The Monster Within Idea

The monsters lurk in everyone: monsters of greed, of guilt, of the pleasure found in pain, of the pain found when pleasure dies. Carefully disguised, the monsters can sit down beside you or take up residence within you at the slightest twist of fate. Will you try to stop them? Will you want to?

This collection of 18 stories from R. Thomas Riley deftly explores the monsters born of the human mind. “Attrition” offers a future prison system that frees only those who repent sincerely—but what can an inmate do if he finds that sincerity is not really the key? “Twin Thieves” and “Tautology” throw a devilish spin on relationships gone wrong, while “The Lesser Evil” twists the abuses of race and power into a gritty, noirish nightmare of the choices a man must make to protect a lesser man and a greater good. In “Touching God,” a young man’s past catches up to him when worlds bleed into each other and the past crosses into present, bringing back the abuse he once escaped and the brother who wasn’t so lucky.

Sacrifice, selfishness, and the worst of good intentions: all combine in The Monster Within Idea. From vampires and aliens to hit women and Wild Bill Hickock, Riley gives a subtle psychological turn to dark science fiction and horror. Let the monsters walk the paths of your mind. The idea is already within.

“Riley is dark and disturbing. The Monster Within Idea pulled me into his horrific world and I loved every minute of it.”
—John Grover, author of Space Stations and Graveyards, A Beckoning of Shadows and the upcoming Angels, Ashes and Alchemy

“The Monster Within Idea is a fun ride, dark, disturbing and well written. Riley started off strong and is only getting stronger. Highly recommended!”
—James A. Moore, author of Deeper and Cherry Hill

“A natural storyteller with a concise voice, R. Thomas Riley truly entertains in this collection. Unsettling at times, truly compelling, Riley’s moody & wild tales kick hard and crank the appetite for more.”
—Steven L. Shrewsbury, author of Hawg, Tormentor and Godforsaken

“R. Thomas Riley is a rising star. When you see those zombie and vampires digging their way up from the grave, and you see that hand break the surface of the earth, the backdrop a tombstone, you see one on his way up--that's a guy named R. Thomas Riley.” — Robert W. Walker, Kindle Bestselling author of more than 40 novels, including the Instinct series and Edge series

“With the eponymous story [ R. Thomas Riley ] manages to create, in just four short pages, what Stephen King tried to hard (and ultimately failed) to do with The Colorado Kid, an utterly captivating yet completely unsolvable mystery that doesn’t resort to any cheap cop-outs. Concise, confident and bewildering as all holy f*%@, this is how to do it. A pure experience of paranoia and horror of the truest Lovecraftian sense, this bastard kicked my ass all the way to next Tuesday.”
— Anton Cancre

“Creepy, visceral and evocative stories than make you grin while your skin puckers in goose bumps. They lead you to the edge of the precipice and then drop you over to a satisfying conclusion—be it a sudden crash at the end or the revelation of wings.”
 —Jennifer Brozek—editor of The Edge of Propinquity

“…You’ll find yourself tearing through this book as if your life depended on it…”
—
K.D. Payne