The year 2001 marks the fortieth anniversary of Dennis Etchison's first professional short story sale. TALKING IN THE DARK collects the best work by a brilliant writer at the peak of his powers - the author's own selection of personal favorites from four decades of writing. Among these twenty-four unforgettable tales of life on the edge are the award-winning classics and "The Dark Country and ", and "The Olympic Runner and ", and and "The Dog Park and ", as well as several long-out-of-print stories and a new masterpiece written especially for this volume. Dennis Etchison is the author of novels DARKSIDE, SHADOW MAN, CALIFORNIA GOTHIC, and DOUBLE EDGE; and the collections THE DARK COUNTRY, RED DREAMS, THE BLOOD KISS, and THE DEATH ARTIST. He is the winner of three British Fantasy and two World Fantasy Awards and is the editor of the landmark anthologies CUTTING EDGE, MASTERS OF DARKNESS I-III, METAHORROR. and the forthcoming MUSEUM OF HORRORS.