Richard Laymon was born in Chicago and grew up in California. He has an MA in English Literature from Loyola University, Los Angeles. He has worked as a schoolteacher, a librarian and a mystery magazine editor.


Among The Missing
A Californian wife has left her academic husband. As she drives through the mountains in the early hours of the morning, she picks up a hitch-hiker - rugged, adventurous - who suggests a romantic stop. But no love takes place at The Bend that night and in the morning a body is found.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n2/n12847.jpg





Bite
It's almost midnight. Cat's on the bed, facedown and naked. She's Sam's former girlfriend, the only woman he's ever loved. Sam's in the closet, with a hammer in one hand and a wooden stake in the other. Together they wait as the clock ticks down because the vampire is coming. 

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n1/n5066.jpg





Body Rides
When Neal rescues a woman from a vicious assult, she gives him a magic bracelet, which allows him to step inside other people to experience their feelings. But the woman's attacker is out for revenge, first on her, then Neal, and Neal must use the gift to look inside the would-be killer's head.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n4/n23333.jpg





Come Out Tonight
It's a hot, hot night. Too hot to be making love unless your romance is young, like Sherry and Duane's. It's their first time and the anticipation is killing. Duane goes to get condoms, Sherry waits, and waits, and hears a gunshot, and waits... A novel full of sex and violence and mystery.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n2/n12944.jpg





In The Dark
Donnerville librarian, Jane Kerry, receives an envelope containing a 50-dollar bill and a note instructing her to "look homeward, angel" and signed "MOG (Master of Games)". So begins The Game - pushing Jane into crazy, immoral, criminal actions. When she tries to quit, MOG has other ideas.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n1/n5072.jpg





Island
When eight people go on a cruise in the Bahamas, they plan to swim, sunbathe and relax. Getting shipwrecked is definitely not in the script. But after the yacht blows up they're stranded on a deserted island, and there's a maniac on the loose.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n4/n23331.jpg





No Sanctuary
Rick would do anything for his girlfriend. He'd even spend his vacation in the wilderness, walking the trails around Fern Lake. After what happened last time, it's the one place in the world he'd prefer not to go. But Bert is a woman with a passion for the outdoors - and a passion for other things.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n5/n29174.jpg





One Rainy Night
A shroud of rain covers the town of Bixby, coating the inhabitants in an unending torrent - and turning them into hate-filled maniacs. Soaking-wet, a queue of cinema-goers smash their way inside to slice up the dry people within, while a loving wife crushes her husband's skull on the marble floor.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n1/n5075.jpg





Resurrection Dreams
Vicki was the only one to stand up for Melvin, but even she had to admit he'd gone to far when he dug up a body and then tried to bring it back to life with the aid of a car battery. Years later, and now released from a mental institution, Melvin is back and after Vicki - or rather her body.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n1/n5076.jpg





Stake, The
A horror writer, Larry Dunbar uncovers the body of a high school girl, who had been sacrificed on the altar of a madman's obsession to rid the Earth of a vampire's curse. A world of horrors was born the day the stake was driven into the girl's heart, and Dunbar wants to pull it out.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n1/n5078.jpg





Traveling Vampire Show, The
1963 and the Travelling Vampire Show, featuring Valeria, is coming to the rural town of Grandville. It's a one-night-only show and three local teenagers don't want to miss it. It starts at midnight in Janks Field - a place that's off limits, but they can't let Valeria do her thing without them.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n4/n24203.jpg




Maiden, The (ss)
Mess Hall (ss)