Section One: The Darkest Age
The Smoldering Past: The Creation of the Modern from Frankenstein and Dracula to the Great War and Beyond
"Cosmic Introspection": Lovecraft's Attainment of Personal Value by Way of Infinite Insignificance
Forrest J Ackerman: Fan Zero
Gathering Darkness: In Appreciation of the Artists of Weird Tales
Frank M. Robinson: First Fandom and Beyond
Section Two: Things Become
The Burden of Now: Welles's "Panic Broadcast," World War II, and Creeping Anomie
Ray Bradbury: The Boy Who Never Grew Up
Cinematic Dream Logic: How Movies Permanently Altered the Fabric of Reality
Individual Sexual Liberation Becomes Social Emancipation: Playboy Changes the World
Harlan Ellison®: L'Enfant Terrible (Sort Of)
Section Three: The Rise of the Speculative Mind
Rod Serling: Articulating the American Nightmare
A Howling at Owl Creek Bridge: Observations on Two Important Twilight Zone Episodes
George Clayton Johnson: A Touch of Strange
L'Âge d'Or to Götterdämmerung: How Bradbury, Serling, Beaumont, and "The Group" Shaped a Pop Future
Roger Corman: Socially Conscious Auteur
Finding Sanctuary: Running from the Zone to Logan
The Long Nuclear Shadow: Atomic Horror, Godzilla, and the Cold War
The Horror of It All! EC and the Beginnings of Modern Media HOOHAH!
Madly Yours, Al Feldstein
An End, a Middle, a Beginning: Richard Matheson and His Impact
Section Four: Slashers, Blockbusters, and Bestsellers
Riding the Dark Wave: The Role of Dystopian Science Fiction in Popular Culture
Celluloid Asylum: O'Bannon, Romero, Carpenter, and the Liberals Lose (and Find) Their Collective Minds
Terrible Beauty: Slasher Film Connections to Conservatism, Pornography, and Misogyny
King of the Dead: Filmmaker George A. Romero on Politics, Film, and the Future
Dan O'Bannon: Not Gone, Not Forgotten
H. R. Giger: A Darkness Faster Than Light
The Emperor's New Book: How Stephen King Saved Horror, Created Clive Barker (and Sam Raimi) . . . and Killed Publishing
The Doctor Is In: F. Paul Wilson
Sounds Horrific: Art Rock, Soundtracks, and the Zeitgeist
Section Five: A Century of Speculation
Carnivora: The Dark Art of Automobiles
David J. Skal: Monster Kid Ambassador of Horror
Seasons in Hell
Kris Kuksi: Dark Horizons in the Realm of the Senses
Bluewater Comics's Darren G. Davis: On the Run in the Digital Age of Comics
The H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival: Cosmic Chaos on the Silver Screen
S. T. Joshi: Champion of the Weird Tale
Marc Scott Zicree: As Timeless as Infinity
Section Six: From (and Into) the Beyond
Fangoria's Chris Alexander: Cinephilia, Music, and All the Rest of It
Bruce Campbell: From The Evil Dead to Burn Notice and Beyond
The Inner World of William F. Nolan
The Mammoth Book of Body Horror
Two of a Kind: Lee-Anne Raymond and Demetrios Vakras
"Cthulhu, a Vampire, and a Zombie Walk into a Bar . . .": Why These Themes, Why Now, and What's the Matter with Hollyweird?
John Shirley: The Tao of Identity
Ray Harryhausen: A Note on the Passage of Giants
Kneeling at the Dandelion Shrine: An Appreciation
William F. Nolan and Ray Bradbury: Reflections
Introduction: The Pope of Speculative Fiction
Future Shock? (De)Parting Thoughts
Appendices
Index
About the Author
