Successful author Todd Klein and his wife Rosita live a quiet small town life. Todd's latest novel is selling well and despite recent budget cuts, Rosita relishes her job at the local library. After years of marriage, they're still in love, the mortgage to their suburban home is paid off, and their future is bright. Until, that is, Todd makes an appointment at the Department of Motor Vehicles to renew his license. Jorge Guiterrez, Rosita's younger brother, hasn't been so lucky. A few months earlier, his bad temper finally caught up with him. After arguing with a supervisor, Jorge quit his cushy job and hasn't been able to find a new one. The bills are piling up and his wife is starting to pressure him. Until, one day, he is approached by a pair of mysterious strangers with an even more mysterious job offer...at the DMV. Zal Tombasian, a young programmer at Data Initiatives, has a pretty boring existence. As his friend and co-worker Bernard tells him, "Your social life consists of sitting at home eating junk food and playing online games." Zal doesn't even bother to put up an argument. He's never been much for adventure. Until his company is hired to work on their largest account yet...by the DMV. With his latest novel, Bentley Little's savage satire is on full display as he takes on everyone's worst nightmare, the DMV. Stephen King says: "When it comes to horror, nobody does what Bentley Little does.... Scary, funny, weird, satiric, surreal." "Longtime master of horror fiction Little is back. Readers will think twice about renewing their licenses after reading DMV. Fans of Little’s work will enjoy his latest offering." - Booklist "This is Bentley Little at his mind-blowing best." - Well Worth A Read "Bentley Little is a one of a kind storyteller who creates an atmosphere of intense twisted deviance. Ominous context, repulsive individuals and an unholy creed create an environment that will leave a sick feeling in the pit of the reader’s stomach. This unorthodox brand of dark fiction often leaves an impression of hopelessness and of no escape from its disturbing pages." - Horror Bookworm Reviews

"We know who you are! Can your current bank say that? We pride ourselves on providing unparalled service to all of our customers. We're looking forward to banking with YOU!" In the small town of Montgomery, Arizona, Kyle Decker's book shop is barely breaking even. When a bank opens in the empty storefront next door, he hopes the new establishment will bring in more foot traffic. Trouble is, nobody has ever heard of The First People's Bank, and the local branch has appeared mysteriously overnight. Their incentives for new customers seem reasonable... at first. But is it a coincidence when Kyle's wife has her identity stolen, and his son receives emails that seem to know his private thoughts? Or when the manager of a competing financial institution dies a gruesome death? Soon, if people in Montgomery, Arizona, want to buy a new car or home, or if they need a small business loan, they have no choice but to work with The First People's Bank. As The Bank makes...

From Publishers WeeklyA generously unrestricted theme events that take place in a single terrifying night and talented contributors build high expectations for this quartet of brand new horror novellas, most of which, alas, disappoint in their failure to develop a plot suitable for their length. Bentley Little's "The Circle," the only tale that faithfully limits its events to a single evening, presents three interrelated vignettes of weird incidents in a suburban neighborhood, all of which prove to have an explanation that is surprisingly humdrum by genre standards. Christopher Golden's "Pyre," in which a young woman comes to terms with her estranged father by means of supernatural experience, depends on a labored back story about a Maine island haunted by Viking ghosts. In "Jonah Rose," Tom Piccirilli spends more time elaborating his narrator's convoluted history as a former faith healer who took up with sideshow freaks than establishing that history's bearing on his mission to rescue his kidnapped son from a strange urban underworld. Only Douglas Clegg's "The Words," about two teenage outsiders whose alienation leads them into the creepy "world of Nowhere," uses its expansive length to build the atmosphere and tension crucial for orchestrating its unsettling events. Each of these stories has its moments, which suggests their authors might have produced better offerings outside the anthology's write-to-format limitations.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Darkness is descending on the small town of Rio Verde, Arizona. An evil older than time is rising from the desert, waiting for night to fall and a reign of terror to begin...Brad Woods had performed a lot of autopsies, but never one like this. The body was purged of all blood. And something told Brad this was only the beginning of a nightmare.Fear made Sue Wing run from the darkened school that night, fear she could only name in the Cantonese of her grandmother: Cup-hu-girngsi...corsope-who-drinks-blood...Vampires. The Devil, incarnate, stalking the streets of Rio Verde. Small-town reporters like Rich Carter didn't believe in such things. But he would come to believe with a faith borne of horror after horror...

In a small Arizona town, a man counts his blessings: a loving wife, two teenage daughters, and a job that allows him to work at home. Then "The Store" announces plans to open a local outlet, which will surely finish off the small downtown shops. His concerns grow when "The Store's" builders ignore all the town's zoning laws during its construction. Then dead animals are found on "The Store's" grounds. Inside, customers are hounded by obnoxious sales people, and strange products appear on the shelves. Before long the town's remaining small shop owners disappear, and "The Store" spreads its influence to the city council and the police force, taking over the town! It's up to one man to confront "The Store's" mysterious owner and to save his community, his family, and his life!

Barry and Maureen have just been approved as tenants by the Association. Pity they never read the fine print on the lease. It could be the death of them... From Publishers Weekly With this haunting tale, Little (The Town) proves that he hasn't lost his terrifying touch. Barry and Maureen Welch are thrilled to exchange their chaotic California lifestyle for the idyllic confines of Bonita Vista, a ritzy gated community in the unincorporated fictional town of Corban, Utah. But as Bonita Vista residents, they're required to become members of the neighborhood's Homeowners' Association, a meddling group that uses its authority to spy on neighbors, eradicate pets and dismember anyone who fails to pay association dues and fines. Maureen, an accountant, and Barry, a horror writer who is banned by the association from writing at home, soon find themselves trapped in the kind of deranged world that Barry once believed existed only within the safety of his imagination. The novel's graphic and fantastic finale demonstrates the shortsightedness of the Association and will stick with readers for a long time. Little's deftly drawn characters inhabit a suspicious world laced with just enough sex, violence and Big Brother rhetoric to make this an incredibly credible tale. Review "You must read this book."  —Stephen King "Fast-paced, rock-'em, jolt-'em, shock-'em...terror fiction. Unusually clever."  —Dean Koontz