JOHN ALFRED TAYLOR (b. 1931) has been writing strange tales since the late 1960s, with stories appearing in The Twilight Zone Magazine, Asimov's Science Fiction, Ghosts & Scholars, Grue, and others.

Hell Is Murky offers twenty of his strange tales, set in locations as far apart as the Los Angeles freeway system and the Scottish Higlands.

Here you will encounter characters as diverse and strange as a Victorian contortionist; a devilishly hungry lost ancestor; a fortune-telling hand; a Mithraic sect; and the founder of a school who leaves quite an impression on his pupils and faculty.

Four of the stories in the collection see their first publication here: 'Ventura to San Diego to Foothill'; 'The Limber Man'; 'A Man to My Wounding'; and 'What Would Mr Raven Say?'

John taught at Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, for many years, and has more time to write now that he is retired. Hell Is Murky is the first collection of his stories to be published.