Fantasy, science fiction and horror mingle in Spontaneous Human Combustion, another collection of dark fiction from Richard Thomas (Tribulations).
The horrors in these 14 stories come in forms as diverse as aliens, demons and even mundanities such as disease. In "Nodus Tollens," a deal made to settle a poker debt comes back to haunt a man in more ways than he could imagine. A man feels that he has done something horrible but does not know what it could be in "Battle Not with Monsters." In "Open Waters," the protagonist becomes lost in a virtual reality. Repetition is often a feature of these stories, giving the sense of a simulation or a recurring nightmare. It also plays a role in "In His House," in which the narrator invites readers into a Lovecraftian ritual heralding an imminent apocalypse. Many of the main characters are in some way repulsive, such as the brutal, abusive cop at the center of "Repent." But through the twists and turns of these stories, they begin to pale in comparison, turning vulnerable as presented alongside more otherworldly horrors.
This chilling collection of short stories, with plenty of twists and turns, as well as echoes of Lovecraft and Bradbury, probes the dark corners between the horrors humans inflict on each other and those that haunt our nightmares. This volume will please Thomas's existing fans and will surely create new ones. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library