elements of life … explode into a circus of horror.” Imagine an inviting, lush meadow that turns shockingly deadly. A mirror that holds more than mere reflections. A trial where your life hangs by a call-in vote.